Growing a family business in Inwood

Cimato clan to honored by civic association

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Whether helping customers find what they need or providing them with information they didn’t know, the Cimato family shares their expansive experience; knowledge gained through years of hard work.

On Saturday, the Inwood Civic Association will honor the entire clan: Frank Sr., his wife of nearly 53 years, Carmela; sons Salvatore, Giuseppe, Marino and Frank Jr.; and daughters Francesca and Rosa, as its Citizen of the Year, at the Inwood Country Club at 50 Peppe Road in Inwood on Saturday. All the Cimato siblings are married and have children of their own.

Frank Sr., 80, came to the U.S. at 19 from the southern Italian town of Filindari in 1956, and landed in Inwood, where many family members already lived. He worked as a landscaper and dreamed of buying a brand new car. “My boss bought a new Chevrolet, and I said one day I’ll buy a new car.” Applying a nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic, he bought a new Chevrolet Impala four years later.

In 1964, he married Carmela in Filindari and they settled in Inwood. After being an employee for a few years, he started his own landscaping business. Still speaking mostly Italian, Frank Sr. joined his social skills — he always greets someone with a handshake — and that work ethic to create a successful business.

With oldest sons Salvatore and Giuseppe, he opened Cimato and Sons in 1986. It was previously Tommy Federico’s equipment dealership. The family’s business was originally a small repair shop, and then rapidly bloomed and became a full nursery — shrubs and many flowers — along with being a lawn equipment and garden retail center. It serves both retail and wholesale customers.

“We are very proud of the family, and my father worked very hard to build this business,” Francesca said as she worked the front counter last Friday. “We feel proud that something small became this big.”

She worked part-time at the store, went to college and worked in the city for a brief time, then came to work at the business at 136 Mott Ave. in Inwood in 1989. Rosa also attended college and began in the family business in 1996.

Marino is an architect who works for a Manhattan firm. Frank Jr. is a dentist with a practice in Stamford, Conn. Marino returns to the store and helps out on Saturdays. Frank Jr. the joke is, comes in for the family discount. “We have been growing at a steady pace,” Rosa said.

It was not as busy on March 17 as it should have been, and not because it was St. Patrick’s Day. The blast of arctic temperatures kept the landscapers and gardeners away, Francesca said. “If this was a beautiful day, I wouldn’t have five seconds to talk to you,” she said to a Herald reporter.

Rakes, shovels and lawn mowers inhabit the equipment side, while the nursery is filled with an assortment of annuals and perennials flowers. “This time of the year gardeners come in and wholesalers buy in bulk, Francesca said.

Work is work, but there is always time for family. Decorative hearts adorn the walls behind the front counter announcing the name, date of birth, weight and length of several grandchildren — 13 in all.

While the younger generation has moved to the surrounding communities of Lynbrook, East Rockaway and Rockville Centre, the Cimato family remains tight-knit, but Frank Sr. is not leaving his hometown. “My heart is in Inwood,” he said, “I love my town.”