New owners, new era, same tradition at Crown Market
As a little girl in West Hartford, Debbie Raviv said she “grew up on the Crown Market,” eyeing the iconic storefront on Albany Avenue, eating free cookies from the bakery counter, and pushing tike-sized shopping carts while her father picked up kosher food for the family.
Today, Raviv and her husband, Khen Raviv, are the new part owners of the Crown, ushering in a “new era of growth” while “honoring the legacy” of the kosher grocery store that has served Greater Hartford for more than 80 years.
“It represents a lot of happiness, and as a kid, I didn’t even know that it was kosher,” Raviv said. “But I knew it was a Jewish grocery store serving that population (and) I think over time, it’s expanded to serve everybody.”
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, shoppers bustled about the Crown, picking up last-minute grocery items and catering orders for their holiday feasts and exchanging greetings of “Shana Tova” to wish each other well for the new year.
“They cook almost like your mother — how could you not love it?” Ronny Siegel said.
Siegel and her husband, Al Siegel, have been loyal customers at the Crown for the last 40 years. To them, the grocery store is more than a shop — it’s an institution and an extension of the Jewish Community Center.
“You love the customers, they’re like family,” Mike Hanson, a Crown employee of 24 years, said. “I’m not from here, I’m from Glastonbury, but I feel like it’s still home.”
Other employees feel this same passion.
“To me, this is just the way I was brought up,” said Mark Seltzer, who has worked at the Crown for decades.
Seltzer’s grandfather was one of three men who established the Crown in 1940. Back then, the grocery store was a group of concessions on Albany Avenue in Hartford between Magnolia and Irving Street.
“From the time I was knee high, I used to go,” Seltzer said. “The store used to be in Hartford on Albany Avenue … and I used to go down with my dad and bag groceries, peel onions, and it’s just been a way of life.”
In 1967, Seltzer watched the Crown move to its current home on Bishop’s Corner as Hartford’s Jewish population migrated from the city to the suburbs.
Financial troubles nearly brought the Crown to its end in 2014 until a team of community investors rescued and renovated the store.
But despite the trials and transformations, some things at the Crown never changed.
“Small business today, they’re diminishing, and they’re difficult, but people need a place where we know people by their names,” Seltzer said. “We see the kids, the grandkids of original customers who have passed away. Some have moved to Florida and then they come back for holiday. So there’s a real connection of community in this store. I would say that’s the fabric of the store.”
“You can buy this anywhere,” Seltzer said, gesturing to the kosher-certified candy and snacks in the aisle behind him. “But when you come to this store, people talk to each other. They get acquainted with people they haven’t seen in a while. It’s more of an experience than a chore.”
Rabbi Yitzchok Adler of Beth David Synagogue in West Hartford has been shopping at Crown since the 1990s.
He said that if the Crown closed in 2014, “It would’ve been a major blow to the quality of life in our community, not only for the Jewish community, but for the entire West Hartford area.”
As the rabbinic administrator of the Hartford Kashrut Commission, Adler is one of the rabbis that provides the kosher certification for the Crown.
“It’s more than blessing,” Adler said. “It’s providing guidance and instruction so that the food prepared is in compliance with the highest standards of kosher certification guaranteeing assurances to all customers who are diet conscious that the food prepared here meets the highest standards of kosher law. “
Raviv said that at the Crown, shoppers keeping kashrut don’t have to worry about what they are buying, or check every package for a kosher symbol.
“I can’t stress enough how important the kosher aspect is to the community. In Greater Hartford, there’s really nowhere that they can shop for a hundred percent kosher items,” Raviv said. “(At the Crown) they just come, and they know. And I think that that’s a huge relief.”
Raviv said that keeping kosher can be a challenge.
“Unless you are really keeping kosher, you don’t really understand how difficult it is,” Raviv said. “They don’t even have a kosher restaurant in this area, so they don’t eat out.”
To better serve these customers, Raviv said the Crown is adding a cafe area with tables and chairs for on-site dining.
“They’re going to be able to buy food and come and sit and eat. So I think that’s going to be very special and unique, and who knows, hopefully one day we’ll have a kosher restaurant in West Hartford,” Raviv said.
Someone keenly attuned to the challenges of kosher dining is Raviv’s husband. He likened his role at the store to that of a missionary in the community, adding that he is very proud to be an owner.
“It means a lot to him,” Raviv said. “He’s kosher, he’s from Israel, he really understands this population. I think he’s a really great match for knowing what the clients want. He’s super approachable and he brings a lot of personality to the store.”
Raviv said that she and her husband have worked in their food business their entire career. After leaving West Hartford, Raviv received classical training as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris before entering the restaurant industry.
When the Crown was looking for a new leadership team to elevate the brand, Raviv said she and her husband “just clicked” with Crown owners Avi Berger, Ahron Bellar, and Yitz Rabinowitz of the Triple Crown Group.
“The five of us decided to do this venture together. And people are asking, ‘It’s new for you, the grocery industry, right?’ Because we’re restaurant people, but really hospitality is hospitality. And the motto I’ve always gone by is ‘What’s best for the guest?’ And that doesn’t matter whether you’re a grocery shop, or a restaurant, or a sandwich shop, you always want to do what’s best for your clients,” Raviv said.
Raviv said that the new era will see some new innovation aimed at drawing more clientele to the Crown.
She said she is excited to host a challah bake and book signing with an New York Instagram influencer, local wine tastings, and other after-hours events with local business owners.
The store will feature a new layout with the cafe at the 5 O’clock Shop, the bakery in its original location at the back corner, produce in the front of the store, and the addition of self checkout lanes for shoppers that need to get in and out fast.
Raviv said the Crown plans to expand its selection with more graband-go beverage, prepared food and hotbar offerings, new pressed sandwiches, Chinese takeout from 3 p.m. until close, a variety of produce from local farms and requested products from New York.
The Crown’s logo will also receive a facelift. Raviv said the store plans to debut the rebrand in October with a new shade of blue, typeface and an update to the crown symbol, while keeping the iconic storefront sign intact.
“We’re honoring the legacy,” Raviv said. “We don’t want to have people think, ‘Oh my god, they’re changing the Crown.’ We’re not changing the Crown, we’re improving on what is already great.”
“I think people do feel, when they come and walk into the doors of the Crown, they feel like they’re at home,” Raviv said. “That’s a huge part of the Crown. This is what’s different than people shopping at a big box store. You’re going to get that personal touch. We want to make everyone feel like family, and I think that people always remember how you made them feel. And if you make them feel good, they’re going to come back.”