Briola Bros. store, Merchant Street's first grocery

Frank and Michael Briola owned a grocery at 422 - 424 Merchant St., as well as an ice plant on 10th and Melrose Ave. According to the 1924 Economy Centennial book, Economy of Old, Ambridge of Today, the Briola Bros. store was built in 1903, the first and largest grocery store on Merchant St.

The photo below shows what the interior of the store looked like in 1908. I know relatives of Frank and Michael Briola still live in the Ambridge area. Can anyone help identify the people in the photo?

Interior of Briola Bros. Grocery Store
422 - 424 Merchant St.
1908
courtesy Borough of Ambridge

 Here's a 1904 ad from Sewickley's Weekly Herald:

Briola Brothers grocery ad
Weekly Herald
January 2, 1904

And here's an ad, also from 1904, that ran in the Ambridge Economy Citizen:

Briola Bros. groceries ad
Ambridge Economy Citizen
December 16, 1904

You can see part of the Briola Bros. store on the right side of this postcard:

400 block of Merchant St. looking north
dated Sept. 9, 1915

After the Biola Bros. store closed, it was occupied by an OK Grocery, Tile City, and most recently, Tim Cassidy Construction.

This is what 422 - 424 Merchant St. looked like in 2014:

422 - 424 Merchant St.
March 30, 2014

I don't know yet when the Briola Bros. store closed. I'll update this post if I find that information.

I'll write about the Briola Ice Plant in another post.

Here's the reverse of the postcard above:

reverse of postcard above