John's Friendly Market faces uncertain future in Haddon Heights
HADDON HEIGHTS - It's a sad time for fans of John's Friendly Market.
The corner store, a family-run fixture in the borough for decades, is up for sale, its owners say.
"We are, in fact, looking for a buyer," the shop's operators owners announced in a Facebook post.
"Age, health issues, and family circumstances make it impossible for us to operate JFM indefinitely," said the post. "We are looking for someone who will continue to run John’s as a family owned and operated market."
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But the store's operators, sisters Grethe Pole and Josie Doto, hope to preserve the shop's legacy.
"Our goal is for the store to continue to serve the community in the same way that it always has," Pole said Wednesday. "Based on the interest that has been shown, we're optimistic that we'll find someone to carry on the tradition.
But shoppers responded to the family's pending departure with dismay.
Why John's Friendly Market will be missed
"Your store has such memories for me," commented Chuck Swanson, a local pastor who grew up near the market.
"I think I started going there in the early 60s and I still go there for so many things," he wrote of the shop at 7th and Station avenues. "I remember getting chipped beef for Dad’s favorite meal."
"And then picking up glass soda bottles around town and turning them in to the grocery cart right inside the front door. We would take the refund money and buy candy from the rack that’s still in the same location in the store," he recollected.
"Nice. You’ll be missed."
John's has been an institution for so long that the local historical society cited its longevity - in 1995.
The plaque's attached to an exterior wall, not far from where customers on Wednesday chose corn, tomatoes and peaches from a flag-bedecked produce stand beneath a green-and-white awning.
Inside the shop, customers typically made small purchases - ordering hoagies at the butcher's counter, for instance, or picking up groceries and household supplies.
"We have been shopping in your store for over 20 years," commented one shopper, Olga Berry.
"Thanks for the wonderful service, friendly welcoming, smiles, and for the bowl of water for our dogs," she wrote.
The store's namesake, John C. Johnson, was a grocer for most of his life, said an obituary at the time of his death at age 91 in 2011.
The red-jacketed icon was "well known and beloved in Haddon Heights and the surrounding area as the kind and generous owner of John's Friendly Market," it said.
He bought the store in 1975 after working for its predecessor, Lyndsey's Market, since 1956.
During retirement, he often greeted customers from a chair perched near the center-island cashier's station or outside the shop.
"Our father was one of a kind," said Pole. "We miss him."
The store, which has faced increasing competition from the spread of supermarkets and convenience stores across South Jersey, offered a message to customers in its Facebook post.
"We’re grateful for all the support we’ve received from the community that has allowed us to stay in business for all these years," it said.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email him at jwalsh@cpsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Family looking to sell John's Family Market in Haddon Heights
