At Big John’s PFI, the windows are almost floor-to-ceiling. The floors are shiny, smooth concrete, and the 30-foot cheese counter gleams. It’s an upgrade from the bumpy, wine-stained floors and warehouse feel of the gourmet grocery store’s former location in Sodo, and a far cry from the trunk of the green Plymouth Valiant “Big” John Croce sold olive oil and feta out of when he first started his business in 1971.

Big John Croce passed away in 2015 at the age of 91, but his legacy lives on. His children Mike Croce, Holly Cochran and Kathy Croce Volpone and granddaughter Margo Flones have been running his store and its wholesale arm for years.