Jbook40
1 post
May 29, 2012
4:23 AM
|
I just came upon this site and saw that a few months ago there was some interest in the old Liberal Market grocery store chain. I worked in about a dozen of their stores and managed several back in the 50' ans 60'. Their first store opened in the 30' at the corner of Third Street and Western Ave. Sometime in the early 60' that store moved to Western and Rosedale. That is where it was when I managed the store in 1967. By the early 40' they had three more stores: # 2 was at North Main and Indianola; #3 was on Xenia Ave. across from St. Mary Church and # 4 was on Troy St. and Herman Ave. It sat where the exit ramp from Route 4 is now located. That store was relocated in 1958 when Route 4 was built. The store was moved north on Troy St. next to the current library. If there is more interest I will try to answer any question; however, I left Liberal and went to work at the old Journal Herald in 1968. I know they opened a few more stores after 1968, but I did not keep track of them or when they finally went out of business.
Thanks, Jake Book
|
newsnot
298 posts
May 29, 2012
4:45 AM
|
Jake,
i wrote the blog about liberal markets. we used to sell them meat mostly sides of beef back in the early sixties. hyman scheer was part owner and in charge of meat purchases. Fred adler was also in charge of selecting their sides of beef. they expanded quite a bit in the sixties down to cincinnati. they built a meat distribution center somewhere north of dayton.
there was also Gene Scheer a brother not sure of his duties. do you know what happened to any of these people? i see woody of woodys market just died saturday.
Jack
|
Jbook40
2 posts
May 29, 2012
6:22 AM
|
Jack, Gene was the heart and soul of Liberal Markets even though I believe he was the youngest of the brothers; although Doc. (I can't remember his name) may have been younger. Hyman being the oldest was president of the company, Gene, was the one who was really in charge.If it had not been for Gene, they would not have lasted as long as they did. I read recently where Gene died in Florida...since the first of the year. I can only imagine the rest of then have also passed. They were hard-nosed business people, but they were certainly customer pleasing.
|
newsnot
300 posts
May 29, 2012
6:50 AM
|
Jake,
thanks for the updates. i love dayton history so any updates are appreciated. did you know ed gallagher of sucher packing? he was a good friend of mine but i have lost track of him. he did live on far hills. he has three sons who are dentists in the dayton area. he was so proud that he put them thru dental school.
Jack
|
newsnot
301 posts
May 29, 2012
6:56 AM
|
Jake,
Did you remember fred adler the meat buyer for Liberal? he knew his stuff. would love to know what happened to him. made a mistake on woody. he died in 2006, sorry.
Jack
Last Edited by on May 29, 2012 7:13 AM
|
Jbook40
4 posts
May 29, 2012
8:26 AM
|
Jack,
I did not know Ed; I know we bought a lot of product from Sucher. Weren't they located next to old Dayton Tire? The last store I managed for Liberal was #1 which was on Western Ave. at Rosedale real close tho there. There was a bar, Lucots I think, across the the street that served the best pork tenderloin sandwich around.
I do remember Fred; however he would be close to 100 if he were still alive.
|
Jbook40
5 posts
May 29, 2012
8:29 AM
|
Jack, I have some old photos of the 1950 blizzard.
Do you know how to post them on the site?
|
newsnot
302 posts
May 29, 2012
8:38 AM
|
Jake,
i do not know how to post but i am going to send some to curt. they will be of businesses still active today. they will be for members to try to locate. a fun game.
sucher packing was on western avenue. they were a big business. beerman had an interest in it.did liberal buy from wm. focke's sons? did you happen to know john bates the meat buyer for super value?
jack
jack
jack
|
donw
170 posts
May 29, 2012
12:56 PM
|
Irrelevant and useless trivia:
Along the Little Miami bike trail, just south of Roxanna-New Burlington Rd near Spring Valley, there is a fenced in junkyard along the west side of the trail.
Sitting in that lot is a semi trailer with the script Liberal's logo painted on it. The dark colors are faded blue (looks like aqua now.) Deeply faded but still recognizable.
I grew up in Belmont. We almost never shopped at Liberal's at Breitenstrater - almost always at Kroger on Watervliet and then at Van Buren Shopping Center.
Last Edited by on May 29, 2012 12:58 PM
|
newsnot
304 posts
May 29, 2012
2:59 PM
|
Don,
thanks for the liberal trivia. i will get pictures for my arcives.
jack
|
Jbook40
6 posts
May 29, 2012
3:59 PM
|
Don, The Liberal in Brietenstrater I helped set up and open in 1958.
