Come June 28, Marc Bralow is “gone fishin’.”
Bralow’s Fresh Fish & Seafood, which has been on the 8000 block of Bustleton Ave. since 1960, will be closing its doors.
“I’m ready to retire,” said Bralow, who’ll turn 61 on July 4. “It’s the right time for me.”
The history of Bralow’s begins well before its opening in Rhawnhurst 65 years ago.
In 1895, Abraham Bralow – Marc’s great-grandfather – sold fish and seafood on a push cart in South Philadelphia. His son, Lou, later opened shops at 7th and Mercy streets and on Delaware Avenue.
By 1960, Don and Marion Bralow – Marc’s parents and operators of the business – took note of the expanding Northeast, moving to Bell’s Corner and opening a shop on Bustleton Avenue. Bralow’s was at 8024 and 8014 Bustleton before settling in 1978 at its present location at 8006.
“He watched this place grow,” Marc said of his dad. “We have a deep connection to the Northeast.”
Marc Bralow has worked full time in the family business since graduating college in 1987. He took over when his dad retired in 2003 – Marc’s brother Scott once worked at the shop but went to school to become a doctor.
Today, Marc Bralow runs the shop with business partner Al Antonelli, a corporate tax lawyer. There are two employees – Carol Teklinsky, who has worked there 55 years, and Kayla Kalfas, who has been on staff for nine years.
Teklinsky, then Carol Homont, recalls the day in 1970 when she was living on Fuller Street and attending St. Hubert.
“I was walking by, and Don said, ‘Do you need a part-time job after school?”
Teklinsky, who recalls teaching a 5-year-old Marc Bralow how to run a cash register, has been behind the counter ever since and has never had another job. She’ll retire on June 28. Antonelli will focus on his work as an attorney. Kalfas will go to school to become a licensed practical nurse.
And what will Marc Bralow do?
“Anything I want,” he joked, adding that he will probably pursue some volunteer opportunities.
Today, Bralow’s is open Tuesdays through Saturdays for take-out. The number has remained the same for 65 years – RAndolph 5-5676.
About 60 percent of sales are prepared, with customers heating the food at home. The rest is sold raw, mostly for customers to prepare at home.
“We cook to order,” Antonelli said.
“We make everything ourselves. That’s what we’re known for,” Bralow said.
Rhawnhurst was once a heavily Jewish and Catholic neighborhood, and Bralow’s did big business for Passover, Rosh Hashanah, on Fridays (especially during Lent) and on Christmas Eve for the Italian celebration of the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
“Friday night was the night,” Bralow said of the busy time.
Bralow said he learned the importance of hard work from the generations of family before him, that the seafood business is not a 9-to-5 job, that you have to work weekends and holidays and even on vacation.
In fact, his mom worked until the shop closed at 8 p.m. on July 3, 1964, then headed to Temple Hospital to deliver Marc sometime after midnight.
His dad not only ran his own business, but cut fish for the daily specials at the 14 area Seafood Shanty restaurants when they were in their heyday in the mid-1980s and 1990s.
Bralow’s has always prided itself on quality, attracting neighborhood customers and many who’ve moved away.
“It’s the quality and the dedication to quality,” Antonelli said.
Bralow’s is among a dwindling number of local mom-and-pop seafood shops.
“Years ago, there were a lot of them,” Bralow said. “There’s really no place like us. We’re one of the last of a dying breed.”
As June 28 nears, Bralow will put a letter on the website thanking customers for their loyalty.
“It’s bittersweet,” he said.
Bralow owns the building, and the insides are already set up for a new tenant or owner to open a food business of some kind. He did not want to sell the business.
“People would be buying the name,” Antonelli said.
Over the years, Bralow became close with some steady customers and appreciates anyone who has ever walked through the doors.
There was even one person who accidentally drove through the front window in 2020 on New Year’s Eve, and Bralow’s was closed for eight months to start 2021, forcing customers to find another place for their fish and seafood.
“We were missed,” Bralow said.
As he looks back, he fondly remembers all the customers who chose Bralow’s to buy their fish and seafood for holidays, celebrations, special occasions or just a daily lunch or dinner.
“It makes me feel really good and proud of the family and business that we made a difference,” he said. ••
