Celebrate 2000 community section: Hildebrandt's links generations 07/28/99

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Hildebrandt's Food Store

Web posted Wednesday, July 28, 1999



Louis Hildebrandt (third from the left) is seen in this family photograph taken in front of Hildebrandt's Food Store before Christmas of 1929.
--SPECIAL

Hildebrandt's links generations
Family-owned store thrived throughout its 120 years
Story from The Augusta Chronicle

By Miguelangelo Hernandez
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The image of opening a history book and looking into the past holds true at Hildebrandt's Food Store in downtown Augusta.

The sound of the door opening with the door bells jingling and the mystique of the old, wooden creaky floors loom with every step. Old pictures of people once present hang to the left; hanging to the right are items of yesteryear that prompt memories of loved ones.

These images and memories are with Luanne Hildebrandt each day at the store her family founded in 1879.

``People have come up to me and said, `If I could only be a fly on the wall in this place,' '' she said.

Ms. Hildebrandt is a fourth generation owner and operator of Hildebrandt's Food Store at 226 Sixth St. As the years have passed, so have many faces and names.

``I try to remember everyone's name who comes through that door,'' she said.

Ms. Hildebrandt, 52, didn't fully understood the history of the grocery store and restaurant until she started working there 25 years ago.



Luanne Hildebrandt waits on customers recently at Hildebrandt's Food Store.
--Staff

She grew up in the Augusta area before going off to Concordia College in Minnesota in 1964 and graduating from Concordia College in Illinois. She then headed out West to Oregon and later began teaching in Connecticut and in Augusta.

Then, in 1974, a family friend contacted Ms. Hildebrandt and told her that her parents were trying to run the business all by themselves. So she came home to help her parents run the business.

``I was planning on staying a few months just until my dad found some extra help,'' Ms. Hildebrandt recalled. ``That was 25 years ago.''

Hildebrandt's Food Store was founded by Nicholas Hildebrandt Sr., who was the uncle of Ms. Hildebrandt's grandfather. It began as a grocery store.

Then Nicholas Hildebrandt Jr. took over the store. His wife, Edna, took care of the store, however, when Mr. Hildebrandt Jr. became ill. She not only ran the store, but was able to obtain a bank loan in the mid-1950s. Family members later expanded the store and converted the backyard into a restaurant and kitchen.

While Edna Hildebrandt was running the store, Ms. Hildebrandt's father, Louis, started working there. He had just graduated from high school and did everything from sweeping floors to delivering meat to customers. He worked hard every day and as his daughter noted, it can honestly be said that Louis Hildebrandt was born into the business.

``He was born right upstairs in the extra room that they used to rent out,'' Ms. Hildebrandt said of her father, who was born in 1914. ``Once he grew up and my grandparents started getting older, he helped out more and more. Eventually, the store was given to him.''

During World War II, people worked as much as they could. There were days Mr. Hildebrandt Jr. worked from 6 a.m. until midnight, go home and sleep for four hours, then get up and do it again.



Louis and Luanne Hildebrandt poses with their old bike they use to deliver orders with.
--File photo

After his parents died and the war ended, Louis Hildebrandt did what he knew best -- he continued to work hard. He worked long days keeping the store running, according to his daughter.

His long hours prevented him from going home to eat, so he made his sandwiches at the store and enjoyed the days.

``One day a customer told him the sandwich looked good and asked where did he get it,'' Ms. Hildebrandt recalled. ``My father said, `I just made one' and offered one to the customer. From there, he had the idea to start serving food as well.''

She saw her father at home on Sundays and Wednesdays.

``Downtown would close up everything on those two days,'' she said. ``I remember seeing him on those days, so I try to keep that part of the tradition alive. I don't work on Sunday and I work half a day on Wednesday.''

With a few modifications, the store has always stood at the corner of Sixth and Ellis streets. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the restaurant took shape and the family business expanded.

The cozy little eating area is surrounded by photographs and memorabilia from when Ms. Hildebrandt was a little girl. The one-seat bicycle with wire basket that was once used for customer deliveries sits atop the old-style refrigerator. Old marble tables where customers dine used to be the counters in the front during the store's early days.

In the Hildebrandt's kitchen sits a 50-year-old meat cutter, starving for attention and waiting to be used again.

``It still runs,'' Ms. Hildebrandt said. ``That has been here for as long as I can remember. All I need to do is change the belt on it and it's good to go.''

Customers can look at the meat and cheeses Ms. Hildebrandt uses in her sandwiches through the window in the cooler which resembles supermarkets coolers. A swinging scale with sharp meat hooks still hangs from the wall.

The room, however, has its share of modernization with a microwave on the shelf, a required sanitary washing sink and a telephone hanging on the wall. Ms. Hildebrandt still does her best to keep everything simple.

``People have told me `You need to get a fax machine and a computer. It will help make things easier for you,''' she said. ``But the truth is, I'm happy with the way things are. I'm comfortable where I'm at and how I'm doing things.''

Her father died in 1993 and Ms. Hildebrandt inherited the business.

She never married but fell in love with the store, saying simply, ``This is my family and home now.''

Ms. Hildebrandt's brother, Luer, 45, who lives in Augusta, trains day care workers at Fort Gordon's Children and Youth Services agency.

Hildebrandt's Food Store is observing its 120th anniversary.

Ms. Hildebrandt has been on the job for 25 of those years and she hopes to extend her stay for 10 to 15 more.

``I want the business to stay in the family, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there,'' Ms. Hildebrandt said.

 

Miguelangelo Hernandez can be reached at (706) 823-3512 or [email protected].


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