GALVESTON — Customer loyalty may seem quaint and old fashioned today during the current recession when millions of employees have lost their jobs. Yet Peter M. Gengler Co. which operated in Galveston for almost a century (1851-1946) built its reputation and clientele on the basis of quality selection and excellent customer service.
Gengler’s was one of the oldest groceries in the United States operated by the same family and in the same city. Historical sources preserved in the Rosenberg Library’s Galveston and Texas History Center attest to the firm’s excellence.
In 1851 Peter and John Gengler sold fruits and vegetables from a horse cart relying on word-of-mouth advertising. They were immigrants sons of Nicholas Gengler who arrived at Galveston in 1843 with his family from Prussia.
The brothers moved their business to a frame building at the northeast corner of 20th and Market streets in 1854. By the Civil War the firm was well known throughout Texas.
John Gengler left the business at that time to become a ship’s captain and a successful blockade runner. After the war he returned to the grocery business working until paralysis set in several years before his death in 1897. Peter Gengler remained with his firm until his death in Boerne in 1887.
His sons Matthew Charles and Joe Gengler then took charge. The grocery was now called ”Peter Gengler Dealer in Staple and Fancy Groceries Wines etc.” according to an advertisement in The Daily News in January 1888.
The brothers opened a new two-story brick building in August 1893 at the original location. Their watchword was ”business as usual” according to an advertisement in The Daily News: ”The sons left on deck by their father are faithful to the charge and vie with each other to sustain the reputation achieved by him.”
Before the advent of telephones employees visited households and took orders for groceries. Telephone service began in Galveston in 1878. The technology ultimately enabled linking customers’ needs with business products and services. The telephone would prove essential to Gengler’s success.
In 1893 Gengler’s built a new two-story brick building on the site of the original store. The new grocery featured attractive window displays.
The firm incorporated May 23 1898 under the name Peter Gengler Co. with $35000 in capital stock. Its officers were Joseph L. Gengler George D. Morgan and J.P. Alvey. It resumed operations quickly after the 1900 Storm for its downtown location had protected the business from destruction.
In 1908 Peter Gengler Co. opened a bakery. The firm advertised in 1914 that it was ”the largest finest wholesale and retail grocery in Texas if not the entire South.” It boasted the ability to deliver 500 to 600 orders daily and 800 to 900 orders on Saturdays. The grocery now owned 12 delivery wagons and two cars.
In 1916 Joseph L. Gengler sold his share in the firm to Peter M. Gengler who became president and served in this capacity until his death almost three decades later.
Born in Galveston in 1868 Peter M. Gengler was a nephew of the original Peter Gengler. He entered business at a young age. In 1914 he and his brother James purchased George D. Morgan’s share of the business. Its motto was now ”Galveston’s Greatest Grocery.”
The trade magazine Progressive Grocer March 1924 (preserved in the Galveston and Texas History Center) highlighted Peter M. Gengler Co. The article note the firm grossed more than $750000 it relied on the telephone to conduct 65 percent of its transactions and that it refused to engage in cost-cutting.
Peter Gengler Co. celebrated its 75th anniversary June 16 1926. The Daily News honored the firm with a special edition. Gengler’s took out a full-page advertisement touting its ”square and fair dealing” with the public and provision of fine products and superior customer service.
By its 75th anniversary Gengler’s had refined customer service to an art. Three clerks called customers to take orders which they assembled in the shipping room. Clerks carefully reviewed orders before they were shipped. Delivery trucks each one assigned to a particular district shipped out orders. Gengler’s reserved several delivery trucks for the sole purpose of handling rush orders.
The firm’s bakery could produce 700 loaves of bread every 30 minutes. The cake department was an example of fine customer service. A customer phoned in his or her order the day before then awaited a van which delivered the cake.
Peter M. Gengler looked after his employees. Many worked there for decades an expression of their loyalty. The president allowed them to earn a percentage commission on sales above their regular salary.
Gengler’s gave quietly to the local community. It donated bread and cake annually to the Galveston Orphans' Home. It provided food baskets every Thanksgiving and Christmas to community organizations including John Sealy Hospital St. Mary’s Infirmary Ursuline Convent and the Rosenberg Woman’s Home.
However the grocery business nationally was changing. The supermarket arose during the Great Depression as a means of providing customers with convenience and lower prices under one roof. The first supermarket in the United States King Kullen appeared in New York City in 1930.
Its Galveston competitors now included multiple locations operated by A&P Food Stores and Piggly Wiggly (the latter chain founded by Galveston resident C.P. Evans). Continuing to portray itself as a venerable and dependable institution served to isolate Gengler’s from thrifty shoppers who were demanding self-service convenience value and savings.
After World War II supermarkets continued to grow in popularity with the advent of suburbia. Peter M. Gengler died in December 1945 at age 77 and left no heirs. Gengler’s lasted until the end of September 1946.
An editorial in The Daily News Dec. 9 1945 provided a fitting epitaph for both the man and his business:
”The career of Peter M. Gengler was all the more notable because he was a self-made man and it stands as an inspiration for all. His rise to a position of esteem and respect in the community not only paralleled but was a part of the rise and growth of Galveston itself.”
Casey Edward Greene is head of special collections at the Rosenberg Library.