Corner Grocery Stores


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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: lhaptas (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: July 13, 2012 04:46AM

The store at 38th Place and Francisco was called Marie's. We used to go there mainly for penny candy. It's still there -- but a Mexican grocery store now. There was also a store at 39th & Sacramento called John's. 40th & Francisco was another store.

Anybody remember the store at 39th Place and California? Alex's Grocerland -- or the Midwest Store?

All fond memories of Brighton Park's past!

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: Bmd1985 (---.dyn.optonline.net)
Date: July 15, 2012 12:45AM

The NE corner of Montrose and California also had a Tastee Freeze at one time too, until about the mid-1990s, when the senior citizen development was built. I remember being quite upset when it was closed and later demolished.

The NW corner of Montrose and Francisco has had the White Hen/7-11 for as long as I can remember. There is also a laundromat next door (or at least, was). I also remember there being a Hostess Thrift Store on the SW corner, which I would walk to with my dad on Saturday mornings to get donuts. (We lived on Leland and Francisco at the time).

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: July 16, 2012 10:34AM

Fond memories of the Tastee Freeze. My mom would take us kids to Horner Park to play, then to Tastee Freeze for a chile dog and a ice cream cone. They would close down for the winter, and after Thanksgiving they would sell Christmas trees in the small parking lot. We always got our trees there.

I used to hate going to the laundromat! It was so boring! My mom would go there when the coin operated machine in our buildings' basement was not working, (was almost all ways) and would beg mom for money to run next door to White Hen to buy junk food. And the Thrift store was one of our regular stops, to buy bread, and Hostess snacks.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: Diogenes9561 (---.res.bhn.net)
Date: August 09, 2012 02:13PM

When I was little, we lived on Leavitt just south of Addison. There was a Certified grocery store on the NW corner and just west, was Eddie Propst's butcher shop and a bakery, the name of which escapes me right now. In fact, that corner had most everything since Joe Schneider's drugstore was on the NE corner with another small food/convenience store just 1 door east and the SW corner had a barbershop and a dry cleaner in the garden level of the apartment building which still stands there. The SE corner had a tavern, another neighborhood institution and, just north of the Certified in the same building, was a shoe repair shop.
Just south 1 block at Leavitt and Cornelia, there were 2 mom & pop stores where my Grandpa bought his cigars.
I can also remember walking with my Grandpa and stopping at another Certified store at the NE corner of Addison and Damen so there were 2 neighborhood grocery stores in walking distance.
I've looked at google maps and I see that much has changed at Addison and Leavitt over the years: the Certified, the butcher shop, the bakery, and shoe shop are gone, condominiums now occupying the land. Schneider's drug store is a liquor store but the tavern and cleaners are still there. The 2 mom & pop stores at Cornelia were bricked up and are residences now, but the Certified at Addison and Damen is still there, though not a Certified any more.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: Erie St Danek (---.hsd1.wa.comcast.net)
Date: August 19, 2012 07:20PM

Pat and Flo's Grocery on the corner of Erie and Wolcott (this area now called West Town) in the 50's and 60's. Homemade Italian sausage and balls of cheese wrapped in twine hanging from racks. Damen and Erie .... Gonella Bakery. My dad went there every Sunday morning to buy the bread and buns just out of the oven. This was our breakfast treat every Sunday, slap tons of butter on warm sliced bread and pig out. On his way home he'd buy Italian sausage from Pat and Flo's and mom would cook them up with spaghetti and sauce. Mom would also add neck bones and meatballs to this special recipe. What ever was leftover we would have the next day on the Gonella buns. The neighborhood was mostly Italian and Polish and when you would walk down the street you could smell all kinds of ethnic cooking going on. We even had a few Germans and one family from Turkey and Russia.

Bruno's Candy store on Wood between Erie and Superior. Mom would give me a dime and I could get lots of 1 cent candy. 1 cents for a big stick pretzel.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: coffeemom (---.sip.mia.bellsouth.net)
Date: August 23, 2012 01:50PM

My Father owed the Royal Blue in Riverside.aka Fivek's Finer Foods. My grandfather bought the store in 1945 and sold it to my dad in 1953. We lived in one of the apartments in the building until our family moved to the burbs. We kids had the best packed lunch boxes. Twinkies and snoballs were involved. I worked at the store when I was in Jr. High. I would catch the train from Hinsdale. There were 3 aisles with the butcher shop in the back. My Dad closed the store around 1965.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2012 01:53PM by coffeemom.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: tomcat630 (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: September 02, 2012 11:51PM

In the 70's on the 5900 block of Irving Park, near Austin, 2 small groceries co-existed for awhile. One was a Certified store, The Boulevard, and across IP was a Centrella shop, T&C. I'd walk to T&C mostly since I couldn't cross IP by myself until 12.

But the stores were still around until mid 80's. T&C closed by then, and Boulevard is now just a small convienience store, no Certified.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2012 11:52PM by tomcat630.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: mphansen (---.geneseo.net)
Date: September 06, 2012 06:52PM

Tomcat, I'm wondering if your "Bruno's" was the same one I used to go to. I also lived at 1809 West Huron after moving from Evergreen and Damen. On the corner of Huron & Wood St was a Polish tavern and as you turned to the right and went down just a little bit down the block, there was Bruno's. But we known it as Bruno & Susie's. Wondering if that is the same store you're talking about. A little store that sold canned goods, bread, pop & candy. When did you live in that neighborhood? I was there around 1960. Went to Talcott School for a very short while. It's a small world huh?

