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Then & Now
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Central Fresh Market carries on a tradition of excellent customer service, selling only the highest quality fresh meats, farm fresh produce and competitively priced brand name grocery products, spanning over 50 years in the heart of Kitchener-Waterloo.
Grocery stores in the post World War II era were probably smaller than your average variety store is today. So it was that Bert and Chuck Recchia opened a fruit market in downtown Kitchener. This store was renamed Dutch Boy.
In 1953, a retail operation of a local meat packer operation became available just up the street from the Dutch Boy. The Recchia's purchased Central Meat Market, a 1500 square foot, one-aisle operation, sold the Dutch Boy store, and began to build Central Meat Market into an independent grocery landmark.
By the early 1960's business became so good that more space was badly needed. The Recchia's took the plunge and purchased a fully equipped 10,000 square foot supermarket from Dominion Stores. Large as this building was, Central Meat Market was soon bursting at the seams again. A major addition doubled the space in 1969. Another expansion in the 1980's added a meat department, receiving area, and more backroom coolers & freezers. Twelve houses on Linwood Avenue, and Linwood Avenue itself, were acquired to expand customer parking.
In 1998, Mike Williamson and Ben Pino purchased Central Meat Market from Chuck Recchia, now taking care of Central Meat Market's 20,000 weekly shoppers, and the challenges of taking a fifty-year old company with well-worn equipment into the 21st Century.
Central Fresh Market over the past six years has become fully modernized, with a new Hot & Cold Delicatessen, In-Store Bakery, new Meat Department, new Fruit & Vegetable Department, modernized Refrigeration and Freezers, cash systems, communication system and an exciting new décor package with matching uniforms.
We are proud of our past, but look forward to the challenges of tomorrow.
We will impress our customers with our service and with the quality of our products.
Central Fresh Market is proud to be one of the few leading, truly independent food retailers in Canada.
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