WEST ROGERS PARK — Denny Mondl decided one month ago to close the grocery store that his dad, Erv, opened in 1947 on Touhy Avenue.
On Nov. 1, Ed and Erv's Centrella Food Mart will serve its final customers.
"It's time to get out of here," said Mondl, 65, dressed in a butcher's apron and standing behind the store's original refrigerated meat case and counter.
His dad opened the small grocery store with a business partner, Ed Galloway, at 2210 W. Touhy Ave.
"As a kid, I was in here doing stock and cleanup," Mondl said, before he went on to work at Jewel during high school, eventually making it to the meat department.
But when Galloway retired in 1972, Mondl bought his share of the business. For a while he worked alongside his dad — until he retired. Then Mondl's brother stepped in and helped around the store, but he died shortly after.
Since then, Mondl has run the store and butcher shop himself — 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Mondays to Saturdays.
"It's time for me to call in sick. In all the years I've been here, I haven't called in sick once," Mondl said, adding he only takes time off each year to visit family in Minnesota and golf in Florida. ("To get my sanity back," he says.)
Not much inside the store has changed over the years. The stuffed Chinook salmon — a 23.5-pounder his dad reeled in,and Mondl netted, on Lake Michigan — still hangs on the wall behind the meat counter.
But the neighborhood certainly is different, Mondl said.
"I saw the neighborhood change back and forth, back and forth," he said. "... There were a lot more older people and a lot more larger families. I had a lot more delivery service."
In its heyday, the store made six deliveries a day. Now it makes six a week, he said. And as more shoppers took their business to supermarket chains, it became more difficult to work with distributors.
"It's hard to be competitive," he said. "They want to work with the big guys and not the little guy."
But the shop had enough charm to support itself and the family for nearly seven decades. Mondl said he and his wife, Barb, put their four sons through school at nearby St. Margaret Mary, his alma mater.
His dad died in 2008 at age 89. Then many of his old friends from the neighborhood retired.
So, he said, he decided to "hang it up."
"Sad," he said when asked to describe how it would feel to close the store for the last time. "It's going to be strange, it's going to be hard. My shelves are dwindling now. They used to be jam-packed."
In February, Mondl put the building up for sale. So far, a few prospective buyers have come forward, but he's holding out.
"Obviously, I'd rather see it go to someone who would open up a grocery store," he said.
Many residents are also sad to see Ed and Erv's go, including the regulars at next-door tavern My Place.
"He's going to be missed. He's going to be very missed." said bartender Linda Gomez, 47.
Gomez and tavern patrons often order lunch from Mondl, who will make burgers, pork tacos or sandwiches for them, she said. He will even let them start a tab if they're short on cash.
"He's old-school, mom-and-pop style," Gomez said.
What's next for Mondl?
He said he has about six months of work to do around the house. And, he said, he plans to spend time with his mother, who's "in her 90s."
Eventually he plans to look for something part time to keep him busy, he said.
But he'll never forget the family's history behind the counter at Ed and Erv's.
"I'm not a person for words," he said. "But I appreciate all the good times — and I'm going to miss the camaraderie ... with the neighbors."
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