46 | APRIL 9 • 2020 

From the William Davidson Digital Archive
of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Looking Back

T

o say the least, Passover will be dif-
ferent this year. Amid the COVID-19 
pandemic, with social distancing in 
practice, Jewish families are reconsidering 
how they will plan for their 
seders. Indeed, Jewish life is 
now a matter of virtual bat/
bar mitzvahs and Shabbat 
services. Just the act of gath-
ering matzah, gefilte fish and 
other Passover groceries will 
have been an adventure.
I thought about super-
markets and shopping 
for Passover while cruising the William 
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit 
History this week (while working at home, 
of course, keeping my social distance). I was 
especially intrigued by the idea after watch-
ing a replay of Sue Marx’
s film, Remember 
When: The Jewish Community, which recently 
aired on Detroit Public TV
. In the film, Jerry 
Cook makes the point that the story of the 
grocery business in Detroit is also a history 
of Jews in the city. I did some research and 
the evidence from the Archive demonstrates 
that Cook is spot-on.
Today, Kroger, the largest food store 
chain in the nation, and Michigan-owned 
Meijer stores dominate the grocery scene in 
Detroit. There are still independent markets, 
of course, and a few small chains, but the 
largest Detroit-based supermarket businesses 
closed their doors or were bought out years 
ago. With their demise, a significant piece of 
Jewish Detroit history also disappeared.
You may remember shopping at Chatham 
and Farmer Jack or Food Fair, Great Scott 
and Wrigley’
s. All of them were Jewish-
owned, family-operated supermarket chains, 
mostly led by groups of brothers. And they 
all had grocery items that Jews depended 
upon.

At Chatham, the 
Weisberg brothers — Alvin, 
Peter, Harold, and Bernard — ran the 
supermarkets. Great Scott was owned and 
managed by Nate, Leonard, Sam and Zach 
Fink. There were 53 Great Scott stores when 
Wrigley’
s, a chain operated by John and 
Nathan Lurie, bought them. Wrigley’
s then 
had more than 100 supermarkets.
The last of the large supermarket chains 
was Farmer Jack. It was the ancestor of 
the merged Food Fair and Lucky Markets, 
whose origins lay in Tom’
s Quality Markets, 
begun by Al and Tom Borman in the 1920s. 
Al’
s son, Paul, was the last Borman in charge 
of the more than 100 Farmer Jack stores. 
Of course, the most famous of the mar-
kets in the historic Jewish neighborhood 
in Detroit was the Dexter-Davidson Super 
Market — the “House of Foods.
” Founded 
by Norm Cottier in the 1930s, this market 
catered to the tastes of Cottier’
s Jewish 
neighbors, carrying the foodstuffs they 
needed for everyday meals and for hol-
idays.
While the chains cited above are long 
gone, there are still places to shop for 
Passover. One is Johnny Pomodoro’
s, 
established by Dan Sonenberg and John 
Taormina in 2008. This market is close 
to many current concentrations of Jewish 
households, and it has become a bit of a 
landmark. It reminds me of the historic 
advertisements I have found in the Archive 
for businesses that state, “we are located by 
the Dexter-Davidson Market.” And, like 
all the stores cited in this column, it does 
sell matzah, gefilte fish and other Passover 
supplies. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN 
Foundation archives, available for free at 
www.djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

The Glory Days 
of Jewish-Owned 
Grocery Stores

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Chatham, the 
berg brothers — Alvin,

