Our History

OUR ORIGINS

In 1909 Ferrari emigrated from Italy to New York, where he lived and worked for two years before returning back to his former home in Italy to marry his wife, Margherita “Margaret” Cereghini. In 1913 he returned with his new wife to the Detroit area where they lived in an apartment near the Eastern Market. During that time, Mr. Ferrari worked under the name of Mario Binell East where all the sharpening was done on the spot. Butchers and Chefs would give the sharpener their knives and they would be sharpened in the truck while at the establishment. James literally brought his grinding wheel by backpack from Italy and that very grinding wheel is still proudly displayed in our Mt. Clemens building. James worked that way for a few years until he saved enough money to buy a home on Strasburg Street near 6 Mile and Gratiot. There he set up the grinding wheel in his basement and sharpened under the name Ferrari & Lorenseti Grinding.

While living in Detroit, Ferrari and Margaret raised a family of five children: Chloris, Genetrice, Modesto, James Jr. and George. Since James Jr. and Modesto were the oldest boys, they were the first to learn their sharpening skills from their father. They all worked in the basement together until Modesto was drafted by the military and left for two years to serve his country. While Modesto was away, James Jr. and James Sr. continued to work together under the name Ferrari Brothers Grinding. After James Ferrari’s passing, his sons Modesto, James Jr. and George took over the company, naming the family business in their father’s honor, James Ferrari & Sons.

It wasn’t long before they outgrew the basement and moved into a garage on Gratiot in Mt. Clemens. They worked out of that garage for about 13 years before moving to 102 North Avenue, which was an old gas station. It was in that location where they started to diversify into seasonings, band saw blades, casings and other supplies. As the company expanded, they added on to the building, but the business would continue to outgrow that location as well.

In 1995 George Ferrari’s youngest son Vincent joined the company. Vince Ferrari is third generation and the only grandchild who took a full-time interest in the family business and today is the company’s president. He showed an interest at 8 years old and was always around the shop and today his three sons can be found around the shop also. In 1996, the company moved to Groesbeck and 16 Mile Road. A 4,000 square foot building that they thought they would never out grow, but 10 years later they would do just that.

James Ferrari & Sons is now located in a 10,000 square foot building at 148 North Groesbeck in Mt. Clemens. Today we are one of the largest sharpening services in the Detroit area. We also carry thousands of different items. They include knives, bulk spices, pre-mixed seasonings, disposable gloves, trashcan liners, grinders, stuffers, band saws and much, much more. We service both retail and wholesale customers. James Ferrari & Sons still sharpens knives for thousands of customers on a weekly basis and we take great pride in our quality and history of our trade.

Through this site we are taking our expertise in both sharpening and supplies to the next level and the World Wide Web.

We have gone to great lengths to populate our site to include some of our most popular items for chefs, butchers, hunters and home sausage enthusiasts. We sincerely hope we can be of service to you. This is a new venture for us and this site will continue to be updated on a daily basis. Please check back with us from time to time to see our new additions, specials and close out items.