James Butler grocery store, ca. 1927. The green fronted James Butler grocery stores dotted the streets of New York City. Butler, an Irish immigrant, began his chain of store in the 1880s and by his death in 1934 owned over 1000 groceries and was worth $30 million. The single-story storefront has long been a staple of the commercial strip of Steinway Street. Instead of groceries and hat shops, today the storefronts are cheap jewelry and clothing shops, corporate pharmacies, and 99 cent stores.

If you took a stroll around New York in the early 20th century, eventually you were bound to come upon a store with a green and gold exterior. If you were to go inside, each would be managed in the same way, selling the same groceries and goods. These were the James Butler Stores a name as ubiquitous as Trader Joes at the time.