Sendik's Fine Foods, Inc. News Letter

Thomas Balistreri, Sr. was born on November 26, 1909, in the small fishing village of Santa Elia, Sicily to Salvatore and Rosario Balistreri. Thomas was the fourth of six children. As a boy, Tom grew up fishing on the Mediterranean Sea and farming in the olive and lemon groves.

At the age of 17, before Tom was old enough to be forced into Mussolini’s army, he left Italy for America to meet his father, Salvatore, and his brothers, Tony and Frank. When he arrived in the United States, he moved into Milwaukee’s Third Ward in a home that his father and brothers were sharing. Tom’s first job in the U.S. was working in a macaroni factory making pasta.

Tom’s Uncle George and father had been cultivating a successful wholesale fruit and vegetable trade in Milwaukee – peddling produce by cart. When George returned to Italy, Tony took over the business. He would buy produce on Broadway, known as commission row, or travel down to Chicago’s commission houses to purchase goods. The demand eventually became so great for the quality produce and service that Tony provided, that he asked his brother Tom to join him in the business.

In May of 1926 Tony, Tom and their father opened the first Sendik’s store on the southeast corner of Oakland Avenue and Capitol Drive in Shorewood. Three years later, on July 4, 1929, the three teamed up again to open a second store in Shorewood on Downer Avenue.

The first store the Balistreri family opened was in 1926 on the southeast corner of Capitol Drive and Oakland Avenue in Shorewood. The men pictured on the truck from left to right are Frank and Tom Balistreri, Ted Carrao and Tony Balistreri Sendik. The ladies are Clara Walter and Aster Holzman.

Together the family bought the land where the Oakland Avenue store stands today and much later Tom purchased a parcel of land in Whitefish Bay on the corner of Silver Spring and Lake Drive. At that time, Whitefish Bay was sparsely populated compared to Shorewood and was not considered by Tom’s brothers to be a good location for a store.

In 1949, however, the Silver Spring store was established. It’s opening marked the retirement of Frank and Joe from the family business and created separate legacies for the children of Tom, Tony and Ignatius.

This picture was taken in the 1930’s in the newer Oakland Avenue store. It includes all of the “Sendik’s Founding Fathers:” Joe, Ignatius, Frank, Salvatore, Tony and Tom Balistreri.

Tom took ownership of the Silver Spring store, Tony operated Downer Avenue and Ignatius ran the Oakland Avenue store. Although the stores share a common name, from that point forward, the Sendik’s stores have been independently owned and operated.

Ignatius continued to operate the Oakland Avenue store until he became ill and his sons took over. Ignatius died in 1971. His sons, Ted and Steve Balistreri, then owned and operated the store until 1998, when they sold the right to operate the business to a non-family member.

Tony, who legally took the last name of Sendik, operated the Downer Avenue store with his son Sal. Tony stayed active in the business until his death in 1992. Today Sal’s sons, Tony and John, operate the business.

George Balistreri Sendik with his produce wagon. George and Salvatore had established themselves as successful fruit and vegetable peddlers in Milwaukee.

Thomas Balistreri, Sr. and his wife, Margaret took over the fledgling Silver Spring store. Tom concentrated his efforts on establishing the business by buying and selling the best produce while Margaret did the bookwork for the store. In 1935 Salvatore, known as Ted, was born to the couple. Their daughter Sarina followed in 1938. Son Thomas, Jr. was born in 1943.

Both of Tom Sr.’s sons worked in the store from an early age. In 1973 Tom sold the business to his sons. From the once small produce store, Ted and Tom expanded the business in 1975 to include groceries, meat, bakery and dairy. A few years later they expanded again to include a deli and liquor department.

Frank, Ignatius and Tom Balistreri with a day’s catch – one of the mens’ favorite past-times when they weren’t working.

Like their father before them, Ted and Tom instilled a love of the business in their children. In order to make room for all of the children in the business, Tom searched for a location to open another store.

Tom Balistreri, Jr., Brian Byrne and Tom Thomson purchased a parcel of land on the southwest corner of Capitol Drive and Brookfield Road. Together the three men have developed the property into Towne Centre where Sendik’s Fine Foods in Brookfield serves as the anchor tenant.

The advent of the new store marked another change in ownership in the family business. On January 2, 2001, Tom sold his interest in the Silver Spring store to his brother Ted and Ted’s sons who own and operate the Whitefish Bay location to this day.

This photograph was taken in 1948 in Shorewood at the celebration of the reopening of Capitol Drive. The produce cart was set up along the parade route. It represented how the business got started in 1895 on a pushcart. Pictured here are Ignatius Balistreri, Joe Olla and Salvatore Balistreri.

On May 3, 2001, Sendik’s Fine Foods opened its doors for business – 75 years after the first Sendik’s store was opened. The new 52,000 square foot facility is owned and operated by Thomas Balistreri, Jr. and his wife Kathy along with their sons, Tom, III and Jim and daughters, Lori and Angela Balistreri.

The family believes that the key to their success is their personal commitment to consistently provide the finest products and the best service. To this day the Sendik’s stores serve as landmarks to a generation of immigrants who understood hard work and quality merchandise. They had earned a reputation in southeastern Wisconsin as the place to go for quality – a legacy Tom’s family hopes will continue in the Balistreri name and tradition for many generations to come.

Known as Commission Row on Broadway in Milwaukee’s Third Ward – this is where the family bought much of the fresh produce it sold. Today, Tom Balistreri, III still stops at the commission houses on Broadway each morning to buy goods.

Where did the name Sendik come from?

When talking about my family’s business, the question most frequently raised is why it’s named Sendik’s. It’s an old story, one I’ve heard my parents and grandparents tell many times over the years, and it goes like this….

When my great grandfather, Salvatore Balistreri, left St. Elia, Sicily and settled in Milwaukee, he needed to set up his household, so he went out to purchase a stove. Being an immigrant, he spoke in very broken English. When he found the stove he wanted, he told the salesman to send it. To the salesman, it sounded like he said “Sendik,” which is the name he wrote on the order. When the salesman was trying to deliver the stove, he inquired of some ladies outside of my great grandfather’s building where he could find Mr. Sendik. The ladies laughed and directed the man to my grandfather, because they knew he was expecting a stove. The name has stuck ever since.

Lori Balistreri