One thing I really love about my Allentown neighborhood is that there has always been a friendly, convenient small family market called "Hersh's" located on 19th St. just a few blocks north of the theatre. I could always rely on Hersh's for the best fresh meats and home-made PA Dutch baked goods, and if I forgot to buy something during my weekly food shopping jaunt at Weis's, I could just stop at Hersh's to pick it up. Or if I ran out of milk or bread during the week I could just walk to Hersh's. The people working there were always friendly. It was a family owned business with a second location in the neighborhood my husband grew up in near Raub Middle School. Hersh's was convenient for senior citizens in my neighborhood who are not able to drive. They could just walk there and get whatever they needed without having to go to a big supermarket, or taking the longer trek to the Farmer's Market, which is not open every day.Well, I guess times change sweetheart. Over the past year Hersh's was sold to some creepy men from Philadelphia who like to follow me around the store. I don't know why the Hersh's decided to sell their business, but that's not the issue here. The hours have changed and they are not open late anymore. Most of the shelves are bare, and the main focus seems to be on selling lottery tickets. When I sent my husband there for bread, what he came back with was stale and had expired (he never looks at the date!). The soup cans are dusty, the fresh baked goods are gone, and there are hardly any fresh vegetables or meats. Every one I have talked to in the neighborhood is really disappointed. But I guess it is better to have tax paying tenants than empty store fronts. I guess it doesn't matter that the seniors have lost a convenient place to shop. I guess it doesn't matter that they are selling sub-standard goods.
A while back, I asked local blogger Mr. Damien Brown if he would write about Hersh's at his West End Neighborhood blog. His response to me was "Why would I write about THAT?" At the time I did not know that his blog was only about positive things happening, and I apologized to him. I think it's fine to have a blog about good news, but the reason why I am writing this is to express my concerns, not complain about the neighborhood. I think a market that does not serve the needs of the community is an important issue. It might not be an issue for people who can afford to get grab and go prepared food at Wegman's every night, or dine out most of the time, but for people like me and other families, and seniors, it's an important issue. Damien also recommended that I go to the Farmer's Market. I do go there, and have been going there for years, but it's only open a few days a week, and I miss my neighborhood market.
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25 comments:
Last I heard, when a store sells a $1 lottery ticket, the store gets 11 cents of that dollar. Multiply that 11 cents by thousands a week... which many stores sell, and it can add up to big bucks in a years time. Thats why they sell the tickets:):).
Creepy is right. Hersh's on 19th Street seems like a "front" for something else these days ... maybe something not as legal as lottery tickets. Whenever I go in there (and my frequency has dropped dramatically) to buy something the guys working there seem startled. They seem curiously disinterested in the grocery business ...
Thanks for the info River, I did not know that!
Hersh's was sold well over 3 years ago. Check the county records.
"Hersh's was sold well over 3 years ago. Check the county records."
Really? I've noticed these changes over the last year. Maybe someone else had it before the creepy guys took over.
RE: "when a store sells a $1 lottery ticket, the store gets 11 cents of that dollar. Multiply that 11 cents by thousands a week... which many stores sell, and it can add up to big bucks in a years time."
River, correct me if I'm wrong (math isn't my strong suit, I'm a displaced 19th street musician) but ...
$.11 a ticket times say 2,000 tickets a week = $220 a week X 52 weeks a year = $11,400
Not exactly big bucks. Heck, you'd pay $11K for a handful of handbags at that swanky new boutique down the street ...
anon 9:25... I won't pay a buck for a lottery ticket or $1000 for a handbag... the choise is yours. Also, $11,000 profit is nothing to sneeze at.
Dottie, my family was in the retail food business, and frankly, we are lucky hersh's operated so well for as long as it did. they were too big to be family operated, and too small to compete, the markup is very low on food. as their regulars died off, the ones who did all their shopping there, they were reduced to us who only went there for the fill ins. ironically, the little corner stores downtown, are doing more business than they have done for 60 years. they are operated by a family unit, and fortunately are "lanta" proof. I think we must support the farmers market, so they don't become the next hersh's..
i know you miss hersh's(as it was) and i enjoyed your posting. i think it's important for us to shine light on little things like this which contributed to our quality of life in allentown. Sim's market on walbert ave. seems to be holding up in spite of ownership change, but they did retain some old timers as employees.
MM,
I remember your posting about the Mohican Market and the brownie recipe.
When all the shelves were stocked with fresh food, Hersh's seemed pretty busy. And some people were buying a lot of groceries.
Well, I hope one day in my or my son's lifetime the trend reverses.
I read today that McDonald's is going to be installing coffee bars in its restaurants for further convenience and upscaling so its customers don't have to make an additional stop at Starbuck's for a $5.00 coffee.
All of a sudden I feel really old and not too thrilled about where we are heading. Maybe I better get out my red hat and join those old gals!
"my family was in the retail food business"
MM, my family loved your family's Mohican stores, they were great ...
I miss Hersh's too! I shopped there from the time I was a little girl until high school - it was only a block out of my way walking to and from school at Muhlenberg and then at Trexler, and even when I was in high school I would occasionally walk up the extra few blocks to stop in for some candy or some chocolate milk.
