The Western Springs Historical Society

Where Have All The Groceries Gone

Where Have All the Groceries Gone?

Editor's Note: Information for this feature was gleaned from newspaper articles and ads in the Western Springs Historical Society's (WSHS) archives and historical notes and texts. It focuses solely on grocery stores that operated in the downtown business district and thus excludes the 7-Eleven store currently operating in a nearby strip center, as well as the Dominick's store currently operating in the Garden Market. It also excludes specialty food stores such as Kirschbaum's Bakery and the Fruit Store currently operating in the downtown business district. Details about many of the village's early grocery stores are sketchy. Residents who can help fill in the blanks are encouraged to share this information with the WSHS. 

Many young citizens of our village have not experienced grocery shopping in anything other than a large supermarket, using an impersonal self-service procedure of pushing and loading your own cart, checking out (even self-checking out), at a bank of cash registers, and transporting the purchases home. Grocery shopping in the early years of Western Springs was entirely different. The first grocery stores in town were small and locally owned. Food items were displayed on walls, and proprietors stood behind counters assisting customers personally. They were also known to visit customers' homes to take orders and deliver the goods later at no charge. The downtown business district of Western Springs has been without a grocery store since Tischler Finer Foods closed in Fall 2003. Here is a little history on how grocery shopping in the village used to be.  

First Came Henrikson's

The population of Western Springs in 1890 was 451, 662 in 1900, 905 in 1910, 1,258 in 1920, and 3,784 in 1930. In the very early years of the village, residents presumably relied on grocery stores in LaGrange or Hinsdale, raised some of their own produce and protein, and also did home canning. Henrikson's Grocery Store, opened in 1896 at 806 Hillgrove, was probably the first grocery store in downtown Western Springs. John Henrikson was one of those early proprietors who took orders personally in the morning and then delivered them in the afternoon, initially using a bicycle or cart. He later relied on two horse-drawn wagons for deliveries and eventually a truck. A portion of the interior of this store has been reconstructed in the WSHS Water Tower Museum. Demolished long ago, the 806 Hillgrove building would have been east of an existing building at 810 Hillgrove and west of Wolf Road.

In 1907 Henrikson moved his store across the tracks to 921 Burlington, where The Uptown Shop is now located. A name change to Henrikson-Rose occurred in 1923 when he took Edward Rose, his son-in-law, into the business. In 1926 the store relocated to 915 Burlington, a new building constructed and owned by the company. Henrikson-Rose operated continuously at that location until the business was sold in 1954 to Stanley Brinker. He and later James Raue operated Brinker's Fine Foods at the site until 1980. Around that time, the Casey family opened primarily a meat market in the building and expanded it in 1997 by taking over two adjacent storefronts. 

Other Early Grocery Stores

The longevity of the Henrikson grocery presence in the village was not typical. Other early groceries had short-lived ownerships. The locations of some these stores are unknown, largely because their newsprint ads did not include an address. The stores apparently assumed that readers would know where they were located. Jaehne & Sons advertised what they called The Big Store in 1908, offering groceries, meats, and general merchandise. No address appears in the ad, but historical notes suggest that it was on the east side of Grand south of Burlington. There is photographic evidence of W.H. Banker Groceries, also known as The Little Store, operating in 1909 at 4517 Grand. Banker sold his store in 1910 to J. H. Rall before moving to California. Rall operated the store until at least 1913. For four years before opening his first store on Hillgrove, Henrikson had partnered with a young widow to operate a grocery business at Woodland and Elm. Presumably, this store and Banker Groceries were part of the owners' homes. There were probably other small home-based grocery stores in these early years of the village.

Steben & Dewey was a LaGrange grocery store located near the LaGrange Road train station. In 1914 and 1915 it was advertising deliveries to Western Springs. The company subsequently opened a Western Springs store, which R. J. Bonnell purchased in 1917 and operated until at least 1918. Historical notes hint at a Grand Avenue location, which could have been the Jaehne & Sons store mentioned above. Another early grocery store with an uncertain location was called Bullerman's. It operated from at least 1922 to 1925.

In the meantime, the grocery action was heating up on the north side of the tracks. S. Azarello & Sons opened the Western Springs Grocery & Market at 810 Hillgrove in 1919. W. F. Borchardt opened his Western Springs Market in 1923 at 823 Hillgrove. It appears that Borchardt took over the Azarellos' store in the late 1920's and moved his grocery business to that location, operating there until at least 1933. As mentioned above, the 810 Hillgrove building is still standing and most recently housed a State Farm agency. Prudential American Homes at Hillgrove and Lawn has an 824 Hillgrove address. Next door is Edward Jones at 822 Hillgrove. The original Borchardt store was probably at the corner of Hillgrove and Lawn. 

Around the same time and not far from Henrikson's store, a grocery and market operated at 907 Burlington with a series of different names and ownerships: The A.W. Moore Grocery & Market from about 1927 to 1928, the Alvin Buetzer Grocery & Market from about 1928 to 1930, the Rossman & Palmer Store from about 1930 to 1932, and the Moran Grocery & Market from 1930 to about 1936. The large building on the southwest corner of Burlington and Lawn housed these groceries, as well as other tenants, although Clever Girl uses 907 as its current address.

In 1937 Edward's Grocery & Market was operating at 824 Hillgrove. Not long thereafter this store became a Co-Op Food Store, "owned by 209 of your neighbors." This store operated until somewhere in the early 1950's. 

National Chains and the Finale

In light of the large supermarkets of today and their even larger parking lots, it is hard to imagine a national chain operating a small-scale grocery in downtown Western Springs. Apparently, the village's growth spurt from 1920 to 1930 was attractive, and smaller stores were more the norm for big grocery companies at the time. The Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company is mentioned as a fellow tenant of the Moore Grocery & Market at the 907 Burlington building in 1928 and may have operated there as early as 1925.

References are made to a National Tea store somewhere on Burlington in 1929. It appeared to remain open until after World War II, with a hiatus until National was an early tenant of the west wing of the Garden Market, which opened in 1959. A store named Kroger Consumers was operating at 814 Hillgrove in 1931. This is the current address of The Competitive Foot.

By 1932 A&P was operating at 923 Burlington, the southeast corner of Burlington and Lawn. It closed this store to become an initial anchor tenant of the Garden Market. When the company pulled out of Chicagoland, the latter store was closed. A single-storefront hardware store east of A&P became Village Hardware and expanded into their 923 Burlington space. The address for Village Hardware is 835 Burlington, probably reflecting the location of the original store.  

The Jewel brand appeared in 1936 at 907 Burlington, a potential takeover of A&P's first store. It relocated to 833 Burlington in 1946. This second Jewel location must have been immediately east of the still single-storefront hardware store. Village Hardware later expanded east into this space. Jewel subsequently relocated to the southeast corner of Wolf and Burlington and made significant improvements to the store in 1959. This building was demolished and replaced with a larger, more modern store in 1967. Twelve years later, Jewel decided its Western Springs store was obsolete. The company also decided not to rebuild in the village. The store was closed in November 1979.

In April 1980, fortunately not too many months later, Robert Burton, who had operated a grocery store in Hinsdale, opened a namesake store in the Jewel building. Only five months later, he sold to Anthony Maurice, who shut the store down just five weeks later due to a lack of capital. The Tischler family opened its Tischler Finer Foods in this building in 1981. The store operated for more than 22 years before closing in Fall 2003. This building and the adjacent Breen's Cleaners store were purchased as a potential retail and residential mid-rise development site. Plans have fallen through, and the property is currently for sale.