Family-owned religious store has weathered all storms

The chatter that Pope Francis will visit the land of cheesesteaks and Tastykakes next year has not been officially confirmed.

But members of the DiCocco family, owners of the St. Jude Shop Inc. in Havertown, Delaware County, might be in a position to know.

In the 50 years since the Catholic religious store was founded, the DiCoccos have been called on to design chairs for pontiffs, arrange a gift from a president to a pope, and help design the interiors of cathedrals.

But as far as Francis' visiting Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, the DiCoccos aren't talking.

"We are prepared if we're called on," is all St. Jude chief executive Norma DiCocco, 85, would say.

For five decades, the store has been called on by mothers shopping for the perfect baptismal gown, and church and government higher-ups looking for special items of religious ceremony and practice.

Norma DiCocco has done it all side by side with family. She's in business with her five children at a store that has survived and evolved in a retail climate challenged by technology, shifting shopping habits, the recession, and changing church demographics.

"The vast majority of [religious book stores] become an individual ministry, and not usually a great business. Many of these owners don't even take a salary," said Alan Stapleton, president and founder of the Catholic Marketing Network. "The DiCoccos have diversified, and that's one of the reasons they have been able to succeed."

The business is run by Norma DiCocco and her children Robert, 61; Mark, 57; Gregory, 55; Louis 3d, 53; and Judy, 51.

Each child has his or her own area of expertise in the business, situated on a modest shopping strip in the Brookline section of Haverford Township.

The store opened in 1965 as a small shop selling rosaries, books, and prayer cards. It is now a multifaceted religious-product business that includes an Internet arm, catalogs, and a liturgical arts division that designs church interiors.

Along the way, the DiCoccos have designed and built chairs for Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI to use during visits to the United States. They arranged for President Obama to give a stole that was draped around the enshrined body of St. John Neumann to Benedict as a gift. They supplied tabernacles for the Missionaries of Charity chapels after Blessed Teresa of Calcutta won the Nobel Peace Prize.

But the shop has not been immune to the ups and downs of the marketplace. During the mid-1990s, the business expanded to include seven stores in Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Now, there's just the one. Louis DiCocco 3d declined to discuss sales figures.

The DiCoccos say they have lasted for 50 years when other retailers have folded by being open and receptive to change. But when Louis DiCocco Jr. started the business, his goal was to help others ground their faith so that it could not be shaken.

A devout man, Louis Jr. had once considered becoming a priest. That changed when he met Norma Falini at the Starlight Ballroom in Wildwood. They married in 1952.

The couple opened the shop while Louis Jr. worked full-time as a civil engineer. Norma DiCocco worked during the day with two of her children by her side while her husband took over in the evenings.

The DiCoccos named the store after St. Jude because a pregnant Norma DiCocco had prayed to the patron saint of the impossible, hoping for a girl after having four boys. Judy (named Jude Thaddeus) was born Oct. 28, 1963. The couple opened the store on that date two years later. Their children grew up working in the store.

"We'd assemble Communion sets and get paid in ice cream," said Robert DiCocco, of Broomall.

In 1994, Louis Jr. died of a heart attack during a growth period for the business. But soon online purchases began eating into revenue from brick-and-mortar stores, churches with shrinking memberships closed, struggling congregations cut back on purchases, and patrons coping with the recession also cut back.

Between 2004 and 2013, the DiCoccos closed five stores. They maintain the original store and small satellites in St. Monica's Church in South Philadelphia and Malvern Retreat.

"That was tough," Gregory DiCocco said.

These are challenging years, Louis 3d added.

But the family says it is doing what Louis Jr. did in the early days, "keeping our eyes open to what's happening in the church and keeping our eyes open globally," Mark DiCocco said.

They have three websites, have expanded their national profile, and continue to be the go-to store for many churches and families.

The shop has been part of projects at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Center City and cathedrals in Washington, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.

On Tuesday, Linda Loke and her daughter-in-law shopped for christening outfits for Loke's grandchildren. Loke often had shopped at the former St. Jude's on Passyunk Avenue.

"We came from South Philadelphia for you," Loke told Norma DiCocco. "We miss you."

The DiCoccos say they plan on being around for years to come. They say their patriarch's motto will continue to serve them.

"My dad always said, 'Pray as if everything depends on God,' " Louis 3d said, " 'and work as if everything depends on you.' "

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