It is “Walst” from the era of the iconic Queens German butcher Sam Stamtish Pork Store.
The beloved deli, which had been declining to Glendale's German diaspora for 14 years, will close its doors on March 1st.
“For us, that's sad,” Hans Lehner, co-owner of Zum Stammtisch, told the post. “We want to continue doing that, but it becomes a number issue.
“Costs are rising. …It's difficult to pass these prices on to customers.”
Liner, 51, and his brother Werner, have also run the adjacent Zum Stammtisch restaurant since 1993. Immigration From Germany in the 1950s.
In 2010, the brothers seized the opportunity to open a pork shop next door after the legendary neighborhood butcher Carl Emmer I closed his door.
Zum Stammtisch, one of the few surviving Bavarian beer halls and butchers in the Big Apple, has long been a watering hole for both the blue-collar Germans and Queens transplants. The shop often attracted walks from the restaurant diners. The restaurant's diners treated it like an “exit from the gift shop.”
However, its customer base has been thinning over the years.
“To be honest, since the pandemic, the bases — the old Germans in the neighborhood — have not been that abundant,” Liner said. “We're a niche market, but with rising prices and everything else, it won't work anymore.”
The pandemic was the last nail in the co, Leaner said.
“The pandemic has helped us a lot because we were an essential business, but once the smoke was clean, our customer base was reduced,” he added.
Polish Butcher's pork pork from Germany's Polish Butcher was also closed last year.
In 2024, retail closures reached a record 7,325 nationwide. CoreSight Research. And that number is expected to double this year.
Like many restaurants in the city suffering from rising costs, Pork stores faced an unsustainable business model, relying heavily on imports from Germany and Europe.
The closure of the pork store is worried about Zam's meal regulars and the restaurant may follow suit.
“We want to preface everything with the fact that we're doing great things. We're fine, we're strong. We'll be here for years to come,” Lehner said of the restaurant. He spoke.
“But it's like the old Germans say, 'Everything has an end except for Wurst – there are two.” And this is unfortunately the end of the pork restaurant. ”
Inside the store, customers browsed shelves lined with German beer, candies, salami, sauerkraut, red cabbage, German entertainment magazines and folk music CDs. The deli counter displayed the worst sequence.
“We're making the worst of this week — everything from Mango Habanero Brat Worst to Korean BBQ Brat Worst to Tiayaki Brat Worst,” boasted Lehner.
One of the pork stores' specialties, Leberkäse (German meatloaf made with pork, beef and bacon), came out of the oven and its delicious aroma filled the store. The deli workers sliced them from the steamed chunks and offered them.
On the counter, a cheeky sign declared its cult status: “Gender, drugs, leverker!”
“It's almost a must. Everyone goes out with Labercase,” Lehner said.
Many longtime customers lined up to visit the store for the last time, but last week they waxed nostalgia.
“I'm extremely disappointed,” 69-year-old Vicki Breton told the Post. “This is one of the reasons we've been here all the way from Brooklyn.”
Breton and her husband, Antonio, have been a regular for almost 30 years, and have accumulated his favourite dishes.
“Schnitzel, what else?” Antonio Breton, 70, said he proudly holds a bottle of German mustard shaped like a mini beer Stein. “That's great.”
The couple we met while serving in the German US Army in 1976, once lived in Glendale, but moved to Brooklyn seven years ago.
It was “sad” to see retired firefighter Kenny Cress go there after purchasing potato salad and broutuurst.
“I grew up in Ridgewood with Germans, but before that there were more of these places,” Cress, 57, told the Post. “I don't know where to go after this.”
John Metzler, a Red Cabbage resident and resident of Kew Gardens, was equally discouraged.
“When it comes to Christmas or special holidays, this shop was amazing,” he said. “We no longer had a neighborhood that was once very German, Austrian, or even Italian. It's a page turn.”
With that in mind, customers travel hundreds of miles to pay respect.
“[We] Last week people were driving to pick up something worth $200 from South Carolina,” he said. “It's interesting. “What can you do?”
“It's a new way to brick and mortar stores. You can't go to Amazon like this.”
