File:1902 - Merkle & Company Sixth and Chew - Trade Card.jpg

Merkle & Company was a grocery store in Allentown PA, located on the southeast corner of 6th and Chew Streets (243-247 N. 8th St.). The store opened in 1865, and closed in 1985, a 120-year enterprise by four generations of the Merkle family.

The store was founded by William J. Merkle, and his wife, Johanna. They came to Allentown from Besigheim, Germany in 1860, and when he first arrived, he served in the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. The family business was started at 243 N. 8th St., where originally the family made soap. In 1900, the present building on the corner was added by the Merkle family for the new store, and six apartments were built above, all to serve the needs of the family. Ellen and Hannah Merkle operated a millinery and dress shop next door. In addition to the retail store, the family ran a wholesale egg and cheese business for years and years delivering to schools and institutions.

From the early 1900s on into the early 1950s or 60s, people called in their orders and the order would be gathered in the store by employees. A delivery vehicle would then take it out, even putting things away in customers' refrigerators. There was a time when old Allentown families would send their housekeeper and chauffeur in here for groceries. Later, the Merkles operated their own delivery (with several teams of horses and wagons). In 1896, records show, eggs were 12 cents a dozen, and a pound of butter was 21 cents. Two pounds of sugar cost 12 cents.

Robert and his brother, William, and their wives and children, helped to keep the family store alive and well in downtown Allentown for nearly 40 years themselves. Before them, their father Robert Sr., who died in 1971, and mother, Marie, ran the store. In 1986, Robert and William decided to sell the brick-and-stone building at 243-247 N. 8th St. and closed on December 31st, 1985.