downtown history
1883 Stabrie Grocery Store Stabrie Grocery was constructed in 1883 where the Old Mattress Factory Bar & Grill now sits at 501 N. 13th St. The store closed in 1894 and reopened in 1915 as a wholesale grocery company. In 1945, Central Mattress Co. moved into the building.
1917 Table Supply Meat Co. (Omaha Steaks) The company’s first location was at 17th and Douglas streets near where the First National Tower now soars. The building had been a carpentry shop called Table Supply Co. To save money on signage, they simply added the word “Meat,” creating their new company’s name. After seven years, the company moved to larger quarters at 12th and Howard streets and remained there 42 years. Founders J.J. Simon and son B.A. Simon immigrated from Riga, Latvia in 1898, according to Beth Weiss, director of corporate communications for Omaha Steaks. The company sold meat to restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores. Located in the Old Market for almost half a century, Table Supply was renamed Omaha Steaks in 1966 when the headquarters moved to West Omaha. By then, the company could afford new signage.
1918 Wohlner’s California Grocery Polish immigrant Albert Wohlner opened a store at 3225 California that attracted shoppers from all over the city with its first-rate meat. The store relocated to 52nd and Leavenworth streets in 1940. Today there are Wohlner’s Grocery Stores at both Aksarben Village and Midtown Crossing. Now owned by Wohlner’s grandson, Mike Schwartz, they are among the few independently owned grocery stores still in Omaha.
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1927 Piggly Wiggly The store that sat at 530 N. 33rd St. from 1927 to 1936 was part of a chain founded in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. He created the concept of the nation’s first self-service grocery stores while working as a clerk at an Omaha wholesale grocery firm. Saunders launched the chain in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn. The stores still exist in 17 states, but not in Nebraska.
1929 Hinky Dinky The Hinky Dinky grocery store chain was created in Omaha in 1925 by the Newmans, a Hungarian immigrant family. The chain’s name came from the World War I song, “Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous.” The first Omaha store opened in 1929 at 502 N. 33rd. At one time, Hinky Dinky operated 50 stores in states across the Midwest. Hinky Dinky stores have not existed since 2000.
Today As a salute to the early days of the Old Market, Farmers Market vendors sell produce from May through October on the sidewalks at 11th and Jackson streets, site of the original Omaha City Market. In 2007, sister and brother Amy Powell and P.J. Andersen with their father, Patrick Andersen, opened Patrick’s Market, a locally owned, full-service store, in Downtown Omaha. Downtown’s other current grocer is Cubby’s Market in the Old Market, one of a chain of grocery-deli-gas station stores.
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july/august 2012 | the encounter
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