In the first decades of the 20th century, Warhaven's two grocery stores boomed. At the very height of their advertising hype that worked like the competitive spirit of grapplers, the stock market crashed into the Great Depression. While others have come and gone, these two grocer merchants have weathered the storms of depression and inflation. Chains have considered moving in, but local loyalty to these two businesses is a hallmark of the town. It's a long story; here is a bit of that tale.
Sid's Emporium was established by Sid Fieldman in 1888, Sid being the astute but myopic son of ferryman Ross Fieldman. Lyon and McDaniels Mercantile was established in 1867, initially in a tent. In 1918 the business name was formally shortened to the L & M Merc.
In that competitive heyday Sid's was known for its fine bakery, its huge variety of coffees and teas, and hand forged iron cookware, which was made locally, down on the Big at the boat works of his family. Lyon and McDaniels maintained a reputation for a sumptuous meat and fish counter, quality produce throughout the year (thanks to many green thumbs and large greenhouses on the Plateau), and a whole aisle dedicated to fabrics, threads, yarns, and associated notions.
For a while Sid's fought an association with shadiness for it was a fact that loiterers met behind the store at the loading dock. This was especially prevalent during Prohibition where at least one store employee was known to be a middleman for the Huxley clan, mountain folk who distilled and bottled coveted moonshine. Rumor has it the recipe lives to this day on up Huxley Road in the Craggies.
Warhaven never really boomed; it more or less grew slowly and steadily after its initial burst of growth after the Civil War. Because the Craggies were not known for their precious metals, Warhaven never faced the boom or bust life of Alaska or the prospects of ghost town status like the Virginia Cities of Montana and Nevada. The west was littered with burgs and hamlets that thrived for a short while, then dove into oblivion when the gold dust blew off in the wind.
You can tell a lot about a town by its grocery business. Surely your town is as revealing as is Warhaven in this respect. Maybe barbers and undertakers and dry cleaners are the same barometer? It seems though that this special gauge status is reserved for grocery and hardware stores. Now, the depression knocked both businesses to their knees, but both Sid's and the L & M rose back up and survived. People needed to eat and the managers of both stores believed in the sense of community and the gift of dignity they could bestow through credit. In 1930 a tradition began among the two businesses that continues to this day. The manager of Sid's, Henry Fieldman, aged 30, and the great grandson of ferryman Ross and the grandson of founder Sid, proposed that he and his competitor meet for lunch on a weekly basis. At that time the L & M Merc was run by a relative newcomer, Tony Dini, who had been a greengrocer on Manhattan Island. Tony had been born in 1885 to immigrant parents. He was industrious and succeeded in business, but wanted a different world than Little Italy to live. Tony, his wife, and family of four girls moved out to Warhaven in 1925 to manage the store's produce section. Three years later he was running the whole show.
Tony heartily accepted the offer, and so, they lunched at Brown's Lunch Counter on the river side of Via Valhalla Tuesdays at noon for 21 years until Tony retired and moved to Garfield. In addition to shooting the breeze they ran a secret benevolent society that not even their wives knew of. They called themselves the Sisterhood of Kindness.
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