This landmark shop started with an Eastern European immigrant selling food to support his family and save up for a pushcart… which turned into a horse & wagon… which eventually turned into a widely acclaimed appetizing shop recognized for its contributions to the historical landscape of New York's Lower East Side.
When Joel Russ opened his shop in 1914, countless New York shops specialized in “appetizing,” best defined as foods that go with bagels. Russ passed the shop on to his daughters in the 1930s, and today it’s run by fourth-generation owners Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman. Russ & Daughters is one of the last of its kind, providing tastes and traditions from the Old World out of the same old tenement building on Houston Street.
In the United States, less than one percent of family businesses survive long enough to enter the fourth generation, but Russ & Daughters has bucked the trend. It's a true taste of old New York.