Bohack’s Grocery Stores
Lot’s of Bohack’s stuff. The chain first opened in 1887, and lasted until 1977. It’s not hard to find signs of Bohack stores still around, they had a lot of locations and were a mainstay for a long time. It has been over 30 years since anyone last purchased any food at a Bohack, but many of the stores and buildings still exist in a lot of different forms today.
The Founder 1939 Bohack’s ad showing Henry C Bohack. Even though it began way back in 1887, that was somewhat later than A & P which opened in 1859. A & P already had 100 stores open by the late 19th century. Bohack would open a lot of its own.
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Elmhurst NJ? – Early Bohack’s photo.
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Bayside, 1927, Bell Blvd, just south of the Bayside train station. No longer a Bohack’s of course, but the store has survived despite the fact that there have been numerous fires both just a few stores up and down from this store. It has been a little bit … lucky.
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Freport Bohack, undated.
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Mastic Beach Bohack, early 1940′s
Queens, Bohack Restaurant and store at the corner of Flushing and Metropolitan Ave’s, Queens, today it is a deli.
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Gas Stations This 1920 shows locations in Brooklyn, Woodside, and Flushing. There were Bohack gas stations in the 1920′s and 30′s. (Whitestone newspaper ads). Did other grocery stores also have gas stations … will have to check on that.
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Store Locator, 1921 listing of Bohack’s locations. This is kind of a rarity, most Bohack and A& P ads didn’t list their locations.
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Kew Gardens from the kewgardenshistory.com website comes this great Bohack photo which was posted to our facebook group some time ago by Michalel Quartararo. Fcebook photo here
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Hempstead, Bohack’s on Fulton Ave and Washington Streets, Hempstead, building is still standing today (on right). On the corner where Bohack’s once was is a Golden Krust Pizzeria.
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East Williston 1951. Bohack at the corner, on right, Chase Bank today in same building.
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Freeport, Bohack Truck, 1951
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Hempstead 1950 announcement of new Bohack shopping center on left, and the shopping center today at Jerusalem Ave and Henry St.
ohack’s
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Manhattan, The Odd Couple, 1968, Felix Unger walking into a Bohack and using his expert ripe melon detecting techniques.
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Manhattan I did some searching for what the Odd Coupple Bohack might be today. This is a Met Supermarket on Amsterdam Ave near 86th St. Could it be the Odd Couple Bohack? I am not sure. Let me know if you know it is or if you know where it was.
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Shopping Carts, I would guess the 70′s?
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Advertising Some Bohack’s newspaper ads from the early 1950′s
Bohack’s
Encyclopedias, there was a time most of us got our information from encyclopedias and during that time most of us got our encyclopedias from the supermarkets. (1961 ad)
Boh
Bayside, 39th Ave and Bell Blvd. 1952, brand new 10,000 square foot Bohack’s opening on left. I am assuming this replaced the Bohack in the 1927 photo. Note the big stripes across the top and bottom of the store name on both photos. In the 1980′s this was a Consumers Distributing Location.
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ack’s
Great Neck 1977, Middle Neck Road, a CVS is now in this location but it is a new building.
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Unkown location, 1950s’?, if you know where this one let us know.
RW
/ December 10, 2010Todd,
Regarding the Bohack’s from the 1968 Odd Couple Movie. I’ve wondered about this for years myself. I got a strong suspicion its the supermarket on 2nd Ave. between 86th and 87th St. Its now a Food Emporium but the entrance was originally closer to 87th St. I’m still trying to confirm this. Email me if you want me to send you a pict.
Todd Berkun
/ December 11, 2010RW, would love to see photos of the Food Emporium. I spent some time looking for any resemblance of the store today.
RW
/ December 19, 2010I put togather some pictures of what I think is the Bohacks where they filmed that scene from the Odd Couple. I just need your email address to send the pics to.
Todd Berkun
/ December 20, 2010RW, how about tberkun#etoner.com , would love to see them.
Billy
/ January 1, 2011The store that features the odd couple I believe was on2ave and87st….Idrove atruck for Bohack from 1970 until 1976 when I got laid off…….It was a great company to work for.
Richard DiGeorge
/ March 4, 2011My father was also a truck driver for Bohack from 1966 til 1976 when the company went out o business. His name Duke.
Pat Gorman
/ April 4, 2012Richard,
My father also drove for Bohack from the 1950s to the middle 60s. In fact, I have two Bohack trunks that they used to ship groceries.
Pat
Chris
/ May 13, 2012There were 2 wooden ‘boxes’ with handles labeled Bohack on Ebay a few weeks back. We have one too; they were used to deliver bread. Are those the ‘trunks’ you have? My father-in-law drove for Bohack till the end. He worked there a long time. Before Bohack he delivered hay and feed in Brooklyn.
Mitch Kaften
/ March 23, 2011Todd, re the “unknown” location. I know there was a Bohack on Union Turnpike, just east of 188th Street. It almost looks like that one. There was also a store at the northeast corner of Horace Harding Blvd. and Main Street. I think it’s a diner now…not sure, haven’t looked in quite a while. Great web sites you’ve got here!
Todd Berkun
/ March 26, 2011Thanks Mitch, something about that shot sure screams of Union Turnpike, so thanks for the help on the location.
