About Us
The Beginning:
In 1903, my grandfather, Antonio Barranti, left Sicily and came to America in search of the American Dream. He settled near Pittsburgh and began a produce company. In the beginning, he took his cart up and down the hilly streets around Pittsburgh selling his produce. A horse drawn wagon soon replaced the cart, and later, a truck replaced the wagon, expanding his reach. His business continued to grow, and finally, in 1919, he opened The Barranti Market.
The Legacy:
His store thrived and it became the first self service grocery store in Pittsburgh, complete with aisles and shopping carts. The store remained open for years, being run by 4 of my aunts, and finally closed it's doors in the 1970s. My memories of the store are practically non-existant. I barely remember the storefront but do recall the little wax soda bottle shaped candy filled with flavored syrup that sat on the shelf behind the register.
Fast forward nearly 100 years from when young Antonio first hung his sign, The Barranti Market, above the door of his store, and another Barranti Market has opened. Like Antonio, I've been at this a while, growing and expanding, and now my own Online Store is open. There is more work to do, but it is open for business. Thanks for looking!
Doc Barranti
My fascination with handguns and leather goes far back to my childhood. All of my TV Heroes carried them and I dreamed of owning my own. As I graduated from cap guns to BB and pellet guns, I built my own holsters from whatever material I could find. Like Skeeter Skelton, one of my earliest holsters was made from the top of an old pair of cowboy boots. Though it was crude and flimsy, it was real leather and I was proud of it! When I got my first real handguns, good gunleather was far out of reach for my budget, and the cheap stuff wasn't worth wasting my money on. My father often would say "...why buy something when you can build it better yourself?", so I began cobbling my own custom leather holsters from cowhides purchased from a local Tandy Leather. Those early kitchen table holsters paved the way to what has come to be known as Barranti Leather.
I consider myself blessed in that I am able to pursue a career working with things that have long been a passion of mine; Sixguns and Custom Gunleather. It has been a nearly lifelong dream, and I consider it a privilege and honor to be able to create functional works of gunleather art. I could not do this without the constant support of my friends and family, not to mention the many valued customers who have chosen Barranti Leather for their custom gunleather needs. To all of you I say thank you for believing in and choosing Barranti Leather.
To all of our customers, old and new, we look forward to doing business with you!
Best Wishes and Good Hunting! Mike Doc Barranti