Chelsea's Corner Grocery Store

Chelsea's Corner Grocery Store. . , A continuous line of grocery houses once occupied the corner of Main and Park streets for more than 120 years. The property at 125 S. Main Street was the southern border of Chelsea in the 1850s. The border once had a deep ravine running through it and comprised a portion of the eastern half of South Street which was later redirected, graded and named Part Street in the 1870s. , , Replacing a wood-framed structure owned by Thomas Godfrey, the present brick Commercial Victorian building was constructed in late 1889 by Thomas Wilinson and Frank Staffan, who jointly owned the property. A departure from earlier Commercial Italianate structures on the block, it featured a more streamlined appearance at the roof line and at the window moldings. , , Its history as a grocery store began in early 1890 with William Emmert, founder and publisher of The Chelsea Standard and proprietor of a business called the Standard Drug and Grocery House. Emmert operated his established newspaper business on the second story while maintaining the drug and grocery store on the first floor. Emmert sold out his drug and grocery business that same year. A year later he sold the newspaper business to O. T. Hoover who published it in the basement for more than a decade. , , In the 1890s and early 20th Century, J. S. Cummings ran a grocery store in the south half, and Adam Eppler ran a meat market n the north half as separate businesses. J. S. Cummings advertised his business as the "Busy Corner," or simply the "Corner Grocery." , , Michigan State Telephone Co. moved to this corner occupying the front section of the second story in 1904. Later, Michigan Bell Telephone occupied the building for the next 40 years. Gladys Klumpp was one well-known daytime switchboard operator for many years starting in the 1920s. L. T. Freeman's Drug and J. S. Cummings Grocery merged in 1907 to become Freeman and Cummings Co. and occupied both north and south ends of the building. At that time they contracted local masons Frank and Howard Brooks to expand the building along Park Street another 40 feet and a steam heating plant was installed in the basement. , , In 1928, O. D. Schneider moved his grocery store from across the street to this corner and later partnered with Waldo Kusterer to become Schneider's and Kusterer's. By the 1940s, it was known as Schneider's Grocery, and was owned by Carl D. Schneider and Howard "Red" Flintoft until their deaths in 1991 and 1993, respectively. , , The market continued as the Common Market under Craig Common, and then the Chelsea Market under Jim O'Sullivan and Jeff Flintoft. The New Chelsea Market was established in 2007 with Kevin Riley and his partner Francisca Fernandez. The Flintoft family involvement in the market ended with the death of Jeff Flintoft in 2010.