GJ
/ June 10, 2012Westhamton Beach location.
DaveThe Wave
/ March 28, 2011The Bohack in The Odd Couple was at the corner of 87th and Second Avenue on the Upper East Side. I grew up in this neighborhood and this Bohack was one of the supermarkets my family shopped in. The corner entrance in the movie was there for many years until it was closed up sometime in the 1990s I think. Bohack may have been replaced by a Sloan’s at some point. This same white-brick apartment building that housed the Bohack on Second Avenue featrued a Bankers Trust branch for many years, on the 86th Street side. All long gone. When my mom took me to Bohack I sometimes waited for her at the front of the store and around 1969 I stood there looking out the window and watched the demolition of old red-brick apartment houses across Second Avenue. The luxury tower that stands there today replaced them.
Ed Storck
/ March 31, 2011The “unknown” store looks like the one in Middle Village, N.Y. on Metropolitan Ave., around 78th Street.
George Geiger
/ May 7, 2011Re the “unknown” store. It looks like the one on Hillside Avenue in Queens. My dad, (same name) was the meat manager at that store. He opened the Bohack in Mineola in 1954-55. It was the first Bohack that had a self serve meat counter as well as the individual service by a butcher. The store in East Williston was actually in Williston Park across the street from St Aidens Catholic Church.
andrew fernandez
/ May 14, 2011i remember bohacks. i knew bob bohack from from fairchild republic where he was a human resorse director after the family gave up the grocery business in 1977. last heard he is a fire commisioner in nyc.
J Oldsum
/ June 2, 2011Nice to know that folks still remember Bohacks. I met the Bohacks when I was 7 yrs old. My great Aunt worked at the HQ on Flushing and Metro Ave, My two older sisters worked their during the summer, Thats where my sister met Bob and married a year later. Bob has finally retired from NYC DOH as VP HR a few yrs ago, His son is the FDNY Battalion Chief
L Mondo
/ July 4, 2011I’ve been going thru some family history on ancestry.com. My great grand uncle was Ernest Haberle who eventually succeeded Bohack as president and many of my relatives (Fred, William…) worked at Bohacks in Queens. I would love to be able to connect with any current descendants and share what I know from the earlier days – way back when. Turns out a neighbor of my mom’s in Merrick (Pat K..g) was connected to a Bohack, but I don’t quite have that story straight either. Can anyone help sort things out?
andrew fernandez
/ May 14, 2011how bout the villager, its state of the art stores.
andrew fernandez
/ June 22, 2011bohack had about 10 villager stores mostly in suffolk county l.i. and i understand down in florida.
mike
/ June 28, 2011The grocery business sure was tough. I lived in Great Neck and wet to the store pictured on this web site on Middle Neck Road. When bohacks went out of business in 1977, “a state of the art”, fancy Gristedes opened. They figured they could be a success, even though they were primarily a NYC grocery chain (with comparable NYC high prices). This worked for a while (considering that Great Neck was/is an affluent community). However, by the early 1980′s, a Daitch/Food Emporium opened right across the street from this store, and blew them right out of the water!
-Mike
William Bruu
/ July 2, 2011My father, Torolf K. Bruu, was a Bohack store manager in East Northport, New York during the 1930′s. I am trying to confirm his date of employment and when he quit. I suspect he left Bohack to join Grumman at the onset of WWII, December 7, 1941.
Sue
/ August 17, 2011Do you have a picture of Bohack in East Northport!
Renate
/ February 23, 2012My Mother-in-Law grew up in that town (born in 1926) and remembers the Bohack!
Ed. Coffey
/ July 19, 2011Great website! Does anyone have a pix of the Bohack store at Baldwin Road & Homan Blvd.in Hempstead,NY ? We shopped there before King Kullen 0pened at “downtown” Hempstead.Send me any pix or comments via email
Ciao………….Ed. Coffey
Daniel DiPierro
/ August 13, 2011My father Daniel DiPierro worked for H.C. Bohack Co. for almost 30 years, starting after WWII in Eastern Long Island first as a Produce Manager (Rocky Point), eventually Store Manager (Port Jefferson Station) and then in the mid-60′s he became a District Manager (Bethpage/Port Washington as well as many other locations)…he remained with Bohack until the very end, and even worked at one of the last remaining locations after they went under…my brother, sister and I also worked part-time in Bohack stores during summer vacations during high-school (in Shirley, Setauket, Ronkonkoma)…Daniel DiPierro Jr.
Tom Laiacona
/ April 1, 2012Dan- I worked with your father for many years. I was a dairy supervisor for the district he ran. I have an old Bohack news that has your father in a picture when Port Jefferson Bohack had its grand opening. I was a child then but my dad who worked for Bohacks kept all the issues that had his picture in it and gave them all to me before he passed on. I live in Farmingville where you grew up but haven’t seen your dad in years. He used to shop at Shop Rite in Farmingville where I worked for 6 years until it became a Grand Union and is now a Stop and Shop. I will try to upload that pic to this site so you can see it.
Daniel DiPierro
/ August 6, 2012Hey Tom, I don’t check this site very often…but thanks for the reply!
