By Lachlan Abbott
For many Melburnians, the words “grand sale, grand sale, grand sale. Where? In Brunaswick and Footiscray” are permanently etched in their memory.
Franco Cozzo, the Italian-Australian furniture salesman who proudly declared them in his own enthusiastic style, died on Wednesday, his family announced on social media. He was 88.
Melbourne furniture magnate Franco Cozzo in his showroom in 2021.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Franco Cozzo,” his family wrote on social media.
“He was surrounded by his loving wife and family. We would greatly appreciate that our privacy be respected during this difficult time.”
Cozzo’s wife, Assunta, told The Age: “We want his legacy to forever be remembered as he was a true icon to multiple people around the world.
“The family would like to say a massive thank you to the public for supporting Franco throughout his life.”
Cozzo’s hand-waving DIY television ads – featuring his signature colourful baroque furniture – were everywhere in the 1980s and ’90s, so much so that he became a Melbourne icon.
The ads, in which he used a fusion of English, Italian and Greek, came to represent Melbourne’s burgeoning multicultural identity and immigrant community in the late-20th century.
Born on October 2, 1935, Cozzo emigrated from Sicily to Australia in the 1950s aged 21, and later became known for spruiking his furniture, which was sold in showrooms in Footscray, Brunswick and – for a shorter time – North Melbourne.
His cult celebrity was the subject of a feature-length documentary in 2021, and a mural of his image is now emblazoned across his former showroom in Footscray – which Cozzo often pronounced as “Footiscray”.
He owned his Footscray showroom on Hopkins Street for five decades before selling it in 2018 for $7 million.
Cozzo’s other long-standing store on Sydney Road in Brunswick is also now closed.
Les Twentyman, a long-time youth worker in Melbourne’s inner west, said Cozzo’s proud immigrant identity helped other migrants feel at home in Australia.
“When he walked in the room he lit up the room,” Twentyman said, adding that he remembered Cozzo once employed Melburnians struggling with homelessness in his stores.
“They felt as if they belonged to an icon of the western suburbs,” he said.
Twentyman placed Cozzo alongside footballer Ted Whitten as a legend of Melbourne’s historically working-class and multicultural west.
This year the Maribyrnong City Council approved plans to turn Cozzo’s former Footscray store into a multi-level bar and music venue.
The owners have committed to keeping the famous signage and mural, while also creating an area dedicated to the furniture king with wares fit for his stores.
Cozzo produced Australia’s first Italian language TV program, the variety show Carosello, in 1968. By the ’80s he was taking a more direct approach to promotion, putting himself front and centre in the ads that made him a cult figure in his hometown.
“Megalo megalo megalo ... Buy from Franco Cozzo! Today, tomorrow, always! In Brunsawick, Norta Melbourne and Footiscray,” Cozzo cried.
He also once spruiked The Age in a TV advertisement.
The film about Cozzo – Palazzo di Cozzo – traced his journey from Sicily, where he worked with his father breaking horses, to the promise of a better life in Australia. It became both a portrait of the man and a social history of migration in Melbourne.
Melburnians flooded social media with tributes to the flamboyant salesman on Wednesday, describing him as “the ultimate immigrant success story”.
Victorian minister Natalie Suleyman, who represents the seat of St Albans in Melbourne’s west, was among those to pay tribute to Cozzo.
The mural on the Franco Cozzo Footscray building.Credit: Richard Cornish
“Vale Franco Cozzo,” she wrote. “A legend of the west.”
Cozzo is survived by his wife Assunta and 10 children.
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correction
An earlier of version of this story reported that Cozzo died aged 87. His son later told The Age he was aged 88.