It’s quirky — the good kind of quirky. Its eclectic assortment of edibles reflects, I suspect, the owners’ tastes as much as their customers’.

And it’s been in the same Springfield location for a long time. A very long time — since the 1890s. Not only that, but it’s been owned and operated by the same family since its inception. Is there any other Springfield business — food-related or otherwise — that can say that? (If anyone knows of any, I’d love to hear from you.) The Food Mart at 416 E. Monroe has seen some changes over the years, though. It was first called Campo’s. These days Tony Pirrera, a descendant of the original Campos, is in charge.

In the beginning, it was a store like most neighborhood groceries throughout America. Campo’s sold produce and canned goods.

There were fresh flowers for bouquets or made into corsages. They baked cookies. In those days grocery stores and butcher shops were most often separate entities. Next door to Campo’s was the Monroe Meat Market.

When it closed, the Campos purchased its meat case and expanded their operation into the new space. That was in 1955, a year of big changes for the little store. It became the first grocery store in Springfield to sell liquor. “It wasn’t cool to be Italian back then,” says Pirerra. “So we changed the name to The Food Mart.” Twelve years ago, with Pirerra now at the helm, The Food Mart experienced another change. He eliminated many of the general grocery items and the fresh meat.

The Food Mart became a gourmet specialty shop with a big emphasis on all things Italian. “Not everyone likes Chinese,” says Pierrera with a twinkle in his eye. “And soufflés burn. So I figured Italian would do well.” Since the downtown Osco closed, however, he’s begun stocking a few more basics. “We’ve got a four-foot shelf that we call the pharmacy,” he says. “There’s aspirin and deodorant, razors and toothbrushes, things like that. There’s even toilet paper in the back.” And lately fresh meat has reappeared in the form of sausages on the week ends.

“What goes around comes around,” Pirerra says. If shopping at mega-groceries bores you to tears, a trip to The Food Mart might just be the perfect antidote. It’s astonishing — even a bit bewildering — how much variety is packed into such a small space. Pirerra and his wife, Brenda, attend the New York Fancy Food Show each year and many items on the shelves are the result of those trips. A case of fancy chocolates includes customers’ favorite: triple-dipped malted milk balls. There’s a decent selection of wines (often on sale), beers and liquors. The deli case has cold cuts and cheeses.

There’s a wide assortment of teas. There are crackers, cookies, jams and more. They’ve even managed to squeeze in a few chairs and tables for customers to enjoy the sandwiches (the house-made chicken salad is their biggest seller) and soups made fresh daily.

Still Italian foodstuffs predominate, scattered throughout the main room and on floor to ceiling shelves and in freezer cases in the side room. A wire shelf holds breads from Fazio’s Bakery located in St. Louis’ Hill neighborhood. A host of different olive oils and vinegars stand next to canned Italian tomatoes, pasta sauces and condiments, and other Italian kitchen staples.

There’s an extensive selection of dried pastas from the commonplace spaghetti, linguini, etc. to orecheittte (the name of these bite-sized, cupshaped beauties means “little pig ears”) to esoteric shapes such as bumblebee-shaped Bumbola. Fresh pasta in the freezer is made by a Chicago company that supplies top Windy City restaurants. Some raviolis are stuffed with traditional ricotta or meat, but others are filled with such things as butternut squash, gorgonzola, osso bucco (braised veal shank) and lobster.

“It’s an eclectic bunch of stuff,” laughs Pirerra. “As are the customers.” How has The Food Mart stayed in business so long when most family-owned food stores have gone the way of the dinosaur? And not only survived, but thrived? Pirerra says that May was their biggest month ever. One