My Dad passed away in 1997, he continued to shop at that grocery store (it had several different names) on Portion Rd. in the shopping center at the end of Waverly…Ironically, he had his fatal heart attack and died in an aisle of that store while he was ginding some coffee…I’ve always thought it was an appropriate place for a guy who had spent his life in the grocery business…I worked summers through college at Bohack, and helped open the Village in downtown Framingville…I don’t often get to Farmingville (I live on the west coast)…but I’m amazed at the changes!
If you can make a copy of that photo, I’d love to get one…I’ll give you my address sometime if you respond to this posting…Daniel DiPierro, Jr.
Tom Laiacona
/ August 8, 2012Dan- drop me an e mail at oswegodad6@aol.com with all the details and I will get you a copy of that picture from Bohack News. Tom Laiacona
William Torrey
/ July 26, 2012I worked in both of the Huntington stores part time from 1958 -1965. The process you’re talking about was Tender Ray Beef. It was the best!! BillT Also remember Dan Di Pierro who was our DM.
catherine N.
/ August 16, 2011I’m trying to do props for a play, and the grocery store mentioned is a Bohacks. Does anyone know if the logo would have been on the bag or if it would have been plain brown paper? Its 1960s, if that helps.
Bonnie Rosen Skibins
/ August 16, 2011If you do a Google search for Bohacks Shopping Bag (and click on images) you will see one. I will also post one on the Long Island and NYC Places No More fan page. I Hope it helps.
Tom Higgins
/ August 30, 2012In the mid 60′s the logo would be in red on the 1/6 and 1/8 bbl. bags. Late 60′s would have a Bohack/ Packer’s logo.
Bill
/ August 16, 2011Interesting blog Todd! Re. the unknown location- It looks like the Bohacks in New Hyde Park on Hillside Ave. (2 blocks east of Marcus Ave.) around 1960 when I was growing up.
Todd Berkun
/ August 16, 2011The problem with that unknown location is that it could probably be a couple of places …. New Hyde Park or Union Turnpike could both be right – its almost like we have to find a photo of one or the other to be sure.
Bonnie Rosen Skibins
/ August 17, 2011I found this interesting post on another site. It provides a lot of information about the store (including which location was used in The Odd Couple).
http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-island/834142-does-anyone-remember-bohack-village-supermarkets-6.html#ixzz1VFvICU9f
Laura Cortes
/ August 20, 2011Vintage Bohack located on hillside avenue and 201 st queens new york
Ingrid
/ August 28, 2011The identified store looks like the Mineola location. The one where the main entrance (looked like that!) and faced the rear parking lot as opposed to facing Mineola Blvd.
Harry Schmidt
/ September 29, 2011I’m Harry Schmidt, grandfson of Frank Schindl. Frank was a former hotel manager of up-scale hotels in NYC, whose wife passes away at the same time that Henry Bohack passed away. The widow, Emma Bohack, and Frank Schindl married in about 1933, and continued to live in the Bohack residence on Beverly Road in Kew Gardens. Together they traveled extensively in early years. Our family spent most holidays together since Henry and Emma had no children. I spent 4 years in the USAF as a fighter pilot in Korea and then as Pratt & Whitney’s engineering test pilot at Edwards AFB testing the first supersonic fighters. We later moved to Manhasset where I continued in the aviation profession finding it more challenging than supermarkets, but visited Frank and Emma frequently with our children. We left Manhasset in 2000 and now live in Cromwell CT. I was featured in the Hartford newspaper last year when I flew the old P&W B-17 bomber from Hartford to Bridgeport.
Michael
/ October 3, 2011I worked at Bohacks on Francis Lewis Blvd, Bayside from 1970 to 1975. It was store #2138. Barny Vitrano was the manager. Sal D’Amato was the assistant manager. I was a clerk doing cashier and stocking part time in high school and college. My starting pay was 1.85/hr and finished at 3.30/ hr. We were members of Retail Food Clerks Union. The store building is still in original form and is a pharmacy. My experiences there were very positive. Barney Vitrano was a really good person and became like a second father to me.
Stew
/ March 21, 2012I remember that store vividly.I worked for the Boerner company & called on this store twice monthly.I remember Barney & Sal. Barney was thin & balding & Sal was very friendly & a pleasure to deal with. This brings back many fond memories.
akitachow
/ October 16, 2011There was a Bohacks on Northern Boulevard near Parsons when I was a little kid. Building is still there. It was a La-Z-Boy for the longest time…not sure what it is now.
Monty Miller
/ November 12, 2011Hey if anyone has a photo of the Bohack store in Manhasset I would love to see that.
Bruce Whitesell
/ November 21, 2011I worked at a Bohacks in Fort Greene Brooklyn, corner of Myrtle Ave and Waverly while a student at Pratt Institute from 1967-70. It’s now a BofA; found it on GoogleMap. The manager was Howard Tarr, and the assistant manager was “Smitty” “Mr. Marramarco” was our Union Rep who came in to collect our Retail Clerks dues. I worked with a 2 Italian brothers, Patty and Jerry, a young Puerto Rican named Tommy, and various others who only had 1st names (Joe, Maryann, etc), I guess. The Myrtle Ave El still ran in those days. I didn’t see the store listed on the 1921 ad, so I guess it was newer than that, but not by much. Tough neighborhood in those days. Started at $1.65/hr, and never got to the $2.00 I was making with the A&P in High School back in PA, and never worked more than 25 hrs/wk. My roommate and best friend was from Massapequa, had worked at a Bohacks there in high school and got us both jobs, since jobs were hard to come by.
