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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Owner of Marietta's Clothing Shop Dies After Decades on Court Street

 Joe Chirico, 93, began running Marietta's at 392 Court St. with his brother Matt in the early 1950s after World War II. The shop was started by their mother, Maria, an Italian immigrant from Amalfi, Italy who started her business by selling dresses door-to-door in the neighborhood. This photo of Chirico was taken in 2014.
Joe Chirico, 93, began running Marietta's at 392 Court St. with his brother Matt in the early 1950s after World War II. The shop was started by their mother, Maria, an Italian immigrant from Amalfi, Italy who started her business by selling dresses door-to-door in the neighborhood. This photo of Chirico was taken in 2014.
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DNAinfo/Nikhita Venugopal

CARROLL GARDENS — Joe Chirico, the nonagenarian proprietor of the Court Street dress shop founded by his mother in the 1940s, died June 2, according to a note in the shop window.

Joe Chirico took over the shop with his brother, Matt, in the early 1950s. Their mother, Maria Chirico, an Italian immigrant, opened Marietta's at 392 Court St. after selling dresses door-to-door in the neighborhood.

Matt Chirico died in 2014 at 87, but the shop continued to open every week with Matt's grandson, Matt Egan, helping his grand-uncle Joe, even as the neighborhood changed around them.

Marietta's is a neighborhood stalwart located near Carroll Street that has seen years of shifting fashion in Brooklyn for men, women and children.

 A note and a red rose posted outside the shop as seen on Monday morning. The note read,
A note and a red rose posted outside the shop as seen on Monday morning. The note read, "Joseph Chirico has passed away on 6/2/2016."
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DNAinfo/Nikhita Venugopal

That included slips women wore under dresses and woolen undergarments adored by dock workers during the winter, Chirico told DNAinfo New York in 2014.

Longline bras and garters used to sell "like crazy," he said.

Stacks of cardboard boxes were piled around the store with signifiers like "Cotton PJ Pants" written on the side. Tiny drawers were filled with even smaller accessories and along the walls of hung dresses, nightwear and bras for women. 

"What people bought years ago, they don't buy today," said Chirico, who was 93 at the time. "Styles have changed." 

The death was first reported by Pardon Me for Asking, which also wrote that Marietta's has been shuttered for a few months this year.