Sonia Gerber

Paul, as I mentioned in our chat tonight, Bubby ran the china shop, an entirely different location from the restaurant supply store, which was on Franklin Avenue downtown. The china shop was on a nice block on Fannin or with Fannin as a cross street....little shops and food places with a cathedral or large church sort of across the side street. It stocked all the beautiful patterns of china for brides to select from, and she carried a registry of their patterns and which pieces were bought as gifts and sent out. The store also carried crystal and beautiful decorative items for the home. It was a very nice place. I remember going there when I was about 10 and helping Bubby sell things... I sold two little figurines on my own and was very excited about that. The dishes came in in huge wooden barrels full of wood shavings and were unpacked as needed. They had a first floor showroom with glass shelves all around one area to display the sets of china and glassware. The barrels were upstairs on the balcony. We could smell the wood shavings....lovely smell. I think David might know more about the china shop. I know that Grandpa saved back lots of beautiful dishes and sets of silverplate; he gave me a set when I got engaged, and for over 50 years I had 24 dinner plates of fine china that were "seconds" with tiny blemishes. Susan has them now.

Bubby had to give up the china shop because of ill health and there was no one else to run it, so it closed down. It was some time before she died in Sept. 1950.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 23 2021, 21:34:16 UTC