Historic North End Neighborhood Groceries

Historic North End Neighborhood Groceries. Just Around the Corner. Small, independent corner grocery stores once dotted Boise neighborhoods and were common fixtures in the North End. The stores connected residents on a daily basis, since most store owners and their customers lived near each other. Stores typically relied upon walk-in traffic or phone-in orders from a few dozen families. Some stores carried dry and canned goods, while others offered dry goods along with a meat market., A few of the stores survived for decades, but many lasted only a year or two. Grocers often faced challenges in running a small store: long hours, limited inventory, and little profit. Larger stores, the forerunners of supermarkets, gradually became more popular. The local “Mom and Pop” stores struggled to compete and slowly disappeared., Today, North End neighborhood groceries are little more than a memory, although many original structures remain. Some buildings were specifically designed for business purposes. Others were constructed as homes or as small outbuildings., This map uses a number system to identify locations of former neighborhood stores that correspond to bronze medallions in the sidewalk. Not all former grocery stores are represented, but as you walk neighborhood streets, consider the many stores that were once “just around the corner” and how grocery shopping has changed over time., Look For Bronze Medallions to Mark Past and Present Neighborhood Groceries, Hyde Park , Hyde Park is the commercial heart of the North End. It was Boise’s first suburban shopping area, conveniently located a mile from downtown. Street car service at the turn of the twentieth century helped Hyde Park grow into a thriving commercial district by providing people access to lodge halls, meat markets, dry good stores, a post office, a hotel, and other businesses. Several groceries located on the 1400, 1500, and 1600 blocks further enhanced the neighborhood by offering essential goods and services. , 1603 N. 13th St. , 1909-1945 , This two-story brick and stone building was constructed in 1902 as Boise Odd Fellows Lodge No. 97. The commercial style structure housed shops on the ground floor with meeting rooms and the assembly hall above. The first floor businesses over the years included the Hyde Park Meat Market, Hyde Park Mercantile, People’s Commissary, People’s Cash and Carry Store, Ganz Cash and Carry Store, Ashley’s Cash and Carry Store, and Bringle and Watson. The Boise Co-op operated from this location between 1975 and 1984., 1521 N. 13th St. , 1902-1969 , C.H. Waymire built a wood frame structure for a store at this location in 1902. In 1908, he replaced it with one built of cast stone designed by Boise architect J.E. Tourtellote. At the time, it was the largest structure in Boise built with the material, also known as “Miracle Brick.” The company that supplied the cast stone was located on the site where the 1501 North 13th Street building now sits. The Waymire Grocery changed hands many times: it was also known as the Keystone Store, the Golden West Grocery, and the Hyde Park Grocery., 1515 N. 13th St. , 1975-1983 , Boise Consumer Co-op, later known as the Boise Co-op, was founded in 1973 and originally operated in the back room of a local community center. The store relocated here in 1975. This commercial space housed a variety of businesses over the years, including a music store, the Salvation Army Store, and the Hyde Park Market and Bakery. In 1984 the Co-op moved into a bigger building at Hill Road and Harrison Boulevard, and in 1996 moved to its current location on Fort Street., 1413 N. 13th St. , 1913-1956 , This commercial building housed numerous stores over the years, including the People’s Commissary Store, Hewitt and Nelson, Pauls’s Market, and Blunt’s Market. Forman Blunt ran his store here for 23 years, from 1921 until 1942. After it closed, other grocery stores operated from the space until 1956.