THE BREAD BOX
The Bread Box is a wonderful
slice of everything that is beautiful about White Rock, or for that matter
any small community. In a world of hustle and bustle, time stands still
at The Bread Box. The clientele of The Bread Box is made up largely of
a core group of "regular" customers. If you found yourself in
a 15 minute line up in a big box superstore, your patience may be tried.
At the Bread Box people are engaged in conversation on every topic from
how great the strawberries are to world politics and the weather. As the
line up slowly wends its way out the door, you can always enjoy the big
screen TV playing a wide variety of concert footage from artists that
fill the store with beautiful music.
For the past 10 years the one constant at The Bread Box has been, MARY.
If you have ever had the pleasure of shopping at The Bread Box you will
know what I mean. The mainstay of the store is fresh fruit & vegetables.
But there is so much more. Fresh eggs, bread delivered daily from Fieldstone
Bakery in Ocean Park, cheeses, deli meat and weekly delivery of home made
kholbasa. All of it served up with a smile and friendly hello from Mary.
"I came to work at the Bread Box back in 1997. The previous owner
was a lady by the name of Charlotte. She first opened the store down the
hill on Pacific Avenue near 5 Corners and I started when she moved the
store to its present location here on Johnston Road." When asked
to describe what she likes best about working at The Bread Box, Mary pipes
up "Oh my bosses, I mean it, people say it, but I really mean it,
they treat me like gold. I live up at Guildford and they pick me up every
morning and get me back home at the end of the day. I also really love
the people that shop here. I think I know most of them by their name,
just like the bar Cheers ha ha."
Mary was born and raised in Bulgaria. "The little town I grew up
in is called Varna, and it is right on the Black Sea. White Rock reminds
me so much of my birthplace. It is so beautiful here. I get back home
to Bulgaria fairly often to visit my Mother who still lives in our hometown."
Walter Berkowicz & Andrew Lis bought the Bread Box from the aforementioned
Charlotte back on March 1, 2004. Walter explains how that happened. "Andrew
came to my house one day and said, would you like to go into business
with me?" At that time Andrew was delivering vegetables daily to
The Bread Box and one day when Charlotte mentioned she was thinking of
selling, he jumped at the opportunity and dragged Walter with him.
As I was conducting this interview with Mary on the deck in front of the
store, Mary's cordless phone rang and she excused herself to take the
call. "I will take 2 boxes of cherry tomatoes, 4 boxes of peppers,
2 yellow and 2 red etc. etc." All right off the top of her head.
Walter and Mary both stress "All our vegetables and fruit (with the
exception of citrus fruits like oranges/grapefruits) we buy all from local
farmers, we have no refrigeration units in the store, so virtually everything
is fresh everyday. We start early around 6 o'clock in the morning getting
the store ready for the day."
I know there must be a million wonderful stories Mary could tell me from
her years at The Bread Box, when I ask her for one there is no hesitation.
"Just a couple of days ago a lady was shopping here in the store
and she pulled some money out of her pocket and didn't notice she dropped
some money. After she left the store she came back and said Mary I lost
$65.00 here in the store. "I stopped everything and I announced to
the store. Attention everyone, this lady lost $65.00 a little while ago
here in the store. Now I know we have the best customers in the world
so if you find it please turn it in. The next morning when I arrived there
was an envelope shoved under the door with $65.00 in it."
Lowest prices in town. Fresh fruit & vegetables daily, and Mary. With
the extra added attraction of Walter and Andrew. The Bread Box - the "Cheers"
of the produce world.
The Bread Box located on Johnston Road just north of the famed 5 Corners
district in uptown White Rock. See you in line one day.