Beyond the Candy Bar: How Nosher’s Delight has been Sweetening the Days of Boro Parkers for Close to Half-a-Century

By: Yehuda Alter

Forty five years ago, when Boro Park was a very different place—certainly on 15^th Avenue in the low 40’s, where parents wouldn’t let their children walk alone at night—Reb Burech Wieder opened his candy shop near Korn’s Bakery.

Perhaps calling it a candy shop is a bit too broad, for as current proprietor Shloime Grunbaum remembers it, “He sold coffee and popcorn... and he put a big fan in the window, which made that scent of freshly-made popcorn waft out to the street, drawing in customers.”

Reb Burech was a son of the Linzer Ruv, whose shul was two storefronts over. Locals would know that the Linzer Beis Medrash is called Ner Burech, for the latter’s namesake. But he sadly passed away young, and it was sold to another person, from whom Mr. Grunbaum took it over about fifteen years ago.

The offerings have since expanded to sell every kind of nosh, in addition to ice cream, pizza, sandwiches and salads—a far cry from the days when establishments could get by selling cigarettes and newspapers.

Shloime recalls his first exposure to the food industry: “When I was a young boy in Williamsburg, my mother had a clothing store in the basement, where she would spend very long hours, and when I would come home from cheder, my mother would instruct me over the intercom what to cook and bake—and I loved it. When I got married, I looked for a job in cooking, and I started as a cook in Spinka camp, where I learned a lot, and for the past fifteen years, I have been the cook at Camp Shalva d’Bobov.”

“There’s nothing—after a hard day’s work—like seeing thousands of children and families enjoying my food,” he says of his summer work.

“I love this business,” Shloime says. “It’s a heimishe business. My customers know me and I know them...we’re like family. It’s a throwback to bygone days when business owners had a relationship with their patrons, and they would greet each other. We’re not on a commercial strip; we’re in a residential area, and when a customer comes in, I usually know what they want without them asking.”

A business cannot remain in one place; it must always evolved, Shloime explains. “Many stores already have a large candy aisle... and in order to remain unique, we must expand. We began by offering hot foods, constantly expanding. On the side, he has developed Kitchen Spice by Shloime’s Kitchen, a unique cholent spice blend that is sold around the world, and this line has added more items as well.

Meanwhile, Nosher’s Delight is set to open a juice bar in the coming days, offering a full line of protein and fruit shakes to their loyal customers—a site that would probably surprise Reb Burech Wieder who launched this establishment close to half-a-century ago with popcorn and a window fan.