New York City by Andrew F. Smith

Author:Andrew F. Smith [Smith, Andrew F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2013-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

GrowNYC, a recycling program for vegetable matter, at the Union Square Greenmarket, 2013. Courtesy of Kelly Fitzsimmons

Retailing

Retailing of food developed slowly in the city over the course of the seventeenth century. During the Dutch period, the West India Company maintained a store that sold goods, including imported food and beverages, to the colonists. Ships entering the harbor often sold their goods right off the wharf or moved their goods to warehouses, where they were sold directly to customers.

Breweries and bakeries wholesaled their products to taverns but also sold directly to customers. From the earliest days, city government tried to regulate these artisans and require that they sell their goods at reasonable prices. Bread was regulated after 1649, and at least some bakers were charged with violating regulations. The content and weight of breadstuffs were monitored, as were the prices that bakers could charge. Since the cost of ingredients and the mandated minimum weights of certain items meant that sometimes the baker could not make a profit, so bakers figured out ways to trim their costs by using cheap grain and fillers and selling bread that was under the legal weight. In 1681, baker David Provoost was brought up on charges for “having bad breed not fitt for Sale.” He was let off with a warning, but other prosecutions followed.

New York law required butchers to operate through public markets, but in the 1840s butchers began to open freestanding stores. As many New Yorkers preferred buying their meat and poultry from a shop rather than trying to navigate the large, overcrowded public markets, the law was changed. Shops specializing in fish and seafood soon opened in the city as well.

From colonial times, small stores sold specialty goods, such as spices, tea, chocolate, or coffee, that were not typically sold by street vendors or in public markets. Small stores emerged in the mid-eighteenth century, selling imported products—spices, coffee, tea, chocolate, pickles, fresh fruit (oranges, lemons, and mangoes), figs, cooking oil, olives, ketchup, capers, herrings, and walnuts, as well as pickled anchovies, lobsters, and oysters. Confectioners sold sugar plumbs, sugar candy, “Jarr Raisins and Cask ditto; Currants, Figgs and Prunes; Almonds in the Shell; Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon and Nutmeg; Ginger, Black Pepper and Allspice; Dry Citron by the Box or smaller quantity; West India Sweetmeats of all Sorts; Preserves of all Sorts, such as Currants, Jellys, Quinces, Grapes, Strawberries, Raspberries, Damsons, Peaches, Plumbs and sundry other sorts,” noted an eighteenth century advertisement.

Grocery stores selling both perishable and nonperishable foods appeared in the late eighteenth century. By 1817, the city had an estimated 1,500 family-owned grocery stores, many owned by Irish immigrants. Most sold wine or spirits, particularly rum, which is where they made their profits. They were often located in the basements or attics of boardinghouses or tenement buildings, and they served as gathering places for immigrants to meet and socialize. By the mid-nineteenth century, family-owned grocery stores far outnumbered the stalls in public markets.

Specialty stores focused on particular products, such as imported tea.

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