For generations of New Yorkers, a trip to Bohack wasn’t simply grocery shopping; it was part of everyday neighborhood life. Long before today’s national supermarket chains dominated the landscape, Bohack stores served communities throughout New York City and Long Island, becoming gathering places where employees knew customers by name and families built traditions that are still remembered decades later. The history of Bohack is not just the story of a supermarket chain; it is the story of the neighborhoods and people that helped define twentieth-century New York.
Photo: Dumbodude / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
Our history and memories of the Bohack Grocery stores echo many familiar thoughts and stories we shared in our recent A&P article. One of the most interesting aspects we encountered after publishing the A&P article was how many comments we received from people asking, What about Bohacks?” The Bohack Grocery stores were ingrained in the lives of New Yorkers of the 20th century. As a former grocery store worker who watched the same people shop every day, I learned about the sense of community that grocery stores like A&P and Bohack’s had in neighborhoods. There was not a day in the three years I worked at a grocery store when someone did not mention Bohack’s. There was no other store that people liked to talk about more than Bohack’s. The question was why? What was it about Bohack’s that people loved and could not forget?
Bohack’s grocery stores were located in all the New York City boroughs and on Long Island. At first I thought that maybe Long Islander’s penchant for reminiscing about Bohack’s was due to their fond memories of their city upbringing. However, there were many Bohacks located on Long Island, so it wasn’t just about missing city life; it was simply about the passing of time and places that no longer exist. Additionally, and even more importantly, it wasn’t just about the building or the store; it was about the people who worked there. Everyone who grew up in New York in the 1900s knew someone who worked at Bohack’s. Maybe it was your father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, or maybe just your neighbor. These supermarkets employed so many people. And if you didn’t know anyone personally who worked at Bohack’s, you got to know the people who did.
If your father or mother worked at a Bohack’s in the neighborhood, you could always stop by to see them. There were not many jobs where people could work when a friend or family member could stop by so nonchalantly to say hello and engage in conversation. Many people who shopped at Bohack’s daily did so for social reasons just as much as for grocery shopping. Grocery clerks got to know people very well. Store managers understood that one of the keys to the store’s success was the sense of community Bohack’s provided to the neighborhoods. This was a family-owned chain of stores, and the sense of community lay at the heart of the Bohack’s shopping experience.
In researching the origins of Bohack’s, we found a picture of a book published in 1929 by H.C. Bohack, titled “The Stores of Friendly Service.” In the book, there are many pictures of the production line that supplied Bohack’s with products. However, what caught our eye the most was the commitment to the customer that was written by the founder, H.C. Bohack: “Our desire and aim is to furnish the very best of merchandise at all times, and we will gladly receive any complaints and replace any purchase which is in any way unsatisfactory. We want to give you quality, quantity, service and satisfaction at all times.” H.C. Bohack. This commitment was evident in all the stories we have heard over the years in how Bohack’s served their communities.
Bohack’s also had their own special products that people loved. People have raved about Bohack’s own brand of cheesecake. There was also Bohack’s fruitcake, and a whole line of food products sold under the Bohack’s Best brand, from apple sauces to white bread. Of course, just like A&P had its own Eight O Clock Coffee, Bohack had its own brand of coffee sold in tin cans, complete with directions on how to brew the best cup of coffee printed right on the back of the can. One of the items that many people like to reminisce about was Bohack’s own Bohack Beer in a can. I am sure there are still some unopened somewhere, although opening one of those old cans may not be the best idea. 79 cents a six-pack!
