The recent 85th anniversary celebration by Marra's Drug Store brought back many fond memories of Gerard A. Marra and his wife Ida and the early years of the drug store.
In the very early years, our family lived next door to the small store at 1273 Paterson Plank Road, which later became Marra's original location. That location had been a shoe repair shop and later the Peerless Drug Store which Gerry purchased. At that time, another store was generally recognized as the town's premier drug store at the corner of Front Street and Golden Avenue. But that would last only until our townspeople got to know what a fine person Mr. Marra was, how hard he worked and the quality of service he provided.
Mr. Marra kept his store opened seven days a week including all holidays, gave his customers personal attention, good value, good delivery service and also installed a night bell for emergencies. Within a few short years his small store became Secaucus' #1 drug store.
As a youngster I worked for Mr. Marra for five years, working in both the old store and the present one. As the years passed, I learned many valuable lessons, observing as the progressive Gerry Marra built a very large following and strong business reputation. His success was so good that it enabled him to purchase the corner property they now occupy.
The new and much larger store allowed him to provide residents with high quality service on a much larger scale. He developed a professional staff, focusing on competence and customer service. As a result, residents responded well and in larger numbers, year in and year out. While Mr. Marra built a solid foundation for the family drug store, all of the Marra men and women deserve much credit for continuing to maintain his high standards for all these many years. They and their great staff continue to go out of their way to be helpful to their customers. The Marra's have been serving the people of Secaucus for more years than any other enterprise in town. All of them are to be congratulated and have our best wishes for many more years of continued success.
Paul Amico
Former Mayor
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