For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Peter Jarema Funeral Home.

Alexa Mae Asperin

As an abandoned coffin reminded us this week, the East Village still has its share of funeral parlors, though some have become stores and others have become construction sites. Peter Jarema Funeral Home, on 129 East Seventh Street, is among the remaining ones. Robert Buzzetta bought into the 106-year-old family business back in 1987. In 2010, his son Danny became a partner, after 15 years as a pallbearer. We spoke to the younger Buzzetta, the home’s vice president and managing funeral director, about the business of dying.

How did your family get into the funeral business?

My father was making funeral arrangements for his mother in-law in 1986 and began a relationship Mr. Lou Nigro who was working for the Jarema Family as a funeral director for many years. Mr. Nigro was interested in purchasing the business and building from the Jarema family and needed a financial partner. My father Robert Buzzetta and Lou Nigro purchased the funeral home and building in September 1, 1987. I purchased Lou Nigro’s share on March 1, 2011.

Shira Levine

Most people have little understanding of what is involved in the funeral business outside of “Six Feet Under” and their own personal experiences with death. What is involved with running a funeral home?

Running a funeral home comes down to helping a grieving family in a time of need. Whether it’s a cremation, burial or shipment internationally, we can assist in obtaining all the proper paperwork and permits. We remove the individual from his or her final resting place. We perform the embalming if it’s needed, facilitate arranging cemeteries, crematories, churches, shipment agencies, consulates if need be, etc. If the family is looking to have a viewing we handle all the merchandise needed and setup for the viewing [including] cosmetology, dressing, casketing. We own one black hearse. We have a livery company where we rent limousines on an as-need basis. We have one funeral director, myself, on staff to handle all the funeral directing and a funeral trade service where we can hire extra funeral directors as needed.

There are just a few other funeral homes in the East Village, like R G Ortiz and Provenzano Lanza. How do you stand out from your competition in the neighborhood?

In the past every funeral home had a niche clientele base. Jarema used to do all the Ukrainian and Russian families. Many funeral homes have closed in the past twenty years so that is no longer the case. Our clientele is still majority Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, but we have begun to assist more Latino families as well. My mother is Ukrainian and I am fluent in Ukrainian so we are the only funeral home in New York City that can handle an entire funeral in Ukrainian. Our prices are very competitive to the other funeral homes and we completed a full renovation of the interior of the funeral home in 2011.

How has your business evolved over the years?

Other than the full renovation, we have begun to accept credit cards as a form of payment this year. Also, we’re moving more into pre-arrangement funerals as our Old World community ages. We will have a whole new community of people that we cater to and that’s where word-of-mouth and having a Website has proven to be big — now that you can prearrange a funeral and make a trust account with a government agency that is FDIC insured. That is the way the business is going now. We have over 100 people doing this with us now.

Would you consider being part of a large corporation?

God no, they are terrible. We’re a small, family business so we hate the corporations and the corporations hate us. It’s like a Yankee and Mets type situation, so pretty cutthroat.

How do you handle being around death every day?

We are not grieving ourselves; we are respectful and personal with our service, but we are normal and able to laugh like anyone behind closed doors. We are an efficient small business. We’re just five people and we are low-key.

What has been your most successful year?

We have records of every funeral handled since 1906 and as late as into the ’70s and ’80s Jarema was having 200 to 250 funerals a year. In the ’50s and ’60s the Jarema family was having 300 to 400 funerals a year. Those days are long gone, as the neighborhood has become a high-cost rent area where most people rent for a few years and move. No longer do a majority of individuals live their entire lives in apartments in the East Village. Now, we average roughly 125 funerals a year.

How much does a funeral cost with you?

The least expensive is a direct cremation where there is no viewing, no merchandise needed, no religious service. Our cost is $995 plus cash advances. Normally comes to a total of $1,400 to $1,500 when a family that wants to have a one day viewing in the funeral home, followed by the next day religious service and burial. Our casket range is $995 to $13,000. A grave in Calvary Cemetery in Queens will cost roughly $6,000 to purchase and then a $2,200 grave opening cost at the time of burial. Cemeteries further from New York City are far less expensive. All cemeteries charge extra for Saturday burials.

How has the industry changed the most in the last ten years?

It is so much more economical to cremate, so it has become a lot more common. That is what hurts our business, though. Our revenue comes from viewings and services. I’d say in ten years we will be at 50/50 burials to cremations. Ten years ago it was 80/20 and now it’s 55/45. As long as people want to view their loved ones, we will exist. As people forgo the services, more funeral homes will have to close and there will sadly be more conglomerates.

What is your rent like?

Because my father is still half owner of the building as well as the business, the rent is far less then anyone else in the neighborhood. Per our contractual agreement with Mr. Nigro the funeral home currently pays $2,500 a month in rent with an increase to $3,000 in five years for the next five years thereafter. We have roughly 4,500 square feet and we’re all on one floor.