It replaced a much smaller store across the street. I believe a Sacksteaders cafeteria moved into the old store once Liberal moved out. I have not been by there in a few years. I don't know what is in the building now or if the building is still there. However, the Brietenstrater store was the highest grossing store for several years, rivaled only by the store at Town and Country; although, the store was not actually in Town and Country. It was in the smaller center across the street where the Kroger store is now.
|
Jbook40
7 posts
May 29, 2012
4:08 PM
|
Jack, I did not know John Bates. I only knew the buyers and merchandisers who worked for Liberal. And only then because they liked to one in the stores and throw their weight around once in a while. One meat merchandiser Gerald Cooney was particularly obnoxious. Not to be confused with the Gerald Cooney who was a store manager at the old West Town shopping Center store.
|
bentz
62 posts
May 29, 2012
4:51 PM
|
The liberal across from Town and country was also Freedom foods and was a very high grossing store for them until Kroger bought the shopping center to build there new store, I worked there for Freedom foods for 3 years.
|
luv my dayton
13 posts
May 29, 2012
7:45 PM
|
seems that as each Liberal went out they were replaced in same locations with a Stumps.
|
newsnot
305 posts
May 30, 2012
5:11 AM
|
Jake,
Hyman Scheer used to some times have a short old guy following him around when he came to select meat. do you remember his name?
Jack
|
Mikey
152 posts
May 30, 2012
7:41 AM
|
I'm sure that there was a Liberal Market in Breitenstrader shopping center ca. 1964...
Just married, living on love. Chicken legs 10 cents per pound. T-bone (didn't get much of that) 39 cents.
Of course, I made $145 twice a month! Rent on a 1 BR duplex in Belmont, owned by unrepentant nazis...$85 per month.
----------
Mikey, Gatlinburg, TN
Last Edited by on May 30, 2012 7:42 AM
|
newsnot
309 posts
May 31, 2012
3:14 AM
|
Jake,
Did liberal buy meat from Val Decker packing of Piqua?
They had a large plant. i think when they went out of business they were purchased by James Ruple of Oakwood. does anyone have an update on this situation?
jack
|
Calhoun
31 posts
May 31, 2012
10:11 AM
|
Mikey--
Yes, there was a Liberal at Breitenstrader. My Mom and Dad would hit the A&P across the street, then go to Liberal to pick up specific sale items.
Last Edited by on May 31, 2012 10:11 AM
|
newsnot
310 posts
May 31, 2012
10:39 AM
|
yes now i remember the liberal there. the A&P was at 1229 wilmington i think there is a hardware store there now.that should have been a high grossing store for liberal.
|
wolfcreek
53 posts
May 31, 2012
2:57 PM
|
I remember the Liberal on Salem Ave, at Free Pike. Didn't they have shelves of large toys high up on the walls, near the ceiling if i remember correctly? All out of reach, at least for us kids.
|
Jbook40
12 posts
Jun 01, 2012
4:10 PM
|
Jack,
We carried a lot of Decker products; mostly smoked items.
I remember sales on Decker Smoked Picnic Ham. We used to sell a ton of them. However, I looked for a picnic Ham in Meijer last week nd coud not find one.
|
newsnot
311 posts
Jun 02, 2012
4:48 AM
|
Jake,
seems like everything is going to prepared foods. picnics required "kitchen time". trying to remember was there an Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company store at gettysburg and hoover?
jack
|
blue J
2 posts
Jun 08, 2012
2:40 AM
|
I remember the Liberal market where we shopped when I was a very young kid- in Hills and Dales shopping center. That was from 1975, when we moved to the neighborhood, until it became Stumps. I was VERY young then. The only other Liberal I remember was on Salem, I think; I remember noticing it on the way to my uncle's house, up near Colonel White High School. But I guess they numbered quite a few in Dayton.
|
smurfnana
41 posts
Jun 08, 2012
7:13 AM
|
Mom would go to the Linden Ave. and Airway Shopping Center stores. We loved the Airway one. The landing strips by where the museum is now was open at the time, and we would watch the planes while she was in the grocery. She visited the Xenia Ave. store if we kids were at the Federation for Saturday afternoon movies. I really miss Liberals. Now I do all my shopping at Walmart.
|
wolfcreek
55 posts
Jun 09, 2012
8:10 PM
|
Jbook40, thanks so much for the post about the Christmas toys at the Liberal on Salem. What a great story, and so good to know I wasn't imagining things. I've had dreams about seeing those toys way up over the aisles, out of reach -- and that was, what, 50 years ago now? Wow.
|
johnfader
9 posts
Dec 25, 2012
6:26 PM
|
We shopped at the Liberal's at Third and Western in the late '40's and '50's. On the western Ave. side of the store was Bob Judy's barber shop. I shined shoes there from 1949 (at age 11) until I graduated from Roosevelt in 1955. Cost of a shine was 15 cents. Charlie Sucher(owner of the packing house)came in 3 times a week for a shave. On Saturday he would get a shine and always gave me a quarter. At Christmas he would give me $2.00. Needless to say, he was my favorite customer.