Imagine my horror when I moved home to Allentown from New York and moved in only 1 block from Hersh's market and found a store full of empty shelves and gross dudes!
a shame indeed, but other then encouraging more responsible business owners to buy the businesses in the neighborhood, what can be done about a situation like this?
I know that Mambo is relatively popular among bloggers, and I am no exception - I love the food there, I love Johansen, and I love the prices - but I walk by and see his restaurant empty all the time - I can understand that dominican food is not for every palate, but I have to wonder if many of the residents of the neighborhood are being too closed minded to even give Mambo a fair shake... I don't know how long his business will stay open at its current rate, but it makes me sad to think that those creeps in Hersh's might outlast Johansen.
Re: "$11,000 profit is nothing to sneeze at."
River, you'd have to pay one of those creepy dudes twice that per year to sit there and sell the lottery tickets while being creepy. Where's the profit?
another sad story from my old home town. used to live across the street and three doors up from that store, mid 80s. as the middle class continues to disappear, we are confronted with the development of the 'boutique or bodega' environment, and in both cases it's an uncomfortable ride. either way one is made to feel unwelcome. i feel like saying to people,
y'know, it's not my idea that you work here, why must
i suffer for it?
who feels uncomfortable in a bodega? bodegas and small delis are one of my favorite things about cities.
I think if all there is is bogegas and boutiques everywhere then it gets kinda uncomfortable.
LOLV, I am looking forward to trying Mambo. We usually patronize O'Brien's because we know the owner. It's nice to have an ethnic restaurant next to a restaurant where you can still get a sandwich on a roll. You mentioned Cannon's on 9th St. at another blog, and that was a popular place for artists and musicians to gather for many years. When I was your age I can remember hanging out there with my friends. And the chef was great(another family friend). It's so sad that that part of town is so crime ridden.
Dottie, you're right - if all there are are boutiques and mini markets, that makes for a losing neighborhood - but that wasn't what trick1 was implying, and I think its disturbing that they suggest that if your only choices are either upscale or latino-owned that middle class white people have no place to get their goods. If Hersh's market had been turned into a bodega, we wouldn't be complaining!
Most of the bodegas in center city allentown still provide the same kind of friendly family service and quality products that Hersh always did - only the owners are the Hernandez family. I know I'm being overly sensitive about these things, but Xenophobia is so distressing to me.
" Anonymous said...
Re: "$11,000 profit is nothing to sneeze at."
River, you'd have to pay one of those creepy dudes twice that per year to sit there and sell the lottery tickets while being creepy. Where's the profit?
Tue Jan 08, 06:20:00 PM 2008"
Why do you think they only sell Lottery tickets?? These stores make a lot of money on the $1 cups of coffee for the morning trade and everything else they sell. When you buy that fresh brewed 16 ounce cup for a dollar or buck and a half, it cost the store perhaps 12 cents to make it. And don't forget to grab a few Tastycakes and a pack of smokes on your way out.. thats where they make the money... $4.50 for smokes that they get at the wolesale price. That store makes 1 or 2 or 3 bucks on every pack. Also.. remember waiting in line while some guy buys 20 lottery tickets at once?//??? :):):)
LOLV,
I'm sorry I confused bodega with barista. Baristas are what they call the new upscale coffee bars
they will be installing in MCDonald's so their patrons are not inconvenienced by having to go to a Starbuck's for their latte.
I'm all for bodegas!
anon said"I'm a displaced 19th street musician" Last I heard, 19th street isn't the only place in the world to play your music...
tricklook, i'm not using 'bodega' in an anti-Latino
context any more than i'm using 'boutique'
in an anti-French context. politically i stand just to the left of Karl Marx. shall we instead say,
'designer store or dollar store?' the point is
that the once- common neighborhood store
is disappearing, replaced by one of two options,
neither of which particularly serve the interests
of the neighborhood.
my mistake then in misinterpreting.... I still think though that a bodega IS a common neighborhood store. All the bodegas I have ever been in have been well stocked welcoming places to stop in and grab the necessities on your way home, or pick up a newspaper and a coffee in the morning, or to run out when you've got no eggs left but don't want to drive to the supermarket, or to get some candy on your way home from school. Every neighborhood should have one. or three.
you're absolutely right. if
Hersh's had become a bodega, it'd be great.
I do know one thing, some of you are calling the new owners "creepy". What exactly do you mean? If you keep saying that, they won't be there long and then you will have another empty storefront. "You don't know what you have till you lose it".
empty storefront would be better than what is there now. no joke.
Guys, I talk to Hersh's current owner on daily bases. the store is now sold. I would like to mention that these guys took over the market approx. 18 months back, they worked hard and tried every thing possible to satisfy the customers, they worked on the prices to be competitive to super market, kept good quality products, ect. but they were not getting good response for the neighborhood. To be honest the people have changed in recent years, if you notice many families moved out and new families are moving in. also people have become very cheap during the last three years, you can not blame the citizens it all due number of rescissions we had during the last 4 to 5 years. Everyone likes to go to the super market people are forgetting the American dream, they started avoiding the small corner stores, started using the coupons and buying on sale and clearances items. Percents of goods import from European and south Asia and east Asia have dropped and raised for china. There is the clear picture of demand but people are not interested to spend more money for the quality. they have lost about 220,000 dollars. SAD poor guys. I really do feel sorry for them. God Bless them, I wish them good luck for the future.
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