On a July day in 1908, 17-year-old Carmine Thomas Simplegio Pitera set sail for America, joining his brothers and a wave of Italian immigrants. His arrival in a new country called for a new name, at least in the eyes of immigration officials at Ellis Island: Carl Pedro.

Pedro started a small shoe-repair shop that grew with time, evolving into a downtown St. Paul luggage and briefcase retailer under the direction of his three sons, Carl Pedro Jr., Eugene Pedro and Alfred Pedro, his daughter Marilyn Pitera and Carl Pedro Jr.’s wife, Josephine Pedro.