Anybody remember that store, or anyone who worked there?
I transferred to a store in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill in 1970 after I got held up at shotgun point, and later beaten up outside the store. Local kids didn’t like Pratt students very much.
My friend might have some old pictures from then.
Bruce
Plastic Boy
/ December 27, 2011Bruce, you mentioned ‘Smitty’. In 1980 I worked for a summer at a Gristides in Westhampton LI NY which used to be a Bohacks. The Assistant Manager there was also named, ‘Smitty’. Probably woulda been in his 50s at the time, maybe older.
Bruce Whitesell
/ December 28, 2011Could be. He seemed like he was 100 when i worked with him in 1968-69. but since I was 20 he COULD have been 45-50. Short (5-4 or so) , walked fast and a little stooped (which may have made him look shorter), gravelly voice, gray or graying hair and noticeable nose hair which makes me thing he was 55-65 at the time, having reached that point in my life as well. Probably a good man but humorless to a 20 year old. Never knew him as anything other than “Smitty”.
Rowan
/ March 17, 2013Bruce, you are a life-saver! My dad (who lives in Willoughby Walk) just told me that the Associated Supermarket on Myrtle Ave is closing at the end of this month (March). I’m 47, and remember that A&P was the previous incarnation of that supermarket. So many memories & landmarks gone now. So I did some loose math, and figured that the A&P had to have been at that spot at least since the mid or mid-late 50s – since my parents moved into Clinton Hill in 1961. When trying to find some historical data on A&P, I came across this website and …..BAM! This string of blogs made me remember that exact Bohack store you worked at! That memory had been shuttered for 47 years! Do you remember Twin Shop department store on Myrtle next to Fort Greene Park?
What were the other names of the Italian restaurants in the neighborhood? – There was the Venice on Myrtle, Cino’s on DeKalb, and another one on Waverly close to DeKalb.
(sorry about your student experiences ay Pratt)
Bruce Whitesell
/ March 18, 2013Rowan, Let me think a little tomorrow, but yes, I remember much of what you describe. I actually worked at that A&P for about 2 weeks during the spring of ’68 before I took the job at Bohacks instead. I had worked for the A&P in Quakertown PA while in high school, so I thought it would be a simple move to work at the one on Myrtle Ave; keep my seniority and my wage at $2.25/hr. I figured that my union membership would take care of that. Boy was I wrong! The Venice was the favorite Pizza take-out place for students at Pratt. Two blocks down on the other side of the street was Vinnie’s Deli, a storefront in the same building as the First National Bank of NY. I have yet to have a corned beef or pastrami sandwich that could match Vinnies! There was an Italian mens store next to the A&P. There were always immaculately dressed men hanging around it, but nobody ever seemed to buy anything. There was a door at the back of the store that I thought led to a restroom, but when I asked to use it, I was told that they had no restroom. But these guys kept coming and going through that door. I was a green kid from the farmland of Bucks County in PA. What did I know? I bought my first bottle of wine at a liquor store at the corner of Myrtle and Hall. Almost got expelled for that one, and it was only 2 weeks into my freshman year at Pratt. Then there was Blind Mikes, a 2nd hand furniture store about 3 doors from the liquor store. We furnished our 1st apartment, a 4th floor walk-up on Washington Ave between Lafayette and Greene, next to a seedy hotel that is still there. 3 students shared a 2 room, bath and small kitchen apartment for $140/mo. I LOVED the people! Other than students, the neighborhood was mostly people of color, with a few Italian and Jewish holdouts from the WWII area scattered about. Our landlord was Benjamin Solomon, who lived somewhere else but showed up to collect the rent once a month. A lot of old ladies shopped at the store. There was a smattering of Puerto Ricans who were moving in, so the neighborhood was in transition. New York was in transition at the time! 2nd year of school I got married and we moved to the 1st floor of a brownstone on Cheever Place in Cobble Hill. Two years later I moved to NJ, and eventually back to Bucks County. But I wouldn’t trade my years and experiences in Ft Greene and Brooklyn as a whole for anything. It formed me and moulded me. You’re 16 years younger than me, so who knows? You might have been one of those toddlers who came in the Bohacks with their mom to buy pasta fazole or Knickerbocker beer. I’ve been back a few times, but not for about 15 years. Google satellite maps tells me much has changed. Let me think a little more.
Bruce
BruceatCDoST@aol.com 610-360-6933
mike
/ December 25, 2011i remember as a kid there was a bohack supermarket in maspeth queens ny on 69th st and garfield ave. long gone and replaced by some small apt buildings now.
Bruce Whitesell
/ December 28, 2011Re:Fort Greene Myrtle Ave Bohacks (Update)
We were paid in cash, with pay envelopes delivered each week, i THOUGHT by our union rep, since things like Union Dues were automatically taken out. Could be wrong about the last part. Biggest gripe was about pay raises that never materialized.
