Saturday, January 23, 2010

Bygone Business: Hurley's Market

In this new occasional series, we'll take a look at advertisements for bygone Rochester area businesses. Our inaugural installment features Hurley's Market, located at 339 Wilcox St., at the corner of Fourth. This neighborhood store was a child of the Great Depression, and opened as Cook's Market on December 20, 1930. In addition to serving the grocery needs of families residing west of Main Street, the market was also heavily patronized by students attending school across the corner from the store.

In 1939, Edward W. Alward bought the store from Cook, and it was known as Alward's Market to more than two decades of students. William S. Hurley bought the market in 1962, and operated it until the mid-1970s. At that time, Central Junior High School was closed, and the last of the hungry students left the Fourth & Wilcox education complex for other, more modern campuses. Today, the former market houses a beauty salon.

Did you shop at Hurley's? Work there? Hang out there? Tell us about it!

3 comments:

  1. I remember hurley's Market Went there when i went to Central jr High. Bill Hurley was a Great guy. and I later became friends with Bill when he and I served on the Rochester Volunteer Fire Department
    together.

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  2. As an elementary & Jr. H.S. student I had often frequented the market when Ed Alward owned it. Bill Hurley was my cousin, His mom Agatha and my mom Joan were sisters. Bill was a great guy. He passed away a number of years ago from cancer. I miss him.

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  3. We lived on Wilcox just three houses from Alward's market during 1935-1947. A loaf of Wonder bread was $.08. It was during the war and everything was rationed. When he got Double Bubble chewing gum in they would allow only one to a customer. We would get those 12 oz. Pepsi's for $.05 and go out in back to drink them and watch while they killed chickens.

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