Memories of Greenleaf Market at Essex and Piper

Hi Everyone,

My grandfather owned and operated Greenleaf Market at Essex and Piper Avenues on Detroit's east side between 1948 and 1965. I was wondering if any of you may have remembered his store and had any memories to share about shopping there or the neighborhood around his building. I know many of his customers came from the east side, Harbor Island and Grosse Pointe. I know that area was completely redeveloped in the early 1990s as the gated community, Victorian Estates [[or some similar name).

Thanks very much!

Joe MacDonald

I remember the store, but I was only 10 in 1965, and I do not remember your grandfather. The new housing is called Victoria Park. In 1965, it was a densely populated corner of Detroit, with quite a few large Catholic families. Two blocks to the west, between Lenox and Drexel, was another similar small grocery called Belles Market. That is where my mother shopped. And two blocks to the east was another one on the corner of Newport and Essex. I think that was called LaFleurs or something like that. The large supermarkets were on Jefferson, but I think a lot of the housewives who did the shopping were left at home without a car, and Jefferson was much further to walk. Next to Belle's Market was an old fashioned bakery run by the Schell family. There was also a soda foutain/candy store/hangout on the corner of Drexel and Essex that may have had a real name, but everyone just called it The Bun. There was also a Sinclair gas station with a dinosaur sign on Eastlawn at Essex, and Ed LaCharitie's barber shop was next to that. There was one bar between Drexel and Coplin called the Essex Inn. I remember a teevee repair shop that may have been called Alexander's closer to Lenox. There must have been other things, like a dry cleaner, but that would not stand out to a ten year old.
So the short answer is that I remember Greenleaf Market, but not much about the store itself or your relatives.

Go here for an invitation to connect with the people who lived in and loved this old neighborhood:

http://stmartinneighborhoodreunioniii.yolasite.com/