Was hired by a manager named “Otto”, who spoke with a German accent, but he was replaced by the fore-mentioned Howard Tarr in late ’68.
We had a high turnover rate.
The store was at the edge of Bed-Sty, and it was the late ’60s’. The neighborhood was Old Italian/Jewish (10%), Pratt students (10%), Hispanic (10%), and the balance Black. Curiously enough, the store employed ONLY Whites (except the security guard, Joe) which I didn’t think odd at the time, have grown up in a 99.9% White Pennsylvania suburb. But I started to draw the correlation between local jobs and things like food stamps, etc. People could spend their money there, but they couldn’t WORK there. I later found that the store had a reputation for being a “Disciplinary Unit”; a store where problem employees were transferred. “Problem Employees” COULD be those approaching retirement age, and by moving them to this store, and another in the middle of Bed-Sty, they “encouraged” them to take “early retirement”. That meant losing a part or all of the Company Retirement, I was told.
When I transferred to the Cobble Hill/Brooklyn Heights store in 1969, I found prices lower and produce fresher. “Better Area” had better quality and LOWER prices. Thought it was odd.
I was young.
anthony newsome
/ December 28, 2011my father use to work at bohack supermarket on linden blvd and i use to love going to work with him
anthony newsome
/ December 28, 2011his name was rayvone mcduffie
Roger
/ December 30, 2011What a great site!
Over the Xmas holiday I was talking with the family about my first jobs as a teenager.
My very first job other than a Newsday paper boy was a sacker in the Port Washington (L.I.), N.Y.
BOHACKS; I worked there for about a year from ’63-64. I even remember the names of some
of the “adult” employees….Tim, Mgr., Ralph, Asst Mgr, Sal, Produce Mgr., & Walter, “Head Stocker”?
All the best,
Roger Mercier
The Woodlands, Texas
Sharon Livey Simone
/ February 5, 2012I grew up in Farmingdale Long Island. My parents moved us when i was 13 to upstate NY.
I was trying to remember the name of your store. It was driving me crazy,neither my sister
nor brother could remember. It was located on Main Street. The man who worked in the deli
would always call my brother red because of his red hair. I made him so mad he would ans.
my name is not red it”s Brian Peter Livey.
I remember seeing Captain Kangaroo and Mr. GreenJeans behind the store.I was so happy to see your
site.
Thanks Sharon Livey Simone
Jim Groelke
/ February 17, 2012I grew up in Little Neck NY on 249th street. Our house was a block from Northern blvd. As one of five
kids one of us was always getting sent up to Bohacks on the corner of Northern Blvd and 249th street
for four quarts of milk and a loaf of bread. They built a new Safeway across the street and all of a sudden Bohacks became a county library! There was an A&P about a quarter mile down Northern Blvd that I remember
being a rundown store, Wood floors worn out and always creeking.
Renate
/ February 23, 2012The one near me was really old fashioned. It was on Northern near Parson’s. I remember going there when I was very, very small in the early to mid-1960s. What you have done, though, is cofirm for all my friends that I’m not crazy when I tell them there was a Safeway up Nothern! I remember that big red and white sign with the block letters! I live in Cali now, and seeing the Safeways here spurred that memory. I think we used to eat at a place called The Copper Penny way up Northern, maybe near to where you lived, and that’s when I’d see the Safeway. I lived on 147th off Northern. Cheers!
Henry5400
/ May 1, 2012I grew up in Little Neck as well. Bohack’s never became a library — the library was and still is across the street from where Bohack’s was. Eventually the building became a Grand Union, and more recently a Stop and Shop. There never was a Safeway in Little Neck. Perhaps you’re thinking of Daitch Shopwell that opened in the mid-1960s at Little Neck Parkway and Horace Harding Expressway. But that’s a good 1-1/2 miles from where Bohack’s was. Or maybe you’re remembering the Grand Union that opened just over the border in Great Neck near where Sears was (now it’s a Korean supermarket).
Jim Groelke
/ May 2, 2012Beg to differ henry but the Bohacks at the corner of Northern Blvd and 249th street did become a Queens County public library.
Bob Johnson
/ September 12, 2012My mom grew up on 249th street. I remember going there with my grandmother in the late 60′s when we went to visit her. The thing i liked best about going there was the trip back. We always stopped at the Carvel across the street. I miss those days.
Todd Berkun
/ September 12, 2012The Carvel sounds like a great way to end the trip Bob!
Jim Groelke
/ September 12, 2012Hello Bob – we lived just one house from 43rd avenue. The address was 4303 249th street.
Where did your grandmother live on 249th street.? We often went to Carvel for soft serve or sometimes to Howard Johnson one block east.
Bob Johnson
/ September 12, 2012Hi Jim, I don’t remember the address but it was between Depew Ave and 41st Ave on the west side of the street. I remember that there was alot of vacant land behind her house (for a 10 year old) that we used to call the Back Woods and a creek at the north end of the street by the RR tracks. She sold the house in 1973 and that was the last time i was in Little Neck. What years did you live there?
Jim Groelke
/ September 14, 2012Bob – I lived their from the late forties until sixty seven when I joined the Air Force. The railroad tracks were the Long Island railroad. We used to jump on the back of the trains and hitch a free ride to Flushing.
