With A

E ech s er

Clockwise
om top left:
Adi Natan checks Gwen
Massey's order.

Henry Kaplan of Detroit
selects an item.

Benji Silverstein of One
Stop Kosher.

Silverstein and Mikhail
Gorelik stock the shelves.

A store with the
largest kosher
selection
in Michigan
keeps dreaming
about expansion.

ALAN AB RAM S
Special to the Jewish News

E

ither disaster or good for-
tune struck Benji
Silverstein one day when he
was working in his father's
scrap metal yard.
Four years ago, an accident cut
short Silverstein's fledgling career as a
scrap metal dealer and launched him
on the path towards becoming
Southfield's King of Kosher.
"I injured myself and went on
workmen's compensation;" said
Silverstein.
Looking for something to do,

Silverstein and Shlomo Goldman,
his longtime friend from summer
camp and school, decided to open a
kosher food superstore. Today, the
27-year-old Silverstein is owner and
manager of One Stop Kosher
Groceries in Southfield with
Goldman as his partner. Every item
carries a hechsher (kosher certifica-
tion symbol).
The New York-based Goldman,
also in his late 20s, was already
involved in the retail food business
as a salesman for a kosher food
company. Goldman happened to be
in Michigan while Silverstein was
recuperating from his injuries, and

he told Silverstein he always had a
hard time selling in Detroit because
there wasn't a one-stop kosher out-
let.
"He said 'we have an opportunity
here, let's work on it,"' recalled
Silverstein. "We searched around for a
location. And we searched around for
equipment and employees. And we
started getting ourselves set up for a
business. Nine months later, we were
opening up a store.
That store, on the corner of
Southfield and 10 Mile roads, was
their first choice. What made them
choose it, rather than Greenfield
Road, where traditionally more

Orthodox-owned businesses and
kosher specialty stores and restaurants
have clustered? For the answer, all you
have to do is think about "location,
location, location."
Said Silverstein, "It was unique. It
was away from all the actual hustle
and bustle on Greenfield as far as an
Orthodox business. I also thought it
was more centrally located between
the two sides of the city of Southfield
and Oak Park. Plus, it is on one of
the busiest corners in Oakland
County, the crossroads of Southfield.
It is right off three freeways, the
Southfield Freeway, 1-696 and the
Lodge. And there's parking."

19

Detroit Jewish News

6;,