A Grocer on Every Corner... Well, Almost
The Avalon American Store at 21st and Second Avenue, circa 1945.
Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts examining the tradition of neighborhood grocers on the Seven Mile Beach. Today’s part is a look at Avalon’s grocers. Stone Harbor’s will be featured in our July issue.
A grocer on every corner? OK, not exactly, but there was a time when small grocers dotted the Seven Mile Beach. From 8th Street all the way down to 107th Street. Each with its own personality but all filling the need to feed the island community as it grew.
Although the Seven Mile Beach has no grocery stores open in the shoulder or winter seasons, that wasn’t always the case. Actually, it was just the opposite. There was a time, even with a very sparse winter population, that the island was filled with neighborhood grocers, most open seven days a week all year. In many cases, they were within several blocks of residents and provided seasonal employment for teens. The grocers also served as social hubs for the community and specific neighborhoods. It was the place to run in and converse with neighbors as well as to catch up on some of the latest news around town.
There was even a time in the 1940s when the island had an American Store (the forerunner and parent company of today’s Acme Markets). The current site of Circle Pizza originally was the home of an American Store. The American store was managed by Frank Moore, a local who lived just around the corner on 21st Street. At that same time, the island also had two locations of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. (You might be more familiar with the stores simply by their initials: A&P). The Stone Harbor store was on 96th Street at the current site of The Green Cuisine and Uncle Bill’s while the Avalon location was just around the corner from the American Store on 21st Street between Dune and Ocean Drives. Both were full-service grocery stores with butchered meat departments, fresh produce and various grocery items. Both operated seven days a week, 12 months a year.
We thought it might be interesting to take a stroll down memory lane and look at some of the grocery businesses that not only survived but thrived at a time when Wawa was mostly known only as the name of a small town in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
The granddaddy of all grocery stores in Avalon is the Avalon Market at 29th Street and Dune Drive. Although difficult to document, the forerunner of the Avalon Market might have opened about the time that Avalon was founded: the Pioneer Market, across the street from its current location, by Civil War hero Col. Henry Sawyer. Newspaper accounts mention his grocery store located near today’s 29th Street. Little else is known about the store or its operation.
The current iteration was opened in the 1950s by George Badey. The Badeys operated the full-service market seasonally until 1988, when they sold it to current owners Jim and Tracy Deever. For the past 34 years, the Deevers have grown the market into kind of market that residents and visitors alike depend on for fresh-cut meats, extensive deli selections, prepared foods, local produce, and a full line of groceries. The market is never short on delivering high quality and personalized service.
But if you get that big-store feel in this cozy establishment, it’s probably not by accident. The Deevers are part of the Genuardi family and its long tradition of fine grocers. For many years, after his retirement, Jim’s grandfather could be found early in the morning keeping a close eye on the fresh produce operation of the store. His photo still hangs just inside the front door of the store.
Long gone from the island’s landscape are Schimek’s 21st Street Market, Sam’s Market, Barron’s Market, and Sprowles’ Market.
Lowell Schimek was born and raised in Minnesota but ended up in Ocean City after serving in the military. It may have been the job he had with Acme Markets that led him and his partner at the time, Ed Kline, to purchase the old A&P location on 21st Street from Johnny Bunk, who was operating it as The Pioneer Market. The market went by several names over the years, including Kline and Schimek’s 21st Street Market and The Pioneer Market, but most people simply knew it as Lowell’s.
Perhaps it was his experience from working at Acme Markets, but Schimek was far ahead of his time in the early 1960s. His market did things and offered services that others just did not. At the 21st Street Market, Schimek always employed at least two full-time butchers. The market specialized in large freezer meat orders for summer visitors looking to stock up for the winter months. The butcher roasted rounds of prime beef daily for use at their deli counter. The aroma of rotisserie chicken filled the store each afternoon – just in time for dinner.
Fresh produce and salads were sourced locally and tended to by produce manager John Matt whose sole responsibility was to manage that department. Latimer’s Bakery, a legendary Wildwood baker, delivered fresh pastries each morning along with its renowned snowflake rolls. Customers could easily telephone the store to place an order, regardless of size, that was quickly hand-selected and delivered to their door. Initially the store was open seasonally but evolved to a year-round operation in the early 1970s.
Lowell’s son, Lowell Jr., who has lived in Arizona for the past 30-plus years, still has fond memories of the business where he spent many years of his youth. “My dad was a special person,” he reminisced in a recent phone conversation. “He seemed to be able to do so many things. And do them well. We had many loyal customers and I believe that my dad was the reason.”