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: tomcat630 (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: September 09, 2012 04:41AM

I didn't post about "Brunos" and didnt live near here. Just FYI

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: chi_techie (---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: September 23, 2012 01:34PM

[size=medium]There are still a few corner grocery stores around - Fiore's on Erie and Oakley, and a new organic store on Noble and Grand - but they mostly are found in the poorer neighborhoods. I spotted 3 or 4 along Augusta west of Grand Avenue.[/size]

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: zorchvalve (---.hsd1.wa.comcast.net)
Date: September 25, 2012 01:48PM

Vine street was where I grew up in the 40s and 50s. Marys delicatessen was in the middle of the block. There was another small grocery store at willow and vine. Around the corner on North Ave. were two butcher shops. On larabee was a small store called Dohms.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: dmr37 (74.10.105.---)
Date: October 10, 2012 07:11PM

I remember Carey's Store at 44th and Normal. Also, Stella's Drugstore across the street from St. Gabriel's at 45th and Wallace. The place would be mobbed at lunchtime when all the kids went in for a hotdog and a small can of spaghetti-o's. Also Bowen's at 45th and Normal which had a bar that was so small there was only room for 2 stools. Then there was Angelo's that sold fresh meat on Wallace near 44th, which was across the street from Joe's, another bar/store combo. That's 5 stores that were within a block of me (44th Place - Normal).

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: 729 Brompton (---.148-78-65.ftth.swbr.surewest.net)
Date: October 23, 2012 02:08AM

I remember two near my house, one on the corner of Halstead and Brompton, (Lakeview) and it w asa small mom and pop. they had penny candy, including the one with little ball candy and a straw to shoot them. Never worked if they got wet... It still has teh iron post adn steps, but later it became a Thai restaurant, and now, who knows...

Then on Addison and Broadway was another one, but bigger, and it was more of a hardware store, but had cigars, and had a tube tester machine that I loved to mess with. When mom and pop died, it became a White Hen Pantry for YEARS and eventually became a bank which is what it is now. There was also one on Cornelia and Broadway which I think MIGHT still be there. Not sure.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: continentalbill3@yahoo.com (166.181.3.---)
Date: December 30, 2012 04:08AM

[b][color=#FF0000] EVERY NEIGHBORHOODHAD A CORNER GROCRY STORE BACK IN THE DAY. AND SOME OF THEM WOULD EXTEND CREDIT TO YOU IF YOU WERE SHORT. IMAGINE THAT! AS AROUND EVERY SCHOOL WAS THE STORE YOU WOULD GO TO AND PITCH QUARTERS OR NICKELS OR WHATEVER CHANGE YOU HAD. THEN EVERY BODY HAD TO HAVE A "GENUINE DUNCAN YOYO". THE YOYO GUY WOULD COME AROUND AND DO ALL THE TRICKS ON THE PLANET WITH THAT "GENUINE DUNCAN YOYO". SOME OF THE STORES MADE HOME MADE SANDWICHES AT LUNCHTIME FOR THE OLDER KIDS. I USED TO GET A BUCK A DAY FOR SCHOOL I GOT A SANDWICH, BOTTLE OF COKE, FOR A QUARTER. IMAGINE THAT? THAT LEFT ME ENOUGH FOR MSMOKES AND A FEW NICKLES TO PITCH ON THE CRACKS. HOW ABOUT THAT?[/color][/b]

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: daveg (---.lightspeed.joltil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: December 30, 2012 11:52AM

No offense, but all UPPER CASE (means shouting) and RED (not sure what that means) is not how text is normally entered for replies here.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2013 12:22PM by daveg.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: continentalbill3@yahoo.com (166.181.3.---)
Date: December 30, 2012 06:36PM

[b][size=large] excuse me for the fauxpac . i wmm generally used to speaking in that fashion i apologize. and as far as color thats just my quirk which i wont do anymore (:P)[/size][/b]

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: murphman (---.evdo.leapwireless.net)
Date: January 01, 2013 03:47AM

At Racine and Wellington we had two on opposite sides of the street. First was Joe's, sawdust on the floors, great meat counter and popsicles as big as your fist. Joe always gave you a sample of the meat you wanted. Probably could have made a sandwich. Now appears to be a private residence. Across the street was
Benny's where baseball cards were bought by the fistfuls at a dime a pack. Both went under by 1976. Also somewhat noteworthy was the bar in the building shared by Joe's. Angelo's had to be the smallest tavern in Chicago with about six stools. Got a peek in there when Dad was hoistin a few about 1973. Never saw a joint that small!

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: jak378 (---.hsd1.fl.comcast.net)
Date: January 01, 2013 07:27PM

There was a small store on either Ellis or 53rd St, near Kozminski Grammar School, called Ma's. Ma was really old and, as I recall, the place was kind of dirty and cluttered.

A small tavern was mentioned by murphman. The smallest one I remember was on the east side of Ashland Ave, in the 6200 block, next to the "T" alley. It was half a store front and was probably 80 to a hundred feet deep. My folks used to frequent the place. It was called, naturally, The Elbow Room.

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: tommy wilson (---.lv.lv.cox.net)
Date: January 04, 2013 10:52AM

I THINK I REMEMBER THAT LITTLE BAR ON 62ND AND ASHLAND IT WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET FROM QUEENS BOWLING ALLEY???.ON POINT OGDEN FOOD AND PRODUCE 6358 SO. ASHLAND YEAR 1949

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Re: Corner Grocery Stores
Posted by: jak378 (---.hsd1.fl.comcast.net)
Date: January 04, 2013 02:27PM

Bingo Tommy, right across from Queens Recreation.

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