26 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} enough money to open Draeger’s Delicatessen in the Richmond District. Gustave copied the selfservice practices he’d seen in Midwestern stores and introduced the first shopping carts to San Francisco. At the time, customers would request the items and the shopkeeper would fetch them off the shelves. Thanks to this labor-saving innovation, Gustave greatly reduced the cost of his operations, Richard recounts. Gustave was at the forefront of another big change, Richard recalls. After years of Prohibition, in 1933 his grandfather anticipated the legalization of alcoholic beverage sales and was the first to secure a liquor license from the city of San Francisco. After opening five liquor stores, Gustave built the largest market in the city in 1945, and his sons, Frank and Gustave Jr., joined the Woodside resident Richard Draeger has a big anniversary coming up. Next year, the family business turns 100. Draeger’s Market, the specialty grocer that offers hard-to-find imported products, full-service butcher counters, an expansive selection of prepared foods and top-notch baked goods, had humble origins. It traces its roots back to a small deli in San Francisco. Richard, the chief operations officer and co-owner, never knew the founder, his grandfather Gustave Draeger. Gustave died before Richard was born, but he still delights in telling the story of how a young merchant marine from Prussia jumped ship in Texas. Gustave spent time in Chicago driving a taxi and working in restaurants before finding his way to San Francisco during its boomtown years after the devastating 1906 earthquake. By 1925, Gustave had saved up
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