About 10 blocks away, Sam and Jennie Ascolese operated Sam’s Market for many years at 31st Street and Dune Drive. Open all year, like most small grocers at the time, Sam offered a full variety of meats, poultry, deli and groceries – along with a candy selection that is still remembered as legendary by middle-aged adults. The Acoleses had a friendship with performer Al Alberts, which often led to mentions of Avalon on his television program broadcast out of Philadelphia. That always excited locals.
The market at 33rd Street and Ocean Drive originated about 1921 as Sprowles Fish Market after Edward Sprowles moved to Avalon from Philadelphia. At the time, Sprowles described himself a fish and oyster merchant. Although the market offered a full line of fresh fish, bait and tackle, it eventually evolved into a full-service grocery store. Newspaper advertisements a little later boasted that Sprowles was the first store on the Seven Mile Beach to offer the convenience of frozen foods. The family continued to operate the business following Sprowles’ unexpected death on Easter night 1941. In addition to groceries Sprowles kept a fenced-in pen outside a side door filled with very large live snapper turtles, some bigger than 50 inches. This was specifically for those desiring the ingredients for fresh snapper soup, a local delicacy.
During the 1960s and ’70s. the store changed ownership and was operated as Lena’s, serving its customers from 8am-11pm seven days a week, 12 months a year. Lena referred to her establishment as a “food emporium,” but youngsters of the ’70s still remember checking out Lena’s penny-candy selection on their way to the Avalon School. Finally, for the last two decades of its operation, the location was known as Ocean Deli until its closing in 2011. Despite its limited size, Ocean Deli was recognized by Philadelphia Magazine with a Best of the Shore Award for its diverse casual menu in 2009.
The Barron family was another grocer with deep roots in Avalon. The Barrons moved to the Peermont section of Avalon in 1912 and purchased land at 25th Street and Dune Drive. Barron’s Meat Market was opened shortly after their arrival. Aside from their noted selection of meats, Barrons offered a variety of groceries and other items including coffee beans ground to order, washing sodas, aspirin and even Epsom salts. Before Barron’s introduced the shopping cart to Avalon shops, it specialized in retrieving or “fetching” whatever the customer asked for. The Barrons lived in the house at the back of the store and would come out to attend to customers as soon as they heard the door open. The store closed in 1956 but remained in family hands until 1994.
Under the long-gone-but-not-to-be-forgotten category in Avalon:
M.L. Van Thuyne’s Meat and Groceries, located in what today is Avalon Tile and Flooring at 22nd Street and Dune Drive. A case can be made that Van Thuyne’s may have been Avalon’s first large “modern” grocer.
Mom and Pop Gehringer were legendary in Avalon. Pop operated a luncheonette on the Avalon Pier while Mom operated The Little Store on 8th Street. What kid of the 1960s didn’t go into The Little Store across from the recreation fields for a cold soft drink, candy, ice cream or a sandwich from their deli counter? For a time, the Gehringers also operated a small store on 32nd Street at the boardwalk – although more of a beach-need store, this shop also carried a limited selection of groceries. The Little Store building still stands today as a home on 8th Street.
P&S Deli was owned by Lowell Schimek and Ed Plazic, a noted Cape May County refrigeration expert. It opened at what today is Oceanside Seafood in 1966 after Fisher’s Hardware closed its doors. P&S Deli would operate for several years with a full deli counter, dairy products, a small frozen food section and a limited selection of groceries.
The Cracker Barrel operated in the 1960s at 64th Street and Ocean Drive. As much a gift shop as it was a convenience store, it allowed a handy stop for residents in the southern end of town without traveling into the center of town.
Not to be forgotten, Donnelly’s Deli operated for nearly four decades at 21st Street and was an Avalon institution. In addition to its renowned steaks and hoagies, Donnelly’s also had a fresh meat case and a selection of groceries.
Phil’s Deli, although smaller than Donnelly’s, also carried a small line of grocery items and both were open 12 months a year.
Finally, there was the “huckster.” Sadly, no one is sure of his name, but twice each week in the summer he’d pile his green panel truck in Dennisville high with all locally sourced produce from Cape May County farms. He’d then drive up and down streets, beeping his horn to signal his arrival. Obviously, an early source of farm to table. Literally.
COMING IN JULY: We’ll visit the grocers of Stone Harbor