Shapiro’s delicatessen-cafeteria began as a storefront grocery at 1032 South Illinois Street. Louis Shapiro and his family escaped violent attacks on the Jewish community in Odessa in early 1906, first intending to open a grocery in Brooklyn, New York. At the urging of the Industrial Removal Office, established in New York City in 1901 to assist European Jews headed to the U.S., the Shapiros first settled in Lafayette and then moved to Indianapolis in June 1906. With $500 they had brought with them from Odessa, the Shapiros soon opened their small store, selling kosher meats and groceries to the on the south side. Louis Shapiro moved the business to 808 South Meridian Street in 1912.
After Prohibition ended, the store sold cold beer for 10 cents a bottle, three bottles for a quarter. Soon, customers were asking for “something to eat” with their beer. Shapiro responded to their requests by making and serving deli sandwiches, kosher corned beef, and pastrami.
The grocery business suffered in the 1930s as the city’s southside Jewish community dispersed and gradually relocated to the northside, a move that had begun in the 1920s. The shift in population hurt the grocery business, which closed in the late 1930s, but the deli-cafeteria flourished. By 1976 it had expanded into the adjacent Passo’s Drug Store location after the drug store had been destroyed in a gas explosion and decided not to renovate its space.
Fourth-generation family member Brian Shapiro took over the day-to-day operations of the deli-cafeteria in 1989. Under his aegis, Shapiro’s Delicatessen expanded by opening locations at 86th Street and Township Line Road (1989-2001), Rangeline Road in (2002-2013), the (2008-), the Fashion Mall at Keystone at the Crossing (2015-2020), and Blue Ash, a suburb in Cincinnati, Ohio (2017-2018).
Over the years, the sandwiches and other kosher foods served by Louis Shapiro continued to be the mainstay of the restaurant’s menu. Shapiro’s has remained a family business and still follows a simple set of rules established by its founder: “Cook Good; Serve Generously; Price Modestly; People Will Come.”
Today the storefront grocery has expanded into a deli-cafeteria that seats over 200 people. Interestingly, the downtown location serves over 3,000 pounds of corned beef each week. In addition to its flagship downtown location, Shapiro’s Delicatessen-Cafeteria continues to operate its location at Indianapolis International Airport.
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