By Nadia Stuewer
In early August, Saslove’s Meat Market, the beloved ByWard Market institution, announced that it would close at the end of September. The Echo spoke with owner John Diener. The first question on our mind was, of course, “why are you closing?”
John replied that business in his store has been declining for some time, and he has not drawn a salary since before the pandemic, although the store is not running at a loss. Shopping habits have changed. People whose parents used to shop at Saslove’s now go to larger grocery stores or order online. Beef has become expensive, and “meat has become a dirty word” in an era of growing awareness of its impact on climate change.
The Market’s retail landscape, especially for meat and groceries, has changed from its heyday in the 1960s. There used to be 15 stores on the block that Saslove’s shared with the ByWard Fruit Market and Irving Rivers, 13 of which were food oriented. In the Market as a whole, there were 11 or 12 butcher shops, and all of them were busy. Supermarkets were rarer, and people came from all over the city to buy their meat, fruit, vegetables, and other groceries.
The Saslove family came to Canada between the world wars and opened a butcher shop after saving enough money to get the business up and running. John Diener’s father was a Holocaust survivor who came to Canada in 1948. He bought the business from Mr. Saslove in 1954 and kept the store’s name.
Mr. Diener Sr. and his wife, Reba, ran the store for 25 years, with help from their sons, nieces, and nephews. By the late 1970s they were burnt out from hard work and were ready to sell the business. John had established a career in IT, but he didn’t want to see the store close, so he took it over. His brother Joel joined soon after, leaving the business in 2019. Again, the younger generation of children helped in the store, but none of them wanted to take it over and John wouldn’t have wanted them to, even before the pandemic. He felt that their hard work would pay off more in different careers.
John shared some stories about the earlier days of the store. In the sixties, they would spread sawdust on the floors to soak up spills and sweep it up at the end of the day. A water heater wasn’t installed until 1980, so they would heat up water on a hot plate in the basement and lug it up the stairs every day to clean the floor. Saturday evening was the big clean up, and it would take two men to carry the big tub of water up the stairs. Luckily nobody ever fell.
In the days of multiple butchers in the ByWard Market, employees of a store would run down the street to one of the other meat stores to borrow items that they ran short of. Competition was friendly. One storekeeper was so relaxed that he didn’t even track what John borrowed, although John kept meticulous records.
John’s opinion is that the decline of the ByWard Market is not reversible anymore. Many opportunities to improve the situation over the years have been missed. He notes that the City of Ottawa commissioned studies that yielded good recommendations, but Council voted them down, due to the suburban councillors’ opposition to investing money in the ByWard Market, despite its place as “the jewel of the city.” While the Market is still an attraction due to its many bars and restaurants, food retail is almost completely gone.
Another aspect of the ByWard Market’s decline has been the negative media coverage that makes some people fear coming to the area. John does not believe that the Market is more dangerous than it used to be. “If you want to buy drugs at 2:00 a.m., then yes,” but otherwise the media reports exaggerate the risks. John has enjoyed living in the ByWard Market for 16 years. He points out there are murders and violent crime all over the city. He has fought a lot of battles against the negative perception of the neighbourhood, but now, “the fight’s gone.”
In his retirement, John plans to continue his community work and to pursue his strong interest in genealogy. He will miss the social aspect of running the store but expects he will continue to run into former customers as he goes for his regular walks through the Market. We will miss him and the friendly staff at Saslove’s, and will always remember the legacy of the Saslove and Diener families in contributing to the rich heritage of the ByWard Market.