Bob Johnson
/ September 13, 2012My mistake, It was 247th Street. It was a long time ago for me.
harry schmidt
/ September 13, 2012I have always been intrigued by the Bohack collapse … why did it occur? It had been making money before Charlie Bluhdorn acquired control. Bluhdorn, a Wall Street raider, I think got control with two opportunities in mind … 1/ real estate, and 2/ restructuring competition. In pursuit of #2, he tried to also control A&P and started buying that stock after getting control of Bohack. But the SEC concluded his real intent was to manipulate supermarket competition on LI, so put a halt to his buying A&P. He was therefore left with only Bohack, and that was not a sexy high-profit business. So he started selling all Bohack stores in a sale/leaseback deal. He offered the stores at excessive prices, but in return promised unusually high lease payments. I was offered the Huntington store under those exact conditions. So he extracted the cash from the stores, but burdened by the much higher lease payments he could not afford, the company started losing money and he sent Bohack into bankruptcy. He made a bundle, and a lot of people lost their jobs. Wall Street profited in a scheme devised by a master manipulator.
Jerry LaPre
/ March 20, 2012I grew up in Glen Cove. There was no Bohack’s there, but there was one in the nearby village of Sea Cliff. Do you have a picture of that one?
Jerry LaPre
jecinola@aol.com
Don Morris
/ July 2, 2012Hello Jerry, My is Don. I grew up in Glen Cove during the 1960s. There was a Bohacks Supermarket on Forest Ave. for many years. I worked there part time while I was in High School. The building is still there. It is part of another supermarket. Currently I live in Scottsville N Y but Glen Cove will always be my home town. Please feel free to ask me ” where the heck is Scottsville N Y”.
Neal
/ March 31, 2012Bohack’s was one of my first Piss pot jobs as a teen in ’74 !!
Barbara
/ April 1, 2012My dad Bob, worked for Bohack, till the 70′s also. He was a meat cutter. i remember Andy Devine appearing at the Huntington store. Me, my sister and brother, also remember going to Brooklyn and seeing the TENDER BLUE RAY system. We took a tour and had Hotess/Drake’s products at the end.
Ken Atkinson
/ April 1, 2012Give Me a Bo!
Give me a Hack!
Give me a Beer!
What’ve you got ?
Bohack Beer!
Richard F. Makse
/ April 3, 2012Does anyone remember the small Bohack’s at the corner of 52nd Avenue and 69th Street in Maspeth? It closed when the big supermarket opened at 69 Street and Maurice Avenue Winfield (two blocks away) around 1953. Here’s a view of that corner today. Going down 69th Street (we still often called it Fisk Avenue) towards Queens Blvd, Jerry’s Deli (I think it was Jerry’s but anyhow, it’s still there) was on the next block. The next deli was a block after Fisk Garage (remember ‘what’s his name”, the proprietor, with the cigar?)–that deli was on the same block as Landolfi’s barber shop.
Iva
/ April 17, 2012Are you referring to 69 street and 52nd Drive in Maspeth? Was it a corner store?
steven j chaikin
/ April 7, 2012Hi. I was a child in Deepdale in queens during the 1950s. My mother (and I) shopped at one of two markets on horace blvd, just before and during the LIE construction. One was Waldbaum’s, located next to (west of) chartoffs toys and a door or two east of richer’s bake shop (still there but bigger then when my kindergarten class went there on a (trip). Those stores and others (a chinese reestaurant, a candy store named alley’s, a kosher deli ran east of marathon pkwy. Cross to the west side and that block Started with a gas station (shell), a few other stores, a beauty parlor (my mom, every week) and Bohack’s. This Bohacks, i’m afraid, had a terrible rep in the hood. You could smell the meat market blocks away. I was told that the hood ground house coffee was goods. That’s why mom used walbaum’s and why, after a few years, a&p bought out Or just replaced Bohacks. Bohacks opened a store on northern and 249th, but was replaced by Grand union. I have had terrib le memories of the dirty Bohack’s. Sorry. Any share,these memories, or want to fill in gaps. By the way, the blvd was so much nicer then Roobert
Larry Schulz
/ April 19, 2012East end Long Island on the north fork. Town of Mattituck there was a huge supermarket built around 1972-73 called “The Village” which I am almost certain was a spin-off from the Bohack empire and carried all the Bohack product line. It was meant to be an all inclusive type store offering products and services beyond the regular supermarket. Sadly, It lasted like 4-5 years. It is now A Capital One Bank Office which
is also in threat of being shut down (moved out of state).
Charlie
/ May 4, 2012Can anybody help with a photograph of Bohack’s on Evergreen Avenue in Bushwick?
Steven L
/ May 18, 2012There used to be a Bohack’s on Front Street in Uniondale, Long Island.
Deborah Grahame
/ August 29, 2012Hi Steve: Yes, this was the one my Mom and Nana dragged me to almost every day. I can still see the signs around the store and hear the cash registers cranking up the sales. We also went to the one on Jerusalem Ave. in Hempstead but this was the one that most often interrupted my long-ago summer playtime. Thanks for providing the details. D.
