Shopper's Square Mall

Forty-six years after Shoppers Square opened, co-founder and patriarch Ralph Casazza still climbs the stairs to his second-floor office several afternoons a week to check in on his realm.
The modest complex has weathered a tempestuous era of retailing in Reno, outliving its more upscale rival, Park Lane Mall across the street, expanding several times and continuing to draw a steady clientele, as it has since 1964.

At 83, Casazza has seen nearly everything: stores come and go, shopping centers rise and fall, and retail's geographic center move south from downtown Reno to Plumb Lane to points beyond.

His secret, he divulges only when pressed, is the connection of a family-run center with its merchants.

Unlike corporately owned retail complexes these days, Shoppers Square always has been run by a Casazza, and the President and CEO Ralph Casazza is a regular presence even now, despite using a cane to get around.

"We're hands-on, and we're very involved with the community," said the soft-spoken grandson of Italian immigrants. "We were dedicated, and we lived local."

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