Last Edited by on Dec 25, 2012 6:28 PM
|
Mark1984
53 posts
Dec 25, 2012
6:41 PM
|
I've only seen one mention of it in all of these posts. There was a Liberal store on Linden Ave just west of Smithville. The building is still there It became a Freedom Foods after Liberal went out of business. And presently is a Save-A-Lot store. Didn't Schearbrook farms have a connection with Liberal stores? Supply meat to them? There was a large Schearbrook farm in Trotwood where I grew up. Raised the black angus cattle there. I was always told that. they raised them for Liberal stores.
|
KennyE11
97 posts
Dec 25, 2012
9:15 PM
|
Mark - There are other Liberal Market threads on this blog, that go into the Schearbrook Farms connection.
Prior to moving near the Salem Mall (before my 9th Birthday), we used to live on Oakes Road. One of the Schearbrook Farms was adjacent to our property.
Incidentally, are you old enough to remember when there was a Liberal Market in the Salem Mall? This topic was also addressed in another thread on this blog.
|
Mark1984
54 posts
Dec 26, 2012
5:57 AM
|
KennyE11. Yeah, I saw that after I posted. Oops. Yes, I am old enough to remember the Liberal in the Salem Mall. Vaguely, but I remember it, Couldn't tell you where in the mall it was. I know exactly the area you are talking about. Oakes-Westbrook Rd. area. The land that was the farm is covered in houses now.
|
Mark1984
55 posts
Dec 26, 2012
2:07 PM
|
KennyE11. It just hit me. Wasn't the Liberal inside the Salem Mall next to or close to where Hickory Farms was? Some of the earlier posts were talking about Sucher. They had an experimental feed farm there on Olive Rd. right before Little Richmond. Had a "unique aroma" to it when you would drive by. Especially in the summer!
|
KennyE11
98 posts
Dec 26, 2012
8:34 PM
|
Mark - The Liberal Market was at the North end of the Salem Mall - one of the original anchor stores (along with Rike's and Sears. This was the section of the mall that was remodeled, and became the two-story section anchored by JC Penney. Unfortunately, I forget where Hickory Farms was located in the mall.
|
Mark1984
58 posts
Dec 27, 2012
6:40 AM
|
KennyE11. Got it! Hickory farms was just down from Sears. Right before you got to the fountain. If you made a left, you went towards Rikes.
|
millej57
3 posts
Dec 27, 2012
6:39 PM
|
Yes my father worked for Liberal's for 32 years till they closed down in the 80's. Managed the grocery department at the downtown Dayton store for many years.
Also worked at Xenia Avenue, East Third, Salem & Siebenthaler and final Salem & Grand.
|
Cross
6 posts
Dec 27, 2012
8:11 PM
|
I seem to remember a Liberals in the Arcade block, West 3rd Street side facing north that I shopped at until they went under in the 70’s.
As I worked in the grocery business in the late 60’s early 70’s they were competition.
I worked for Leo “Lenny” Jacobson and his brother Frank at H&L IGA on Gettysburg in the late 60’s. Lenny was a caring man and used to from time to time round up a couple bags of free groceries for several of the poorer employees. I think he lived in Oakwood area and would sometimes give me a ride home to east Dayton, a very caring man.
Was offered work at Knife’s White Villa at Hillcrest and Catalpa which I believe was owned by Floyd Knife a first class employer. He offered home delivery which was rare in those days.
I was next offered a job at Neil Franks “Shiloh IGA” on Shiloh Springs Road.
Does anyone remember Gettysburg IGA at Gettysburg and was it Prescott? There was a longtime gone bakery to the south of the store. Paperboys would go there at 4:00 AM and buy the best Cream Horns and Bear Claws in town before delivering the Sunday newspaper.
|
mjr1960
82 posts
Dec 29, 2012
4:17 AM
|
Yes it was nickley's after Brooks, Changed somewhere in the late 60's We shopped for our grocery's there, I do remember a name change. We moved from that area may of 70 so i can;t pin it down mike
|
