São Paulo – Casa da Boia, a traditional store in downtown São Paulo, hosted Friday evening (18) a party to celebrate its 120th birthday. “What’s the secret to staying active for 120 years? The respect to our relationship with all the components of our hologram, especially our collaborators and clients,” said Mário Rizkallah, the entrepreneur currently running the business founded in1898 by his grandfather, the Syrian immigrant Rizkallah Jorge.
Mário pointed out that a business has a body, mind and soul, and that these three elements have to be kept in balance. The venue that hosts the venture is the body, the mind is the clients and the soul is the collaborators. In this sense, the company paid tribute to many employees of its staff, such as the wholesale manager Miguel Baldino, who has been working there for 39 years. He began when he was only 15 as an office assistant, his first job.
Jorge arrived in Brazil in 1895 and founded the business three years later, first as Rizkallah Jorge & Cia, producing interior decoration items in metal such as sconces, fences and chandeliers, but at the beginning of the last century he began to work with hydraulic material, given the demand for adequate sanitation due to the increasing concern with public health and the expansion of the city itself. Copper for hydraulic and electric projects was the flagship.
In the beginning, in addition to the store, the business had its own foundry, but currently Casa da Boia operates mainly as a distributor of nonferrous metals and, of course, with the retail of metal items and hydraulic products in the traditional store at Rua Florêncio de Abreu,123.
At its 120th birthday, Casa da Boia has created a cultural area and opened, on Monday (14) the exhibition “Between papers, photos and objects: the collection of Rizkallah Jorge Tahan.” The exhibit was open for the Friday evening guests.
The cultural space is run by Adriana Rizkallah, Mário’s wife, who also helps manage the company, and the exhibition’s curatorship was done by historian Renata Geraissatti, who did her end of course paper at São Paulo Federal University (UNIFESP) on the business, chose Rizkallah Jorge as the topic of her master’s degree and continues to study the topic in her doctorate studies.
Mário said that his invitation for his wife to work in the business, after they got married 30 years ago, was one of the best ideas he ever had.
Blessing
In the ceremony, Dom Matthias Braga, abbot of the Abbey of São Bento, located almost next to the store, Bishop Nareg Berberian, incumbent prelate of the diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church in Brazil, and the Archpriest Yeznig Guzelian, also from the Armenian Church, conducted a blessing. Rizkallah Jorge was of Armenian descent.
“The history of the business and family is very meaningful, not only for the family members, but for the city of São Paulo,” said Dom Matthias, who also mentioned an excerpt of the Gospel of Saint Mark.
“[Casa da Boia] is a landmark of retail, of the region and the city of São Paulo in these 120 years of existence,” added Bishop Berberian, who conducted the prayers. He also recalled that Rizkallah Jorge was the one responsible for the building of the Saint George Armenian Cathedral in São Paulo, which will hold, on May 24, an event to celebrate its 70 years, with a music concert and exhibition on the history of the temple.
The party at Casa da Boia saw massive attendance from the Arab community in São Paulo, including many Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce board members, such as Mário himself, president Rubens Hannun, CEO Michel Alaby, vice presidents Osmar Chohfi and Rui Curi, Cultural director Sílvia Antibas, treasurer Nahid Chicani, director Sami Roumieh, and former presidents Antonio Sarkis Junior, Salim Schahin and Marcelo Sallum. The consul of Syria in São Paulo, Sami Salameh, also attended.
The party continued with live music, with at least three musical performances. Mário is a huge jazz fan and plays in a band.
Read a full news feature on Casa da Boia by journalist Bruna Garcia.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
