Iowa City Neighborhood Grocery Stores -1933.

Iowa City historian, Irving Weber, wrote weekly articles for The Iowa City Press-Citizen for nearly 25 years (1973-1997). His subjects were varied, and most originated out of his personal experiences – growing up and living here in Iowa City from the year 1900 until the time of his death in 1997. You can read more here. A good number of his 800+ articles were included in his Irving Weber’s Iowa City book series (see above), but we thought you might enjoy reading one of those many articles as reported directly from The Press-Citizen. So…

On Saturday, April 5, 1986, Irving Weber’s weekly remembrance took his readers back to 1933, as the whole nation was in the throes of The Great Depression. His article was entitled, When Ma and Pa minded the store, and it’s a wonderful jaunt through Weber’s remembrances of Iowa City neighborhood grocery shopping in the 1930’s.

Interestingly, Weber’s article has as its main source – the American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) Company’s Yellow Pages (business directory) of the 1933 Iowa City telephone directory. In it, Irving finds that there were 41 grocery stores listed in the greater Iowa City area – 12 in the immediate downtown area, and 29 in the surrounding neighborhoods! Without a doubt, that’s a lot of grocers for a small Iowa community with a population of just over 15,300! And as he titled his article, most all of these grocery stores were small ‘Ma and Pa’ shops, squeezed into tiny commercial properties and sprinkled amongst local Iowa City neighborhoods.

*Here’s how Irving Weber started out his article…*

Since Irving Weber’s article focused, primarily, on neighborhood grocers, he didn’t take the time to list the “12 downtown grocers” he had counted in the AT&T Yellow Pages. A quick check of a few editions of The Iowa City Press-Citizen from 1933 resulted in just a bit larger list than Weber’s. Here, briefly, is what we found…

***April 20, 1933 – The Iowa City Press-Citizen features Roosevelt’s new economic plans while local grocery stores struggle to make a profit.***

Between all the ads (above & below) we found in *The Iowa City Press-Citizen*, we can identify at least 16 different downtown grocery stores in 1933 – with 19 different locations.*

1) **Economy Cash Store #1** – Aaron & David Braverman – 101 S. Clinton Street
2) **Great A & P Tea Company #1** – 117 S. Clinton Street
3) **Buehler Bros. Grocery** – 123 S. Clinton Street
4) **J. Pusteri Grocery** – 130 S. Clinton Street
5) **Joseph Glassman’s Cash Grocery** – 131 S. Clinton Street
6) **J.B. Cash Store** – 210 S. Clinton Street
7) **Economy Cash Store #2** – Aaron & David Braverman – 224 E. Washington Street
8) **Pohler’s Grocery** – 1 S. Dubuque Street
9) **Koza & McCollister Meat Market** – 115 S. Dubuque Street
10) **F.J. Wicks Grocery** – 116 S. Dubuque Street
11) **Ben Whitebook Grocery** – 117 S. Dubuque Street
12) **Wilkinson & Condon Grocery** – 124 S. Dubuque Street
13) **The Food Mart** – 127 S. Dubuque Street
14) **Fry Bros. Grocery** – Fred & Earl Fry – 210 S. Dubuque Street
15) **Economy Cash Store #3** – Aaron & David Braverman – 217 S. Dubuque Street
16) **Means Bros. Grocery** – Everett & Elza Means – 219 S. Dubuque Street
17) **Wholesale Grocery** – 108 E. College Street
18) **Self Serve Grocery** – 109 E. College Street
19) **Great A & P Tea Company #2** – 110 E. College Street

*The red x signifies a downtown location.*

Just outside the boundaries of “downtown” Iowa City were these four additional grocers…

**4 Grocery Stores – Adjacent To Downtown.**

1) **Avenue Grocery** – 615 Iowa Avenue
2) **Brady’s Grocery** – 103-5 W. Burlington Street
3) **E.E. McGuire Grocery** – 401 E. Market Street
4) **Ray’s Grocery** – 421 E. Washington Street

**Holub Grocery – located on the corner of Bloomington & Linn Streets – occupied the lower level of Slezek National Hall. Read more here.**

Now, as we leave “downtown” Iowa City, Irving Weber heads to the north and to the east…

**10 Grocery Stores – North & East Side** (see map below)

1) **Amrine Grocery** – 1222 Rochester Street
2) **J.A. Helmer Grocery** – 1034 N. Summit Street
3) **Holub & Son Grocery** – 302 E. Bloomington Street
4) **Hurd’s Grocery (Miller’s Market St.)** – 1020 E. Market Street
5) **L&B Grocery** – 532 N.Dodge Street
6) **Parizek’s Grocery** – 717 E. Fairchild Street
7) **People’s Grocery** – 701 E. Davenport Street
8) **Red Star Grocery** – 931 N. Dodge Street
9) **Schillig’s Grocery** – 818 E. Market Street
10) **Neuzil’s Grocery** – 332 E. Davenport Street

**1 Additional Grocery Store – North & East Side**

11) **Jefferson Street Grocery** – 604 E. Jefferson Street*

* Since Irving Weber used the 1933 Yellow Pages to make up his list of neighborhood grocers, it’s obvious that the Jefferson Street Grocery didn’t advertise there, but did show up in ads in *The Iowa City Press-Citizen* (see below). More on this addition a bit later.

