GINA MERANTE | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

Gina Merante can’t stand the sight of an empty shelf.

On an unseasonably warm afternoon in late February, I find the 58-year-old transferring 800 pounds of produce from her car into Bloomfield’s Linea Verde Green Market. While restocking the 224-square-foot space with colorful fruits and vegetables, she chats with regular customers who she refers to as “my kids.”

Julianna Ross, Merante’s only biological daughter and the store’s sole employee, hands me a slice of Sumo Citrus, an oversized Japanese fruit that’s a cross between a navel orange, a pomelo and a mandarin.

I take a bite. It tastes like candy.

“If I wouldn’t eat it, I wouldn’t sell it to you,” Merante says before popping a piece into her mouth and smiling.

She opened the Liberty Avenue store a decade ago, but she’s been feeding people most of her life.

Merante’s large Italian family lived in Mt. Lebanon and ran produce stands throughout the city, including Groceria Merante, a fixture in Oakland since 1979. Her late uncle Sal Merante was well-known in that neighborhood for his stylish suits and white, handlebar mustache.

In Bloomfield, Gina Merante is a bonafide celebrity, too. People pass the shop and scream “GINA!” at the top of their lungs. Others come inside to say hello and purchase imported goods and local products, including small harvests from area farmers, Forma pasta and milk, Sausalido Premium spices, Pittsburgh Honey, eggs and cheese from Twin Brook Dairy Co., brothmonger soups and La Prima Espresso coffee. Dogs wait patiently on the front step for their daily treat and belly rub.

Most business transactions end with Merante unleashing a rapid-fire “OK thanks. I love you. Bye!”

Linea Verde is a cornucopia of good vibes. It’s decorated with hand-made cards and children’s artwork, photos of Merante’s beloved Boston terriers Basil and Sage, souvenirs from her regular trips to Sicily, a framed portrait of Sophia Loren and whimsical sayings printed on produce boxes. One piece of cardboard taped to the wall reads, “Hearts, minds and coconuts are better open.”

GINA MERANTE AND HER DAUGHTER, JULIANNA ROSS | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

Ross, 27, recently started a career as a dietetic technician, so she isn’t able to help out at the shop as much, but she still maintains the market’s social media pages. Snapshots of her mom beaming next to big piles of green peppers get hundreds of likes.

Pittsburgh’s Patron Saint of Produce is located a few doors down from the Saint Ravioli store and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Store. It’s truly a blessed block. Merante’s store is named in honor of “Linea Verde,” the longest-running program on Italian public television. For more than 50 years, it’s been featuring stories about food and culture.

Merante and Ross, who made me laugh harder than any scripted comedy series I’ve seen, need their own reality TV show. Not only would it be entertaining, it’d be educational, too, since the dynamic duo enjoy teaching folks about nutritious food and how to prepare it.

Merante does admit that she has a weakness for cheese.

“The happiest people eat cheese,” she says, holding up a large wedge. “This is a single-serving size for me.”

The tiny storefront can barely contain its proprietor’s larger-than-life personality. When the weather warms, Merante keeps the front door propped open. In the summer, when Linea Verde’s facade is obstructed by a veritable forest of flowers and greenery, the self-confessed “crazy plant lady” sets up a sidewalk taco stand and dishes out advice on myriad topics.

She’s Bloomfield’s listening ear, helping hand, and shoulder to cry on. She’s also a community resource, stocking the shelves of area food pantries and making sure small business owners have the best supplies.

Wes Shonk, owner of Goodlander Cocktail Brewery in Larimer, relies on fresh fruit to make ready-to-serve, effervescent beverages that are kegged and poured straight from the tap.

“Linea Verde is our go-to vendor for hard-to-find seasonal fruits,” he says. “Gina knows how to get things like the best peaches, mangos and blood oranges. Plus she has all the connections to know when the first shipments are arriving in Pittsburgh, which gives us the longest possible window to feature their limited seasons.”

Although she has a house in Brookline, Merante spends most of her time either at the store or buying things to fill it. Each day at 5:30 a.m., she heads to Consumer Fresh Produce in the Strip District and packs her car with fruits and veggies, just like her dad, Giuseppe Merante, did until his death in 1991. Some of the salesmen who worked for her father are still in business. Pete Machi, the city’s berry buyer, named his daughter Gina.

If there’s a vegetarian trend sprouting up on social media, Linea Verde Green Market is usually the first place in the city where folks can find it. It’s the kind of old-fashioned establishment that’s disappearing from a landscape dotted with big box grocery warehouses.

Merante considers her shop a fruit and vegetable museum.

As we continue to talk, a teenager enters the store and gives Merante a wave. She tells him to grab a cookie from the table in the back. Earlier that day, his younger brother stopped in for an after-school snack.

“I know his whole diet,” Merante says with a laugh. “He gets whatever he wants. Sometimes I cook for him on my electric skillet, but today it was half a gallon of chocolate milk and an orange. I love what I do. I’m the luckiest person alive.”