It started with an old advertisement.

While digging through the archives of the Jewish Light, I came across a 1974 ad for Abe Sokolik’s Kosher Meat, Poultry & Deli Market at 8501 Delmar Blvd. The ad was packed with bargains: hamburger, pastrami, salami, kishka and fresh poultry, all under strict rabbinical supervision. It ended with a simple greeting: “Happy New Year to All Our Friends, Customers And Relatives.”

I had never heard of Abe Sokolik.

So, I started digging.

The deeper I went, the more often his name appeared.

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Before he owned a market

In September 1965, Sokolik a local kosher butcher, was listed in ad at Galler’s Kosher Meat Market on Purdue Avenue. According to his family, he took time away from his business to help Gallers open and underway. A few months later, he appeared again in an advertisement announcing the grand opening of Galler’s new store at 8502 Olive Blvd. There, customers were promised four butchers ready to serve them, including Abe Sokolik.

That same December, another appearance in the Jewish Light had nothing to do with meat. A wedding announcement reported that Abe and Rose Sokolik’s daughter, Ilene Marcia Sokolik, had married Sheldon Pokres at the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel.

Opening his own shop

Then came a bigger step.

In January 1968, Sokolik opened his own business, Abe Sokolik Kosher Meat & Poultry Market, at 7212 Balson Ave. in University City. Advertisements promoted delivery service, ample parking and supervision by the Vaad Hoeir.

For a time, the market appeared regularly in the pages of the Jewish Light. Then, in December 1970, Sokolik announced that the Balson store would close on Jan. 1, 1971. The notice thanked customers for their patronage and wished them a happy and healthy New Year.

A week later, the newspaper ran a correction after accidentally omitting a line from the original ad. Abe and Rose wanted readers to know they also wished their friends and customers a happy Chanukah.

A new location on Delmar

That wasn’t the end.

By 1974, Sokolik was operating from 8501 Delmar Blvd., where the ad that first caught my attention appeared. Three years later, Bob and Yetta Rimerman announced they were taking over the business, renaming it Oakbrook Kosher Meats & Deli. The advertisement noted that Sokolik would remain as adviser and manager.

When Sokolik died in 1989 at age 82, the Jewish Light reported that he had spent 40 years in the kosher meat business before retiring in 1979.

Then I found a matchbook

I thought that was where the story ended.

Then I found a matchbook for sale on eBay.

The matchbook advertised Abe Sokolik’s Kosher Meat Market at 8318 Olive Street Road. It promised kosher products, plenty of parking and noted that the store was open Sundays. The phone number began with the old exchange letters “WY.”

After tracing Sokolik through advertisements, announcements and obituaries, it was strange to find an actual piece of the business still surviving nearly four decades after his death.

What’s there now?

Today, the last home of Abe Sokolik’s market at 8501 Delmar Blvd. is occupied by House of India, a popular restaurant near Interstate 170.

The parking lot is still there. Customers still come and go carrying food.

The kosher butcher shop is long gone.

But tucked away in the archives of the Jewish Light, and on the occasional eBay listing, are reminders of a butcher who spent 40 years helping feed Jewish St. Louis.