DUNMORE -- Many grocery store owners said the beginning of this week, Holy Week for Christians, is their busiest all year. As people start planning their Easter meals. Some traditional foods mean big business in Lackawanna County.
Since the place opened in 1934, not much has changed at DOMA Importing Company on Drinker Street in Dunmore.
The traditional Easter cheeses are still sliced the same way. And they still stock up with more of these 60 pound blocks this time of year.
"This is very important. Certain people just have to have the certain dishes for Easter that they've always had. It's a tradition passed down from generation to generation," said owner Dominic Masteri.
Masteri's family has owned the Italian grocery store since the days when there was a shop like his on every corner in Dunmore. He said, Italian or not, people still pack his store around the holidays for the foods that are a tradition.
Homemade pasta, locatelli cheese, and Italian chocolate eggs are the best sellers for Easter. Along with the ingredients for traditional "Easter pizza".
The folks at DOMA said, on Easter, people tend to splurge after forty days of fasting.
And the same could be said just down Drinker Street at Dunmore Candy Kitchen where workers churn out hundreds of chocolates in the traditional and non-traditional shapes.
"Ever since I was little, we got more than just a bunny rabbit. You can get a lot of different things, you can get dinosaurs, a lot of different shapes. It's kind of fun for the kids," said customer Gail Budziak of Olyphant.
During Holy Week, the small shop has chocolates everywhere you turn and on every surface. Workers said the days leading up to Easter are their busiest. But, the place will look pretty barren come Sunday morning.
"It'll all be gone, come Saturday, Sunday and everything, we'll be sold out, it'll all be gone," said employee Leo Ancherani.