Now, Weber takes us to the south, covering those grocers located in the southern and eastern most sections of Iowa City…

**11 Grocery Stores – South & East Side** (see map below)

1) **Bob’s Grocery** – 519 S. Dodge Street
2) **Bowery Street Grocery** – 518 Bowery Street
3) **Capitol Grocery** – 605 Capitol Street
4) **Bert Chase Grocery** – 2230 Muscatine Avenue
5) **Gumps Good Grocery** – 1231 Muscatine Avenue
6) **Hummer Grocer Co.** – 803 S. Clinton Street
7) **McLachlan Grocery** – 617 Kirkwood Street
8) **Palmer’s Grocery** – 1331 Muscatine Avenue
9) **Harry Smith Grocery** – 812 S. Summit Street
10) **Schneider Grocery** – 602 S. Dubuque Street
11) **Valentine Grocery** – 420 S. Linn Street

**1 Additional Grocery Store – South & East Side** (see pic below)

12) **Joe Whitebook Grocery** – 1603 Muscatine Avenue*

* Irving Weber obviously left one grocer off his list of neighborhood grocers in the south & east. More details a bit later.

*Joe Whitebook Grocery – 1603 Muscatine Avenue*

Obviously, in 1933, the west side of Iowa City was not heavily populated. The University had been moving westward in the mid-to-late 1920’s, but during The Great Depression, much of that push toward the west had slowed to a snail’s pace. Thus, we find only four grocery stores listed between the “West Side” and Coralville…

**4 Grocery Stores – West Side & Coralville** (see maps below)

1) **Melrose Grocery** – 803 Melrose Avenue
2) **Riverside Grocery** – 710 Riverside Drive
3) **Ed Koser Grocery** – Coralville
4) **O’Harra Grocery** – Coralville

*As we mentioned earlier (look for the asterisks), 1) Irving Weber under-counted the number of downtown grocers (there were 16 different stores in 19 different locations, not just 12), and 2) Irving left out 2 neighborhood grocers when totally up the neighborhood stores (Joe Whitebrook’s store at 1603 Muscatine Avenue and the Jefferson Street Grocery at 604 E. Jefferson Street). To his credit, a probably cause for these two errors – 1) on Joe Whitebook’s store – the Whitebook family also owned a grocery located in downtown Iowa City as well, thus Weber decided to not count it twice. 2) As for the Jefferson Street Grocery, we believe Weber didn’t count it because the store probably didn’t advertise in the ATT Yellow Pages, thus he missed it in his final count.

So, with all that being said, according to our calculations: the correct count – in 1933 – 16 different downtown grocers with 19 different locations + 31 neighborhood grocers = 47 different grocery stores in 50 different locations! Wow! Now, that’s a lot of grocery options for Iowa Citians, don’t you think?

In 1986, when Irving Weber wrote his article, *none* of the 12 downtown grocery stores Weber counted in 1933 remained, and there were only 5 of the 29 listed neighborhood grocery stores still in existence…

1) **John’s Grocery** – in 1933 – E.E. McGuire Grocery – 401 E. Market Street
2) **Seaton’s Grocery** – in 1933 – Palmer’s Grocery – 1331 Muscatine Avenue
3) **Watt’s Grocery** – in 1933 – Joe Whitebook Grocery – 1603 Muscatine Avenue
4) **Melrose Market** – in 1933 – Melrose Grocery – 803 Melrose Avenue
5) **East-West Oriental Foods** – in 1933 – Avenue Grocery – 615 Iowa Avenue

Sadly, in 2023 – ninety years after the fact – only half (25) of the 50 Iowa City area grocery stores open for business in 1933 are still standing.

And yup, you guessed it. Of the 25 buildings that remain today, only ONE grocery store still remains, to this day, as a traditional grocery store. That ONE grocery store is … drum roll …

Iowa City’s longest-running “Mom & Pop” grocery store – John’s Grocery – is located at 401 E. Market Street, on the southeast corner of Market and Gilbert Streets near downtown. John’s first opened its doors – under that name – in 1948 when John and Erma Alberhasky purchased the small grocery store – called Joe’s Superette – located at 401 E. Market Street. You can read more details here.

When your humble author went to the U of I in the 1970’s – John’s was a bit run down, and it was called Dirty John’s (see the 1956 origin of the name above) – the source for best buys on bottled beer! But today, Today, fourth generation Alberhasky’s – J.D. and Doug – are keeping John’s alive & well, and once again, it’s become one fine neighborhood grocery store! John’s Grocery – indeed – one of a kind!

We hope you enjoyed this trip back to Iowa City’s Neighborhood Grocery Stores in 1933. Thanks, Irving Weber, for first taking us there, back in 1986!