La Stalla Italian Market Celebrates Opening

A traditional-style Italian market is the newest business to open in Newtown Township.

La Stalla Italian Market is owned in part by Marc Masso, the owner of the popular La Stalla Italian Restaurant in town. He has been in the Newtown area for 14 years, and the most recent addition makes sense when you look at recent generations in the Masso family.

Masso’s father, Vincent, has owned an Italian market like the one which opened Wednesday at The Promenade on Sycamore Street for 35 years in New Jersey. Before him, his father and grandfather owned similar markets. Masso said his family’s past helped him want to introduce that the market to the Newtown community.

“We hope it is going to be successful, because there is really nothing like this here,” Masso said. He added that he is joined by his father, La Stalla Chef Benny Puleo and Paul Mancuso.

The store opened with a soft launch with no formal announcement Tuesday. However, the Facebook page quickly gathered over 1000 likes. By Wednesday morning, Jim Worthington of the Newtown Athletic Club was on the scene to help Masso and his associates celebrate, Masso said.

Worthington even gathered a group to sing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” outside the new market.

The shop makes it so that people in the Newtown area will be able to get hard-to-find and authentic Italian food without needing to go into Philadelphia or further, depending on what they want. The market stocks imported meats, fresh, prime meat, homemade bread, high end pastas and sauces and much more.

The rustic and welcoming interior has all of the feelings of the La Stalla restaurant. Masso said that it was important for the market to have the restaurant’s DNA in it.

“These are really hard to find specialty Italian items,” he said.

“We want people to feel good in the store, enjoy the warmth and engage.”

In terms of community feedback, Masso said the community has been incredible and welcoming. “It exceeded my expectations, it really has,”he said.

From idea to completion, the project took about a year and a half.