Long before Hershey was defined by towering roller coasters and a sprawling corporate footprint, it was a growing company town that drew immigrants from all over the world. Among them was Michele (Michael) Pronio, an Italian immigrant with a fierce work ethic. He first arrived in New York City and opened a retail shoe store, which failed. Much like Milton S. Hershey himself, Michele was not intimidated by failure. He went on to open a successful saloon, which helped pave the way for his future businesses. Michelel’s brother, Fred, was the first to settle in the Hershey area and worked as a musician for Mr. Hershey himself.

   Fred was the spark that led Michele to Hershey, relaying the promising opportunity of a parlor store for sale in the area. Michele arrived in Hershey in 1919, purchased the store, and began building the grocery business that still serves the community today. The story of Pronio's Market did not begin in a traditional commercial storefront; it began on Michele’s back, selling groceries door-to-door to his neighbors from his parlor. He and his family lived in the back and established a permanent base of operations: a "parlor market" run directly out of the front living room of their home in the old village of Spring Creek, a patch of land close to where Hershey’s Chocolate World sits. 

     In the 1920s, Michele then built a 2-story building on the opposite corner of the current store. Here, Michele and his family lived upstairs and the retail store was on the ground floor. Groceries were stacked high on shelves and retrieved by the staff with wooden-handled grabbers. Bulk pasta was stored in large bins, each holding a unique cut and shape. Much like general stores of the past, Michele sold glassware, bedding, shoes, and clothing to truly represent the needs of the neighborhood. When Michele wasn’t delivering milk to local homes, he used his delivery truck to transport children to school each day.

     In those early days, it was a true neighborhood general store. Because the community was built on close-knit immigrant bonds, the store also served as a vibrant social hub. A young Michele would haul bushels of grapes around town for neighbors making homemade wine that reminded them of Italy, stopping in local basements to chat and sample the previous year’s vintage.

As Milton Hershey’s chocolate empire expanded, the town began to shift. Michele’s son, Vincent (Vince), was a bright young man with a golden opportunity to leave the small-town grocery life behind for a lucrative career on Wall Street. However, the pull of family and the Hershey community won out. Vincent chose to stay, pouring his energy into modernizing the business. After initially moving to a small retail location on Caracas Avenue, Vince took the opportunity, when Michele retired, to bring Pronio’s into the modern era. In 1962, he built the standalone brick building opposite where his father built, the corner of Caracas Avenue and Valley Road, the exact location where Pronio’s still stands today.

     Vincent transformed the old-school general store into a modern, self-service market by introducing frozen foods, dairy items, and a complete deli selection. Swinging beef carcasses were brought in from the Hershey abattoir, or slaughterhouse, and broken down on site.

In 1983, the apron strings were passed to the third generation when Vincent's son, Mike Pronio, took the helm. Mike often describes his inheritance not as a burden, but as a "moving train" that his grandfather and father built, noting that his job has simply been to keep it running smoothly on the tracks. A humble and quiet man, Mike attributes the store's success to his devoted staff, preferring to "stay out of the way." From a backroom office filled to the ceiling with paperwork, receipts, handwritten notes from the community, and historical photos, Mike's reserve is met with a deep appreciation for the life the store has provided him.

     While corporate mega-chains and massive grocery stores transformed the Central Pennsylvania retail landscape, Pronio’s consciously chose to stay small, intimate, and stubbornly human. This neighbor-helping-neighbor philosophy dates back to the Great Depression, when Michele kept the town fed by running tabs for families who could not pay.

     Decades later, that same dedication to traditional grocery service is exactly why Pronio's Market remains a beloved Hershey landmark. In an era of self-checkout lanes and automated customer service, having young grocery clerks carry bags to your car and chatting with counter staff who have been there for 30 to 40 years transforms a routine chore into a true community experience. While many larger chains do not cut or grind meat in-store, Pronio’s butchers still cut meat to each customer’s exact specifications and offer this service daily. This workplace culture treats staff like an extended branch of the Pronio family tree, creating a sense of continuity where generations of local families buy their groceries from the same people who served their parents and grandparents.

If the grocery aisles are the bones of the store, the deli counter is the beating heart. Pronio’s is legendary in Central Pennsylvania for its scratch-made comfort food and old-school butchery.

One of the most meaningful new chapters for Pronio’s Market is the arrival of Pronio's Sicilian DOP Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a product that reflects the same care, patience, and personal commitment that have defined the market for generations. Mike’s sons, Matt and James, did not simply add an imported item to the shelves. They spent months tasting, researching, and building a direct relationship with Sikulus, a four-generation family estate in Sicily, to ensure the oil met the standard their customers expect. Crafted from 100% hand-harvested Nocellara dell’Etna olives grown on the mineral-rich volcanic slopes of Mount Etna and cold-pressed within eight hours of harvest, the oil brings notes of bitter herbs, green almond, fresh-cut grass, and a clean peppery finish. The oil recently won Gold as the Best Olive Oil in 2026, a shining example of the quality customers can expect from the Pronio family.

     The Pronio brothers’ dedication now extends to organic Russello ancient grain pasta, imported with the same attention to quality, authenticity, and tradition. Made from a historic Sicilian grain with 40% less gluten and higher nutrients than modern pasta, it offers a lighter feel, along with superior texture, taste, and bite. For Matt and James, the oil and pasta are not side projects. They represent a thoughtful evolution of the market’s identity, connecting Pronio’s local customers with deeply rooted Italian producers and ingredients worthy of the family name.

     Over the past four years, the Pronio brothers have spent their summers traveling through Italy, driving thousands of miles into small towns and remote villages to find artisanal products made by producers who still rely on traditional methods. In an industry where authenticity can be difficult to trust, they have made it a priority to go directly to the source. Their goal is to bridge the gap between pure raw materials and the customers who shop at their family market. The olive oil and pasta are only the beginning of that mission, signaling a new generation’s commitment to honoring Pronio’s heritage while bringing exceptional Italian products to Hershey and beyond.

      Through three generations and more than a century of history, the Pronio family has operated under a beautifully simple creed passed down through the decades: “Be nice, be fair, be productive.”