Arabic version: إعادة افتتاح صالة عرض فرانكو كوتسو في برونزويك

According to ABC News, several children of Melbourne furniture retailer Franco Cozzo have reopened the family’s Brunswick showroom, three years after the death of its founder at age 88.

The Sydney Road store, which first opened in the mid-1980s, had been closed for five years. Its grand reopening took place over the weekend, with an Italian tricolour archway and complimentary cannoli greeting customers.

Cozzo became a Melbourne cultural icon through television advertisements in the 1980s and 1990s. Known for the catchphrase “Megalo!” and his pronunciation of Footscray as “Foot-iz-kraay”, he was among the first prominently Italian-Australian voices on commercial television.

His daughter Alessia Cozzo said the family had promised their father they would continue the business. The revived showroom includes a front room displaying his furniture and a tribute wall. Alessia said demand for the store’s Sicilian baroque-style furniture remained strong.

Filmmaker Madeleine Martiniello, who directed the 2021 documentary Palazzo di Cozzo, said Cozzo’s influence extended beyond retail. She described him as a significant figure in Melbourne’s cultural identity whose store and furniture continue to draw interest from older Italian migrants and people with a post-modern appreciation of the style.