Danny Michelson, 76, Co-Founder Of Boutique London Grocer
(JTA) — La Fromagerie began with a wheel of Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage, procured by chance on a skiing holiday in the French alps, and a garden shed.
Back in 1992, Patrician and Danny Michelson sold their home to open their first cheese shop in the north London neighborhood of Highbury. Patricia had previously been selling cheese from a shed next to their home and initially thought the shop would be open three days a week. But within a month they were open all week, and within three decades the Michelsons’ little empire had come to encompass three locations across London, all of them destinations prized for their fresh produce, chutneys and jams — and of course, imported cheeses.
“Danny and I put it together,” Patricia told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “He laid the floor. We put bits and pieces in from home. We took some light fittings from his old business, which we’ve still got in the shop.”
Danny Michelson, who died of COVID-18 on April 8 at the age of 76, took care of the business side of the operation.
“Danny was always there,” Patricia said. “He said, ‘It’s your baby. I’ll be one that makes the numbers crunch. We’ll keep it small and make a better go of it that way.’ And he was absolutely right. He was always the strong arm behind me.”
Michelson ran a chain of menswear stores in North London before getting into the cheese business and he had a love of retail. “He loved the whole aspect of putting together a shop and teaching me how you communicate with people, present oneself, market oneself,” Patricia said. “Danny was a great teacher.”
Michelson was also an activist, organizing the businesses in Highbury into a retailers’ association. He was responsible for the flowers planted along Highbury Park in the summer and the Christmas lights strung up in winter. His activism also led to repeated encounters — “run-ins,” Patricia called them — with Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour party leader who represents that area of the city in parliament. After Michelson’s death, Corbyn called him an “iconic” figure in the area.
Recently, Patricia was in the Highbury shop when a customer approached her. “She said, ‘I just wanted to say that Danny did so much for Highbury and I just want to thank you.’ I think the local community will miss him a lot.”
The post Danny Michelson, 76, co-founder of boutique London grocer appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
