S.S. Pierce: A Boston Tradition

When Samuel Stillman Pierce opened his store in 1831, he vowed, “I may not make money for the next five years, but I shall make a reputation.”

Pierce went on to become well known as the purveyor of groceries, fancy goods, wines, and spirits to Bostonians in the nineteenth century, as well as providing provisions to the ships that sailed from Boston Harbor.

Bartering with ship captains, he often exchanged his provisions for the delicacies that were brought to Boston from faraway ports. His renowned store catered to the carriage trade, and the company would be headed by four generations of the Pierce family. With its own coat of arms adorning a distinctive red label on canned goods, bearing the motto Puritas et Cura, and the largest line of privately packed fancy foods in the world, S.S. Pierce & Company sold its wide assortment of delicacies at a chain of stores as well as through distributors across the United States and worldwide by mail order. S.S. Pierce & Company was sold in 1967 to Laird Corporation, and in 1972 to Seneca Foods. Since 1986, it has been a part of Kraft Foods Group and M.S. Walker.

In his book S.S. Pierce: A Boston Tradition, Anthony M. Sammarco recounts memories of the past and the shared tradition of how Bostonians reveled in the gourmet foods, fine wines, and Madeira of a once stalwart business.