Ralph’s Discount City

As I walked down chambers street in Manhattan I couldn’t find what I was looking for. As I arrived at 95 and 97 chambers street I stared at condo buildings. A family of three was exiting the building talking about where they might eat. I couldn’t help but wonder if they knew what had previously been there.

Granted, I knew Ralph’s discount store had been closed for a while but I had to take a trip to Chambers street to see where it all began. It’s amazing how times change; the world evolves and businesses and stores reflect this. Which is why I chose to write about a store that is no longer around. I am curious as to what happened, what were times like back then when it was up and running, and what changed within society, the neighborhood, or even simply the business itself that caused things to go wrong? After all, the stores that are no longer up and running reflect the changing times and society as much, if not more than, the stores that are still around.

Ralph’s discount store, located on 95 chambers street, first opened in 1968.  This store was owned by Ralph Mizrahi, who unfortunately passed away in March of 2016. All information gathered is from first hand stories that my grandfather Ralph Mizrahi has shared with me in the past and an interview conducted with Eddie, son and worker of Ralph Mizrahi.

Ralph Mizrahi, owner of Ralph’s Discount City lived most of his life in Brooklyn. Eventually Ralph moved to New Jersey, where he would commute everyday to arrive at his store. At one time Ralph owned 20 Ralph’s Discount Citys in the united states, some locations including Buffalo, Rochester, and Pennsylvania. However the most successful one was the one he opened in Manhattan on Chambers street in 1968. Ralph’s work ethic originated from working with his brothers in retail stores, which encouraged him to open his own retail store and name it after himself. Ralph’s strategy in opening this store was to look for busy areas, “He would stand on the street with a clicker and would click as each person would walk by,” son Eddie Mizrahi explained. Ralph was a true businessman, “He would do the buying, merchandising, supervise the staff, complete the payrolls, and sometimes would even work the cash register.” Ralph was dedicated to the success of his business and the care of his customers. – “he felt like he was serving the community while supporting his family.” Almost all the customers knew Ralph by face and felt a sense of family and care when shopping at Ralph’s Discount City.

When Ralph first bought the store, there were two businesses who used the space previously. Therefore, Ralph knocked down the wall in between and used that big space to start his business. Eventually, Ralph bought the building his store ran from and used the other floors as office space and storage. As his business took off, he even bought four adjacent stores and expanded his own – Ralph’s store took up a big portion of the block.

Ralph’s Discount City on Chambers was open for more than 40 years. During these 40 years Ralph employed approximately 50 employers at one time, including children Eddie, Mordechai, and Esther. “My father used to say “Ralph owns chamber street” – this wasn’t literal but most people felt that way,” Eddie said while chuckling. Many people loved shopping at Ralph’s store because he offered a variety of products from food to medication to house supplies. Ralph even had a yogurt shop, a photo processor, a pharmacy, and a coffee shop all within his store! At one point Ralph’s Discount City was the largest one store for selling cigarettes in manhattan. Many of his customers were in their 40s and were African American. His customers loved the competitive prices that ralph would sell his products for. After all, he was competing with big retail companies that were not far from his store – “they were all around us, there were two Duane Reeds within blocks of us and a Rite Aid that opened a block away.” However, nonetheless Ralph’s customers were able to receive continuity from him and were able to get what they needed.

As Eddie continues to describe the relationship between Ralph’s discount city and the customers he says, “ a lot of the customers were state and federal workers and a good majority of them were minorities.” The store was located on the block of City Hall which brought a tremendous amount of people in the area. However, as time went on the offices in the area changed to apartments. “Instead of having 20 people in an office we had two people in an apartment,” Eddie sates as he explained how this change affected population size in the area and how less people came to the store.

“Being on Chamber street was great, it was a busy block that was centrally located and was easy to get to through all means of transportation. However there was a lot of crime in that area  and business was slower on weekends because the office workers were off.” As time went on  the business struggled. It became hard to do business as a small retailer because “a lot of the major companies would only sell truck loads and they would only sell them to the big retailers.” The business also faced challenges such as not being able to receive their shipments and merchandise due to the congestion of the streets and the parking – “we couldn’t get trucks to park near the store – they zoned the parking so that only police vehicles were able to park.”

Although Ralph did not participate in any community organizations he was very helpful to people who wanted to open their own stores. He gave advice on how to go about it and what locations he thought was best. In fact, people who went on to open Duane Reed worked for Ralph and asked for his advice on opening it.

Unfortunately, Ralph’s Discount City closed in 2007. An offer was made by someone to buy the store and Ralph thought the timing was right and sold it. After reflecting on the history and ups and downs this store has experienced due to the changing times I asked Eddie whether he would do anything differently. He responded by saying, “Retail is a dying business it is being taken over by the internet, one day it will be a thing of the past – or be very specialized. I can’t imagine Ralph’s Discount still being open today and doing just as well for the many reasons that chambers is no longer a popular location as it once was and people are buying less things in stores.” When customers heard that he was closing his store they were very saddened and begged him to keep it open. However, “ As son of the owner I felt great pride in what we accomplish, but it was time consuming and I felt relieved when we closed it.” After the closing of the store it was to our ( my family) surprise that Ralph’s store made the cover of the Store Front book released by Gingko Press.

• I find it amazing how something as simple as location can determine the success of a business. In addition, doing this assignment on a store that already closed allowed be to receive greater insight on the struggles business owners deal with as times change and the decisions they have to make. It also allowed my father (Eddie) and I to reflect on the changes and apply them to present day.