Who moved my cheese? Gourmet-food emporium Di Bruno Bros. has a new investor, Jeff Brown’s markets.

Di Bruno Bros., the popular gourmet-food emporiums, is getting a substantial investment from the regional grocery chain founded by Jeff Brown, who stepped aside when he ran for mayor last year.

As the private transaction between the two families moves forward this week, the Di Bruno stores will be closed for the day on Thursday for what store signs describe as “technology updates.” Some will also be closed Friday.

An industry insider said that the Di Bruno name will remain, and that operations at Brown’s Super Stores, which include nine ShopRite and two Fresh Grocer supermarkets, should be unaffected. The changes should not be noticeable to Di Bruno customers, the source said.

Owners Bill Mignucci Jr. and his cousins Billy and Emilio, all in their late 50s, will remain with Di Bruno’s, the source said. After taking over from their grandfather and uncle in 1990, they grew the brand out of South Philadelphia to include five stores, plus several smaller outlets and a catering company. In 2005, the cousins opened the first store outside South Philadelphia at 18th and Chestnut Streets, a two-story behemoth near Rittenhouse Square packed with assorted stations featuring a wide range of goods.

Danny and Joe Di Bruno founded the business in 1939 in a storefront in the Ninth Street Italian Market, and expanded into cheeses in the mid-1960s.

The source said the Brown investment would add technology to the new company.

In a joint statement offering few specifics, Brown’s and Di Bruno acknowledged weeks of industry rumors that “a Brown-controlled company” would become a secured creditor of Di Bruno. The intention, the statement said, is to “create a new entity that is financially resilient and builds upon the exceptional quality and customer experience for which the Di Bruno Bros. brand is known.” Brown’s son Joshua is listed on corporate papers for two new companies, DB Gourmet Brands and DB Gourmet Markets.

The companies declined to elaborate beyond the statement.

Di Bruno’s employs about 250 workers, while about 2,300 people work at the Brown’s stores in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. The Brown’s stores are members of Wakefern Foods, the country’s largest retailer-owner cooperative.

In 1988, Jeff Brown, the son of a grocer, bought his first store, the struggling ShopRite in Roxborough. Brown and his wife, Sandy, have won praise for opening stores in areas described as food deserts, giving shelf space to small businesses, and employing formerly incarcerated people.

In the statement, Sandy Brown — the chairwoman and executive vice president of Brown’s — said her company was “excited to take this unique brand and experience to the next level of retail excellence.”

Bill Mignucci, Di Bruno’s president, said in the statement that the family was “confident that a like-minded family business will fuel the brand’s growth and more importantly preserve the legacy that Danny and Joe started 85 years ago.”