Of all the mom 'n pop
businesses that once existed in Newark's old Third Ward, none had a longer run
than Kessler's Spruce Street Grocery, located at 157 Spruce Street.
The store was in a
three-story wood-frame building, with two cold water flats above it. It
was in mid-block between Barclay and Broome Streets, and just around the corner
from the 12-family tenement at 54 Barclay where I was born in 1921.
Aunt was Earlier Owner
In 1916, the store
was owned by the widowed Yenta Kessler, an aunt of Israel Kessler. To help
her run the store, she employed her nephew, Israel, who with his wife, Yetta,
had emigrated from Stanislaus in Galicia, in the early years of the 20th
century, and had settled in Newark near the store.
Israel Kessler had
virtually run the store as an employee of his aunt in what was then a heavily
populated Jewish neighborhood. With the passing of his aunt in 1920,
Israel became the store's proprietor and operated it together with his wife.
They lived in the back of the store in 2 1/2 rooms.
Seven-Day Store Operation
Israel and his wife
eked out a bare living in the 25 x 30 foot store, although they kept the doors
open for business from 7 A.M. to 10 P.M., seven days a week.
Despite their long
hours in the store, the Kesslers maintained an active social life, frequently
entertaining friends, landsleit (countrymen) , and relatives around the kitchen
table in the back of the store.
As their family
continued to grow to four sons, the Kesslers subsequently also occupied the flat
above the store, and converted it into bedrooms for the children.
Although both spoke
English fairly well, they conversed in Yiddish, and usually interlaced their
social conversations with a mixture of Yiddish and English.
Israel's Religious Observance
While the grocery was
open seven days a week, Israel remained a pious Jew. He would leave his
wife in charge when he attended religious services on Friday nights and Saturday
mornings at the nearby Brisker Shule on Prince Street. He always wore a
yarmulka (skullcap) while working in the store.
Israel also had
carpentry skills, and he would occasionally leave the store to take on small
carpentry jobs for extra funds for his growing family.
In the 1920s and
1930s while the Third Ward was still heavily Jewish, Yetta would occasionally
offer home-made specialties such as borsht, or strudel, hand-rolled, and baked
in her kitchen Thatcher oven.
During those years
that they catered mainly to Jewish customers, the Kesslers also sold fruits and
vegetables from wooden stands fronting the store windows on the sidewalk.
When the neighborhood
changed, as the Jews moved out of the Third Ward, and their customers were
mostly black, the sidewalk stands were removed. The only outdoor displays
were six-foot tall stalks of sugar cane, which many of their customers favored.
Big 'Trust' Business that Paid Off
In the third and
fourth decades of their Spruce Street business operation, the 1940s and 1950s,
the Kesslers built up a large 'trust' business where purchases were put on the
book to be paid later.
From time to time in
their later years in the business, a former customer would come into the store
and hand the Kesslers money that they said they owed from years back. More
often than not, the Kesslers didn't recall the debt or recognize them.
The fact that the
Kesslers trusted their neighborhood patrons paid off for them during the 1967
race riots. The Kesslers came through the riots without trouble, thanks to
their store being protected by neighborhood residents, many of them whom they
had trusted.
Kessler's Nest Emptied; Sons Thrive
As the Kesslers went
into the fifth decade of their store's operation in the same 157 Spruce Street
premises, the four Kessler children, all sons, had grown to maturity and
achieved success in varied careers.
Son Erwin was an
accomplished pianist and band leader. His Erwin Kent Orchestra played in
the Chanticler and other night spots, at social engagements, and on cruise
ships.
Son Sam had become a
successful accountant.
Son Jerry had become
a concert-quality violinist and entertained at social events and on cruise
ships.
Son Jack became a
pharmacist, and for a time operated his own pharmacy on Watson and Jeliff
Avenues. He then went back to law school and became an attorney. He
subsequently became a specialist in pharmaceutical law and wound up as a
lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry in Washington.
Two of Jack's sons
followed their father's early footsteps and became pharmacists. They
jointly operate a drug store in a Newark suburb.
Kessler's Sell Business, Retire
In 1968, forty eight
years after they became proprietors of the 157 spruce Street grocery, with their
four sons all well established and on their own, the Kesslers sold their
business to a black friend from the Spruce Street neighborhood and went into
retirement.
The Kesslers lived
out the remaining years of their lives in an apartment on Custer Place near
Weequahic Park.
Israel Kessler died
in the mid 1970s. Yetta Kessler died in the mid 1980s.
The are buried in
Newark, in the McClellan Street Cemetery.
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