For the Cardi brothers, family is a brand name

Before they were at the helm of one of the largest furniture store businesses in the region, the Cardi brothers were just three boys struggling with a rowboat.
The tale is part of the canon of NI-RO-PE, the shorthand name for brothers and Cardi’s Furniture owners Nick, Ron and Pete: When they were kids, their parents gave them a 10-foot-long rowboat. Christened the Nirope by their great-aunt Grace, the boat taught them the value of hard work and teamwork, Nick Cardi recalled.
The history of Cardi’s goes back to 1928, when an Italian immigrant living in Cranston, Rosa Cardi, opened a general store. Eventually, she was joined by her sons: first, Nicholas Cardi Sr., who left school at 16 to work at the store full time, then Peter Cardi.
The business saw its first real expansion in 1942, when Nicholas increased the furniture portion of the business to include appliances and carpeting. And for the next 30 years, he operated a successful, if modest, business in Cardi’s.
When it came time to pass the business on, Nicholas Cardi Sr. looked to his sons.
The kids had grown up in the store, playing, breaking and working with furniture. They also grew into the decision. One by one, as they graduated from college, they came to the family business.
The Cardi’s they inherited had only one full-time employee aside from the family members. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, the brothers worked to expand it, but it was still small.
Looking to break out, they developed a creative marketing plan. The way Pete Cardi tells it, the brothers knew they offered low prices and good customer service, but that wasn’t something that other stores couldn’t claim. The one thing they couldn’t claim was NI-RO-PE.
The early ads focused on the meaning of the term. Then, as it became more familiar, the brothers started having more fun with their commercials, giving the brand a more personal touch.
“We took us to the airwaves,” Pete Cardi recalled. “And that’s when we really took off.”
Today, the brothers are southern New England celebrities. Whether it’s becoming a bullet point on a “You Know You’re a Rhode Islander” checklist or a being spotted in an Italian village, it’s apparent that people now recognize the brothers as much as the brand.
And as the Cardis have grown as a local institution, so has their business.
In 1989, they opened the 24-acre Swansea facility, followed by superstores in Warwick and South Attleboro, a clearance center in Fall River and, most recently, a bedding center in South Kingstown. Cardi’s now employs about 700 people.
Asked what it’s like to work side by side with their brothers, all three said it’s mostly positive.
Each has assumed a different role: Nick heads up sales, Ron heads up legal and facilities, and Pete works with advertising and distribution. And they all rely on one another.
“We’re all very different from each other, but our work ethic is very similar,” said Pete Cardi.
The brothers said they have a few years left in charge of the family business, though they are thinking about the future of the Cardi’s brand.
But they wouldn’t say whose children, if any, would become the fourth generation in the Cardi lineage. If that were to happen, they said, the younger Cardis would have to bring the same work ethic and dedication as they brought to the job.
“I think you just have to have passion,” Ron Cardi said. “That’s something that is learned in the environment you are in.”