Regina Kasper
/ June 9, 2012My dad, brother-in-law, future husband (not known to me then) and I all worked for the company and eventually The Village stores too. We kept it all in the family.
rpdwoman@aol.com
/ June 17, 2012I remember the Bohack’s on Hicksville Road in Massapequa. I was a child. Soon other ‘larger more modern’ stores were built not too far. But my neighbor Barbara Lawlor shopped there when everyone else moved on. She would take me with her sometimes, and I remember the saw dust on the old wooden floors. I will always remember that.
Lorraine Jeziorski
/ June 18, 2012The Bohack that is shown above with unknown caption, could be the one that was on Wantagh ave. in Levittown. It was on the west side of Wantagh ave and faced east. Across the way was Red Maple drive.
Vicky Jones
/ June 23, 2012I remember as a child, being put in a shopping cart at the Port Jefferson (downtown) Bohack. My mom would shop at the old and sadly kept store. The floors were wood and were warped and slanted. I remember my mom turning to pick something up off the shelf and the cart started rolling away from her and she had to go into a full trot to catch the cart. I remember sawdust??Was it saw dust?? Interesting memories. LOL!
Esta
/ July 3, 2012We just googled Bohack because we just found a jar of Bohack brand Medicated Chest Rub in our father’s Fort Lauderdale apartment. We accessed the web site because we wanted to know how long it has been sitting in his medicine cabinet. In the same cabinet we also found suntan lotion purchased at Rockbottom. Anyone remember that store? This web site would be great fodder for a Seinfeld episode. LOL
Alison
/ August 11, 2012Yes, Rockbottoms. We had one at the corner of Larkfield Rd and Jericho Turnpike in Commack. It is now Trader Joe’s, Miss the great prices they had at that store.
Vinnie
/ July 24, 2012I remember the Bohacks on Metropolitan Ave. & 60th Ave. (Near Eliot Ave.) no mention of that store in their ad
Jim
/ July 29, 2012As a kid in the 1950s my parents shopped at the Valley Stream Bohack’s. It was on Rockaway Avenue with the elevated LIRR Far Rockaway tracks right behind it. That’s where the parking lot was, right under the trestle. I remember wood floors and a rear entrance which led to the parking lot. There was also an entrance on Rockaway Avenue. Directly across the street was Dan Coakley’s Colonial Inn. Saw the old Bohack builing about 3 years ago. It’s still there with all of the larger windows bricked up. Looks like it might be office space now.
Ed
/ August 7, 2012I think the last photo may have been on Hillside Avenue, near Bellerose.
Kim
/ September 14, 2012I agree, I thought the same thing.
educatingmudder
/ September 16, 2012Not the Bellerose location at all. That was on the northeast corner of Little Neck Parkway and Hillside Ave. The building was used as an office building for eons after the store closed. I just looked on google and it’s now a CVS store. It’s listed as Glen Oaks, but it’s not. It might be considered Floral Park if it’s not considered Bellerose.
Alison
/ August 11, 2012I am wondering if the Bohack’s listed in that 1920 ad under Jamaica at 140 New York Ave was the one in my old neighborhood of Springfield Gardens. New York Avenue became New York Boulevard and now Guy brewer Boulevard. The store was near the intersection with Farmers Boullevard which was Farnmers Avenue way back. The Bohack’s (which was a small storefront store) closed down in the mid 50s after Associated opened a real supermarket across the street.
tony the pitiful copywriter
/ August 14, 2012We had a Bohack’s in Central Islip on Suffolk Avenue, near the old Post Office and Variety Hardware. I used to go in there to drink a Coke from a bottle for 10 cents on hot days in 1966. I was ten. You had to drink the soda in the store, otherwise pay deposit. I wasn’t into that.
Kevin
/ October 24, 2012My dads Name is Gus Costanzo,he worked for Bohack for 30 years
He was in Lynbrok,Malverne,Woodmere where he put the key in the door for the last time.
Does anyone have pictures of any of these stores or reconize his name?
Henry
/ December 10, 2012Bohak in the 1950s – could this be Old Westbury on Glen Cove Road? Looks like it… I recall shopping there with my mom as a kid/ it’s now home to a gourmet shop: kitchen cabaret …. It’s right off exit 39 on the LIE….
Edward M
/ December 30, 2012I remember the Bohack in Hempstead LI. on Henry Steet between Greenwich St. and Jerusalem Ave. In between was the old Elvin Drug Store on the left and the old Hempstead Bank on the right.
Joan
/ January 10, 2013My Dad, Henry Gates, lived in Garden City Park and worked for Bohack for 40 years, right up to the end. He worked in Great Neck, East Hills, Stewart Manor and a few other stores. He went to union meetings at Metropolitan Ave. I still have that union book and his name badge. He loved his job and was a dedicated employee. He worked in the produce and frozen food departments. I’d love to hear from anyone who remembers him. Thanks so much for this awesome site and all the wonderful memories.
Sharon Odle-Lestage
/ January 23, 2013I’m from Queens Village and I beleive the unknown photo is the Bohak on Hillside Ave off of Francis Lewis Blvd. in Hollis Queens. Queens Village was the neighboring town. I remeber my mother buying coloring books for my sister and I. This was the Francis Lewis Shopping Center Next to Ginos Pizza which is still there but now a few buildings down. This was late 1960 tomid 1970′s or so.
