Hillman's

August 24, 1945: “Took a walk down 63rd and Halsted to Hillman's.”

Hillman's was a food market and a small restaurant in the lower level of the giant Sears store at 63rd & Halsted. There were most likely several small grocery stores and shops in the Englewood neighborhood during the 1940s. Hillman's, I'm fairly certain, was the largest of them. They also had a location downtown, on Washington Street, and their “luncheonette” (cafe is a little too chic a word for those times) is pictured above (via www.chicagoancestors.org).

Dot's sister Louise:

“Hillman's was a big food store in the basement of Sears. We did most of our big shopping there. The deli and bakery were super!

Each department had a separate counter & helper. You got a ticket for each purchase, paid a cashier in different locations, and then came back to each separate counter with your paid slip in order to claim your package. Sometimes you'd have over ten tickets to claim. Not very efficient is it? But the food was great and so was the variety. After all, we had no super markets then.

They also gave out a lot of free samples!”