by Ernest Dollar
This season, as you’re making your list and checking it twice, our area retailers would be grateful if you remember to “shop local.” That didn’t used to be a matter of choice. Local was the only option, and in Raleigh, it was often a colorful one. Ernest Dollar, director of the City of Raleigh Museum, found this fascinating photo of one of Fayetteville Street’s early sellers of wine, oysters, cigars, and groceries.
Bananas and other fruits hang in the windows of Antonio Leo Dughi’s store at 235 Fayetteville Street, around 1900.
Dughi stands in front of his store with his son, John (far right), and a young Dughi child. Customers and store clerks stand to the left, as does as an oyster wagon pulled by horse named Nancy. The ice cream wagon on the right was pulled by horse named John.
Dughi and his wife were forerunners of the great wave of Italian immigration to the United States in the late 19th century. Dughi arrived in 1875 and eventually settled in Raleigh, where he established a store in a cramped downtown building.
Dughi’s wagons helped his store become wildly popular by delivering fresh seafood, produce, ice creams, and novelty items to families across Raleigh. The Junaluska sign on top of the building refers to a wine company by that name.