There were also those who, having lived and worked in the neighborhood, thought that tidying up and improving the physical condition and appearance of street and shop wouldn’t be such a bad idea, both on its own terms and for the reputation of the immigrant Jewish community. Advocating modernization—cleaner, more brightly illuminated thoroughfares, for one; fewer pushcarts, for another; more tasteful exteriors and organized store interiors, for a third—they organized themselves into the Lower East Side Chamber of Commerce, its membership a who’s who of downtown real estate interests, ice and coal dealers, piano manufacturers, restaurant owners, clothiers, wholesale food distributors, and a smattering of grocery store proprietors.
It took a while—resistance to change was fierce; financial constraints fiercer still—but eventually, by the late 1920s, grocers like Mr. D. Hoffer, whose East 13th Street store was a dilapidated mess, saw the light. By painting its walls a “warm buff color,” installing new wooden shelves to replace those that sagged, and organizing his stock in ways suggested by the Progressive Grocer, a trade magazine that debuted in 1922, Hoffer drew new customers and watched happily as his revenue increased.
By closely following the periodical’s suggestions to put price tags on every item, to make sure there was no dust or wilted vegetables anywhere, to create cardboard pyramids to house bottled goods, enticing the eye, and to pay attention to window displays, the grocer also became a new man. “A modern store has brought a modern Hoffer,” declared the East Side Chamber News, the house organ of the Lower East Side’s Chamber of Commerce, turning him into a cautionary tale. “Today he insists on his having a clean apron always. His eyes sparkle with enthusiasm and he has developed a dynamic drive for business where once he was content to sit on a pickle barrel and wait for it to come to him.”
For Hoffer and thousands of other independent neighborhood grocers, the greatest obstacle to financial success was not so much dust or disorganization as the A&P, Piggly Wiggly, and other chain grocery stores that had sprung up in the years following WWI. Sweeping the country, they threatened to put Hoffer and his competitors out of business. Between their enhanced purchasing power and the rise of modern food products such as Heinz Baked Beans (“tender, mealy, easy to digest, and wonderfully good to eat”), the humble momma-and-poppa store with its limited inventory and old-fashioned notions of customer service didn’t stand much of a chance.