{"id":39767,"date":"2022-10-28T01:53:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T08:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=39767"},"modified":"2022-10-27T13:56:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T20:56:12","slug":"omnitsky-kosher-up-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2022\/10\/28\/omnitsky-kosher-up-for-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Omnitsky Kosher up for sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Omnitsky Kosher on Oak Street, just south of 41st Avenue.\u00a0(internet photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

There was a time \u2013 at least within the lifetime of older readers \u2013 when there seemed to be a kosher butcher on every corner of Winnipeg\u2019s old North End. An exaggeration, maybe, but, in the 1930s, there were enough kosher butchers in Winnipeg to form their own shul. The last kosher butcher in Winnipeg \u2013 that would be Omnitsky\u2019s \u2013 closed in 2008 and, at about the same time, fresh kosher slaughter also came to an end in the region.<\/p>\n

Now, Omnitsky Kosher in Vancouver \u2013 the offspring of Omnitsky\u2019s in Winnipeg, and the last kosher butcher in Western Canada \u2013 is also facing the prospect that the end is near.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my business and the people I am able to interact with,\u201d said Eppy Rappaport, the long-time owner of Omnitsky, \u201cbut I am getting tired. I am 65. I would never want to feel that my business is becoming an anchor pulling me down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Eppy Rappaport, owner of Omnitsky Kosher, is looking to sell. (photo by Lauren Kramer)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The son of the late Elaine and Rabbi Shalom Rappaport (who is remembered fondly by two or more generations of Rosh Pina Synagogue families) was in Winnipeg the weekend before last for a family simchah and sat down with this reporter to reminisce about growing up in Winnipeg and his career as a kosher butcher, both in Winnipeg and Vancouver.<\/p>\n

The Rappaport family arrived in Winnipeg in January of 1967, when Rabbi Shalom Rappaport began his 20-year tenure at Rosh Pina Synagogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 10 years old,\u201d Eppy remembered. \u201cWe were coming from San Diego. Morley and Shiffie Fenson met us at the airport with parkas, gloves and toques.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been promised that I would have a lot of fun playing in the snow. I was really eager to build my first snowman \u2013 but quickly learned that snow in Winnipeg in January was not the right kind of snow for a snowman.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third of four siblings, Eppy, on arrival, was enrolled in Grade 4 at the Talmud Torah on Matheson and continued on to Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate at the same location to graduation in 1975.<\/p>\n

Eppy has particularly warm memories growing up with members of the Benarroch family. \u201cMy brother, Danny, and I were close to all four of the Benarroch brothers \u2013 Yamin, Joseph (Yossi), Michael and Albert. They all felt like brothers to us,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew up with the Benarroch kids,\u201d Eppy said of him and his brothers and sister. \u201cOur two families spent a lot of time together because of our shared religious observance. Every Sunday in the spring and summer, the Benarroch clan would spend the day at Birds Hill Provincial Park and we would always be included.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally,\u201d he continued, \u201cI found the Jewish community in Winnipeg to be warm and loving. Even after having been away for 22 years, the social connections I made here remain strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eppy was studying sociology at university \u2013 working on his master\u2019s at the time \u2013 when Bill Omnitsky approached Rabbi Rappaport about wanting to sell his kosher butcher shop. \u201cDad asked me if I would be interested in going into the business,\u201d Eppy recounted. \u201cI was planning on taking a year off from university in any case and decided to give it a try. I never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eppy joined Bill Omnitsky in business in 1973 and bought the store outright in 1983.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Goldberg was my first customer,\u201d Eppy recalled. \u201cI still have that first dollar from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the young kosher butcher may have loved Winnipeg, one feature he didn\u2019t like was winter. Thus, in 1995, he turned Omnitsky\u2019s in Winnipeg over to his older brother, Alan, who had previously joined him in business, and moved to Vancouver, where he opened Omnitsky Kosher, the only kosher butcher shop in the city. (Alan Rappaport subsequently ran into health problems and sold the store in 2002.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ready for my next challenge,\u201d Eppy said of his decision to open a second Omnitsky in Vancouver. \u201cPeople in Vancouver were welcoming. Many told me how much they appreciated having access to fresh kosher meat.\u201d<\/p>\n

While British Columbia\u2019s Jewish population is around 30,000, the religious community, naturally, is much smaller. \u201cNonetheless,\u201d he said, \u201cpeople like quality products. Many of my customers aren\u2019t Jewish. There are a lot of Muslims, for example, who shop at our store.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, Eppy relocated, moving Omnitsky Kosher to a larger location in what used to be Kaplan\u2019s Deli, which had closed after 55 years in business. In his new premises, Eppy also opened a deli.<\/p>\n

While the government-imposed COVID restrictions of the past two years have been challenging for many small businesses, that has not played a role in Eppy\u2019s desire to sell. \u201cOur business actually thrived over the last two years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eppy doesn\u2019t have a timeline yet. He said he doesn\u2019t want to leave his customers in the lurch (that includes some members of the Winnipeg community who have organized to occasionally bring in by truck large orders from the Vancouver butcher shop). However, if he can\u2019t find a buyer, at some point, he will have no choice but to liquidate the business.<\/p>\n

While Eppy is contemplating divesting himself from his own business, he is not yet ready to retire completely. \u201cI would like to keep working in the food business in some capacity,\u201d he said. \u201cI may be able to help other businesses from an operational perspective. That I consider my specialty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incidentally, Eppy and his wife Ellen (the daughter of the late Albert and Sheila Lowe) have two daughters, Aviva and Lauren, who are both pursuing careers in the food sector. Aviva, the proud father reported, is working on a second master\u2019s degree at McGill University in the field of dietetics, while Lauren works as a senior scientist for Starbucks in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Myron Love<\/strong> is a freelance writer. This article was originally published in Winnipeg\u2019s <\/em>Jewish Post & News, jewishpostandnews.ca<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Omnitsky Kosher on Oak Street, just south of 41st Avenue.\u00a0(internet photo) There was a time \u2013 at least within the lifetime of older readers \u2013 when there seemed to be a kosher butcher on every corner of Winnipeg\u2019s old North End. An exaggeration, maybe, but, in the 1930s, there were enough kosher butchers in Winnipeg […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3851,2626,2625,21850,2624,6068],"class_list":["post-39767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-business","tag-deli","tag-eppy-rappaport","tag-kosher-butcher","tag-omnitsky","tag-restaurants"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}