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Contra Costa Marketplace - Oct 2015

very little space for overstock. There was a storeroom at the back of the store for bulk items such as sacks of potatoes, onions, beans and rice, plus large cases of beverages. The checkout counter was in the right center of the store. On it was a very large roll of wrapping paper that was ripped off as needed, and a small padding machine with a crank handle on the right side. I remember those things so well, as I made many trips to that store as a child and later as an adult. My very favorite thing in that store was a cabinet with a sliding glass door to the right of the front entrance that contained boxes of cookies in bulk form. The cookies were either counted or weighed and put in a little brown paper bag. There was also a cabinet that held some large cheeses that were cut to order, plus just a few cold cuts such as bologna and boiled ham, which I loved to have in a school lunch. A big surprise happened in January 1932, when Mr. Barroca’s son, Antonio Jr., arrived from Portugal. It was a fairly common practice for men to leave their families behind when they came to America for a better life. The local store patrons were happy to meet this handsome nineteen-yearold young man, who soon became known to everyone as Tony. His father was grooming him to eventually take over for him in the business, so he started driving the delivery truck, and quickly became part of the Barroca and Pontes daily routine. Mr. Pontes’s brother from Newcastle had a beautiful daughter, Julia, who caught Tony’s eye. He courted her, and they were married on February 4, 1940, and had three children. As his father had planned for him to take over, Tony spent five years working for Lucky Stores to improve his knowledge of the grocery business. Tony and Julia became owners of the store in 1950, and it was now known as Central Grocery. They operated it for ten years and were a very active part of the community. It was very sad news in town when Tony died from a sudden Tony Barroca in Central Grocery, around 1950. AUTHORS NOTE: I am grateful to Elizabeth (Barroca) Miller for providing me with the pictures and important details for my story. She and her husband, Mike, are retired school teachers living in Tracy. heart attack the night before his and Julia’s 50th wedding anniversary. Julia spent her remaining days with their youngest daughter, Elizabeth Miller in Tracy. I can still almost taste those little cookies that came from the cookie cabinet at the front of the store. Julia Barroca packing the delivery truck, 1955.


Contra Costa Marketplace - Oct 2015
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