Bohack Beer – Etsy sale Item Public DomainThe
Bohack Grocery Store History
The history of Bohack’s dates back to 1887. The very first Bohack grocery store was opened on Fulton St. in Brooklyn, New York. The store was opened by H.C. Bolton, whose name would appear on the store fronts of all the original stores. H.C. Bochack was born Henry Christian Bohack in Hanover, Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1882. He stands as one of the greatest immigrant success stories in the history of the United States. Within five years of entering the country, he had purchased his own grocery store. Over the next fifty years, H.C Bohack would open grocery stores all across New York City and Long Island. However, he was not content with just opening grocery stores. H.C. Bohack also opened gas stations and restaurants. In many respects, all of those businesses were integrated with one another, as H.C. Bohack’s food production warehouses supplied his restaurants with products at his own prices, while his gas stations could literally fuel the delivery trucks. Simply brilliant.
The Great Depression put an end to H.C. Bohack’s restaurants and gas stations as it did for so many businesses that went under during the worst economic time period in United States History. However, Henry Christian Bohack’s grocery stores survived the Great Depression. Sadly, Henry Christian Bohack did not. H.C. Bohack died of a heart attack at 66 years of age in 1931. After his passing, Bohack’s continued to be run under the direction of his wife Emma and their nephews, Paul G.A. Bohack Sr., Robert H.C. Bohack Sr., and Paul G.A. Bohack, Jr. There was also a group of employees who were very close to H.C Bohack who played a role in running the business. At the time of his death, Bohack’s 740 grocery stores were estimated to be worth $40 million.
In 1965, the Bohack family had enough. The family took the company public. Charles Bluedorn, an incredibly powerful man as chairman of the American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., became the majority stockholder in Bohack’s. Founded in 1934 as the Michigan Bumper Company, Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. would become a powerful American company, purchasing Paramount Pictures and Television, Simon & Schuster, Stax Records, Sega Enterprises, Madison Square Garden, and many other major companies. The co-ownership of Paramount and Bohacks led to the grocery store being featured in a scene in the Paramount film The Odd Couple, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The legendary film was later tuned into a television series that starred Jack Klugman and Tony Randal in the TV show. The store featured in the film was located on 87th St and 2nd Ave in Manhattan.
Charles Bluedorn’s penchant for acquiring businesses led Bohack’s to also expand and acquire other supermarket chains such as Packers and Daitch Shopwell. Bohack’s expansion and acquisitions would prove fatal for the company, as the 1970s recession led to multiple bankruptcies before it closed its stores for good in 1977.
Grocery Stores like Bohack’s played an important role in the lives of New Yorkers for many years. These were neighborhood stores that were part of the community, like the local candy store, pizza place, or luncheonette. Corporations have long replaced these local experiences. There’s not much of a personal connection at a Starbucks, a Wendy’s, or a large Stop & Shop. The corporations may have taken away many of those local experiences like the legendary Bohack’s grocery stores, but they have not been able to take away our memories of them. We still own those.
Photo: Public Domain via https://lccn.loc.gov/2017706779
Margolies, John, photographer. Bohack Market, Queens, New York [graphic]. 1976.
1 photograph: color transparency; 35 mm (slide format).
LC-MA05- 4683
Photo: Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. “Row houses & storefronts; H. C. Bohack grocer, A. Zevis? carpenter: 313-317 Marcy Ave-Rutledge St., Brooklyn.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 17, 2020. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b4afdefd-4d0c-146a-e040-e00a180610a2
Updated June 30, 2026.
If you enjoy discovering the history of New York’s legendary businesses, continue exploring Classic New York History with our features on A&P Supermarkets, Chock full o’ Nuts, Hildebrandt’s, and many more stories celebrating the businesses, neighborhoods, and people that helped shape everyday life across New York.
Sources:
Marzlock, R. (2018, June 14). The immigrant behind the once-huge Bohack chain. Retrieved June 17, 2020, from https://www.qchron.com/qboro/i_have_often_walked/the-immigrant-behind-the-once-huge-bohack-chain/article_62d11c6d-532c-51c8-b99b-ab5119c4dbe2.html
Jill. (1970, January 01). Bohacks. Retrieved June 17, 2020, from http://mingum.blogspot.com/2010/01/bohacks.html
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