Pete G.
/ January 27, 2013I`m from Port Jeff. Sta. and on main street there was a Bohack alongside a Hill`s market
Alfred Havel
/ February 7, 2013Bohack’s in Hampton Bays
Tom Laiacona
/ February 10, 2013I do believe it is the Bohack in East Hills off the LIE at exit 39 on Glen Cove Rd. I was dairy supervisor of this and 32 other Bohack stores in Nassau and Suffolk from 1974-76
Pete
/ February 11, 2013As a child I fondly remember walking to Bohacks on main street in Port Jefferson Station,L.I. actually it was next door to another old supermarket chain.
Kathleen Motley
/ February 23, 2013My first job: Massapequa Park Bohack – 1963. Cashier. Learned how important it was to have all my bills facing in the same direction!
cantinflas5
/ March 6, 2013My grandmother was called in a car accident behind the Bohack in Corona in January of 1974.
Lysa Grant
/ March 6, 2013I remember walking to Bohacks with my Grandmother in Mineola. Her house is now condos near the post office and I am not even sure where the Bohacks was. I just remember her giving me pennies for the candy machines before we left her house. So exciting!!
George Geiger
/ March 6, 2013Lysa, my dad (George Geiger) was the meat manager at the Mineola Bohack in the 1950′s before he moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Mineola store was on the street that goes to the Long Island Rail Road station across the from the Mineola movie theater. The store is still there, but has been sub-devided.
Lysa Grant
/ March 6, 2013I can picture that area now. On and off. I remember the old theater. It is a parking structure now, I think and the store would be the area where the Japanese restaurant is? I am talking about the early 70s.
Jim Freyler
/ March 6, 2013The Bohack I remember was the one on Rockaway Ave. in Valley Stream. The rear of the store was practically under the elevated LIRR Far Rockaway Line tracks as they merged into the main line at Valley Stream Station. My memories are from the mid to late 1950s when my parents would shop there. My father always parked in the back in the parking lot under the railroad and entry was always through the back door by us. I remember a wooden floor. Across the street was Dan Coakley’s Colonial Inn. The building is still there with most of the windows now bricked over. There are business tenants the last time I visited which was about 3 years ago.
5w30
/ March 6, 2013Looking through a historical book of Glen Cove, NY photos: http://books.google.com/books?id=_bi8OLNwAMgC&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=bohack+glen+cove&source=bl&ots=5Qd2FMj2BA&sig=wkdM5B6L5teGR5TKzMBZ0iVdkgE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=p-83UYDID6GA0AGszoDQCw&ved=0CGQQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=bohack%20glen%20cove&f=false there was a Bohack’s on School Street in the 1920s-30s. Then the store moved to a “modern” strip mall on Forest Avenue, oddly bookended by a Hills supermarket. The Bohack store is now a King Kullen. The Hills is now a Walgreens outlet.
Sharon Stanton
/ March 7, 2013My grandmother’s maiden name was Marie Agnes Bohack (married name: Giancola). She was a deli clerk. Looking through some old papers I found an application that shows she worked at a store on Stuart Avenue in Bethpage and also at Main Street in Farmingdale in the late 60′s. Unfortunately, her Bohack family dis-owned her when she married my grandfather in 1938 (I think because he was Italian), so we know very little about the Bohack history of the family. I love reading all the comments, though, because my grandmother was a beautiful person and it seems that working at Bohack’s gave many people good memories, so I hope she had a good experience there, as well! Also, I was born in LI but moved away my whole life and just moved back to NYC, and am piecing together my family’s addresses, workplaces, birth places, marriage places…. I hope some of these places still exist when I go out on my search to find them! Thanks for the comments and the great website!
Neal Hunt
/ March 8, 2013The unknown store could be New Hyde Park.
Vinnie Marchione
/ March 9, 2013I used to go to Bohack’s for my mother in the late 40′s early 50′s. It was located on Metropolitan Ave. near 60th Street in Ridgewood. I cannot find that store in any advertisements. Can anyone help?
Neal Hunt
/ March 15, 2013You might want to check http://www.placesnomore.wordpress.com. They show a list of the stores.
kimmi lee
/ March 12, 2013hillside avenue floral park!!! need a larger pic~~~
MaryLou Bohenek
/ March 14, 2013Does anyone remember the Bohack’s in Floral Park? It was on South Tyson Avenue & Tulip Avenue by the elevated Long Island Railroad. It was built in the are where John Lewis Childs had his seed & bulb buildings. I don’t recall it being in business very long. I lived on South Tyson across from JLC School from 1958 until 1979. Anyone have info or pictures?
bobby Mak
/ April 27, 2013the Bohack supermarket featured in the 1968 movie “The Odd Couple” was located on Second avenue between 86 and 87 streets on the east side of the avenue. That space is still a supermarket although it is currently owned by Food Emporium.
Carsten
/ May 4, 2013And Mr. Boahack was not only business minded but civic as well. A founder of the Plattduetsche Home Society in Franklin Square…
http://www.plattduetschehome.com/history.htm
Neal Hunt
/ May 6, 2013Thanks. That’s interesting. Don’t remember the home grwoing up but quite the facility.