Waldbaum's was a beloved institution on Long Island for decades. The grocery store may no longer be in operation, but its legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of many Long Islanders who grew up shopping there. Here are some crazy and historical facts about Waldbaum's:
History
- The grocery store’s roots began in 1904 when founder, Israel “Izzy” Waldbaum opened a butter and eggs shop in Brooklyn with his uncles
- The store was at 911 DeKalb Avenue
- They were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine
- In 1938, the company hired identical twins Ernest and George Brown, African-Americans who were promoted to checkout, a first for a company in a white neighborhood
- They both eventually rose to become executives in the company
- Izzy Waldbaum died in 1947
- By then, there were seven stores in Brooklyn
Waldbaum's becomes Waldbaum's
- The first Waldbaum's supermarket was opened in 1951 in Flushing, Queens
- Waldbaum’s had stores in every borough of New York City except Manhattan
- They only opened one Manhattan store and it closed after eight months
- Waldbaum's went public in 1961
- The Waldbaum family retained 81% of the stock
- The company moved its headquarters from Brooklyn to Garden City in 1964
- In 1967, sales were at $197.4 million
- From 1970 to 1979 Waldbaum’s went from 80 stores to 138
- Waldbaum's moved its headquarters and distribution center to Central Islip in 1974
- By the end of the 1970s Waldbaum's was the second largest company in sales on Long Island and the third largest employer
- In 1984 Waldbaum's and three other supermarket chains pleaded no-contest to a charge of conspiracy to fix prices by eliminating double-value coupons
- By 1985 Waldbaum's earned $1.76 billion in sales
Julia Waldbaum
- Julia Waldbaum was born in 1897
- Izzy’s widow Julia became the literal face of the supermarket - her image appeared on almost all of their brand products
- "They left me off the dog food and the bathroom tissue," she once told a reporter
- Julia would make surprise inspections at various stores to check for quality well into old age
- She kept her telephone number listed because she said, "I like to have the customers to call me,"
- One reason is because customers thought she was an imaginary person “like Betty Crocker," she said
- Julia Waldbaum’s died in 1996 at 99-years-old
Buy out and bankruptcy
- The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company bought Waldbaum's from the family in 1986 for $287 million or $50 per share
- At the time Waldbaum's was the the nation's 12th-largest supermarket chain
- Waldbaum’s was said to have lost it’s unique edge - a certain ethnic spice that the family brought to the store - once it was bought out
- The decline continued from there and in 1990 the store failed 47% of its store inspections for sanitation by NYS
- Controversy followed when Waldbaums encountered labor problems with the Teamsters
- In 1994 Waldbaum’s was still the number 1 grocery store on Long Island
- Along with all of the A&P company-owned stores, Waldbaums closed in 2015
- Many Long Island locations were sold to other grocery store chains including Stop & Shop