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Aug. 18, 2006
Winnipeg waves bye
North End Glatt kosher outlet closes its doors.
REBECA KUROPATWA
Bathurst Street Market, Manitoba's only Glatt kosher restaurant
and specialty grocery store, has closed its doors. According to
owner and operator Mark Kravetsky, "There's just not enough
business" to keep the place going.
The North End establishment has been at its Main Street location
for 12 years, but the Winnipeg Jewish community has known it –
and its owners – much longer. The store used to be known as
Eliahu's and was situated on McGregor Street. It was started by
Kravetsky's parents and served the needs of Jewish Winnipeg for
two decades.
Bathurst stocked hard-to-get Israeli products at the lowest price
in town. "If a customer would tell us that they found an item
cheaper elsewhere," said Kravetsky, "we would match that
price." The restaurant had a varied selection of foods, such
as schnitzel, deli sandwiches, falafel, burgers and homemade fries.
Kravetsky is the father of seven children, ages 11 to 21 –
and he comes from a tight-knit family himself. He said the recent
financial strain of the business had created unnecessary family
stress. "It has also caused me to be away from my family longer
than I would like," he noted. "In the early days –
the good old days – the kids loved coming to the store to eat
french fries. We used to manually peel thousands of potatoes every
day."
"It is disastrous for the Jewish community to lose its major
accepted [in its level of kashrut] establishment," observed
community member Haskel Greenfield. "It reflects changes in
the Jewish community. Desserts Plus [a local store that offers some
kosher products] moved south, taking away a lot of Bathurst's business.
Since moving south, they've been adding more kosher products, including
meat and Israeli products."
Barbara and Ed Reiss run Desserts Plus. "Bathurst and Desserts
Plus have always supported one another over the years," said
Desserts Plus co-owner Barbara Reiss. "In the community sense,
it's very sad to see them close, especially for the firm [strictly
observant] community."
"The majority of Bathurst's regular customers in recent years
have passed away or have relocated to Toronto or elsewhere,"
said Kravetsky. "Since [the Asper Jewish Community] Campus
has moved south, a good part of the Jewish community has also moved
to the city's South End."
Kravetsky expressed hope of the possibility of opening a new Glatt
kosher establishment in Winnipeg's South End, where more of the
city's Jewish population now lives. But, he said, "We need
community support and willingness to be able to succeed in making
a new place last."
"Bathurst closing is a sign that the community doesn't really
care about kosher food," said Rabbi David Weksler of Winnipeg's
Ohr HaTorah Day Schools, "[it's] not a good sign. It's very
sad that we will no longer have a place where Orthodox Jews can
go out to celebrate simchahs. We need this in Winnipeg, especially
in the winter. Maybe more and more people will decide to move to
Israel."
"It's tough," said Kravetsky. "There are big problems
in Winnipeg, like Omnitsky's Butcher's [the only Winnipeg kosher
establishment in town] recently losing their kosher supervision
certification." Kravestsky said he still hopes for the best.
"That's all I can do right now," he said. "We'll
see what the product demands are in the city and work from there."
He says he likes Winnipeg and plans to stay there. But shutting
down Bathurst is something he "just couldn't imagine would
ever happen. It's been a part of my life since I was a kid. Me and
my brother, Jack, and my whole family would come to the store to
have Elite treats and to help out. Pesach was the biggest time of
the year. A lot of the family would come into town. We would stock
shelves in the store all night. This was our 'family night out.'
"
"It's a big loss," said regular Bathurst customer Alisa
Kaplan. "Now there's no kosher place to just go out for a burger.
It's been a staple in the community for a very long time and it's
sad to see it go."
Bathurst Street Market closed its restaurant on June 30 and its
grocery store on July 31.
Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
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