Abe and Joseph Weingarten (Portal to Texas History photo)
For 79 years—1901 to 1980—Weingarten’s was one of Houston’s popular grocery stores. Weingarten’s advertised “Better Food for Less.” It emphasized self-service and cash-and-carry.
The grocery chain’s founder, Joseph Weingarten, was born in 1884 in Galicia, Poland. Joseph’s father, Harris, emigrated to Texas from Germany in the 1880s. The family first settled in the Richmond-Rosenberg area and later moved to Houston.
In 1901, Joseph and his father opened a general store on Congress Avenue in downtown Houston. Joseph formed J. Weingarten Incorporated and began opening other stores. He opened stores in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. At the time of his death in 1967, the company owned 70 stores. The corporation sold the chain to Grand Union which later sold the stores to Safeway, Randall’s, and Gerland’s Food Fair. His 5,480-square foot home, in the historic Riverside Terrace neighborhood in Houston’s Third Ward, was sold later in 1967.
Joseph Weingarten served on the board of the Texas Medical Center, the Medical Research Foundation of Texas, and Baylor Medical Foundation. He was also a founder of Beth Yeshurun synagogue in Houston.
Weingarten advocated world peace and established the World Institute for World Peace Foundation. The foundation sponsored international conferences which included Africa, Canada, the Philippines, Poland, the Soviet Union, South America, and numerous nations of Western Europe.
In 1952, the National Conference of Christians and Jews gave him a Brotherhood Award for his service.
