Neighborhood grocery stores were once very popular before having a car for every home, allowing residents close proximity to goods. The first Schwartz’s grocery opened on Lafayette Street (now Kennedy Boulevard) in 1907, and in 1914, it moved to 7th Avenue in thriving Ybor City. While the Hispanic heritage of Ybor City is widely publicized, there was a strong Jewish community that opened retail outlets in the area. Claiming to be the only one of its kind in South Florida, the Jewish delicatessen and grocery served as a mom-and-pop store for Ybor City. Pastroma, salami, dill pickles, and salt herring were all available in the store and by mail order. In 1915, the store’s name changed to HW Schwartz Grocery and Delicatessen. In 1916, tragedy struck as the patriarch of the family, Herman Schwartz, was killed in a trolley accident.

His wife Sadie remarried in 1925, left Ybor City, and opened this Watrous Avenue location in 1926. At that time, Hyde Park was blos­soming with new houses. Bayshore had just opened with its trolley line a couple of blocks from the store. The store closed in 1933 when Sadie retired. Their oldest son would go on to open his own successful grocery store, Simon Schwartz Supermarket, in South Tampa. This site is listed as a 2370 sq ft office building that sold for $300,000 in May 2017.

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