| Wine, Culture, Community & Family Morry’s of Naples, since 1938 Morry’s of Naples is a business model that was conceptualized by a visionary entrepreneur named, Morry Rabin. Yes, there really was a Morry! Born in Calgary, Canada, with French and Russian heritage, Morry was raised by a family fond of wine and excellent food and who didn’t shy away from taking chances that would lead to success. While Morry was still a young child his family decided to move and relocated to southern California. At the age of fourteen, his father died, and being the eldest of the Rabin children, Morry held the responsibility of supporting his family. With duties ranging from local newspaper boy to being responsible for hauling truckloads of oranges over the grapevine, Morry held a lengthy string of odd jobs until 1938; a time during which great changes were taking place in America, and also a time when Morry decided to embark on a journey that would forever change the Rabin family’s life and legacy. In February of 1938 Morry opened a small store located on 2nd street in Belmont Shore, Long Beach. As this new business picked up pace and began to grow, so too did Morry’s family. He and his wife, Ruth had their first child, JoAnn, followed soon with their first son, Harvey, and then had their second daughter, Donna. As Harvey grew up, the natural Rabin footsteps of hard work and dedication to the family business were calling to be filled and Harvey didn’t hesitate to jump in. His first duty, much before the idea of recycling of course, was to sort through all of the empty soda bottles and return them to the respective distributors so that the store could recoup their refund and the bottles could be re-used. While Harvey kept busy with these types of duties the store evolved even more. By 1951, the business had outgrown its location in Belmont Shore and necessitated more space to operate. Morry moved the entire business down just one block to a slightly larger building that he shared with a neighborhood delicatessen. Still growing, the new space again became constraining to the needs of the business, but it was at that time that a building on Naples Island became available. The move would afford much more space but along with it, a much larger risk to sustaining the business, as during the time, 2nd street was not connected to PCH, rather, it just ended on Naples Island in a residential neighborhood, a dead mans zone for shoppers in the bustling Belmont Shore. Morry’s innate entrepreneurial instinct told him the risk was worth it, and with that the new location was acquired and, Morry’s of Naples, the second store, was established. During this time the original Morry’s, in Belmont Shore still existed which meant that to get the Naples location off the ground Morry needed some help. Help came from his brother, Freddy, who served as a medic and was a recent POW from the war. As Freddy completed work to get the new location fully operable, Harvey, who was ten at the time, acted as the eyes and ears of the store so that the doors could remain open for business. When a customer came in, Harvey would holler to his uncle and Freddy would come to help them out. A couple months later, when Freddy had completed all of his work, the Belmont Shore store closed and everything was moved to Morry’s of Naples and business moved forward. Today, the expansive wall of liquor along the right side entrance of the store is virtually the same as it was when Freddy designed it years ago. Until 1955, Morry’s of Naples was less then half the size that it is today. After having some time to settle in and further grow sales and subsequently the Naples business, Morry decided once again to expand, but rather than moving that time, he simply purchased the adjacent lot. He built a parking structure and added a second level to the building which doubled the square footage and helped greatly with storage constraints. Within a few years and more growth, Morry purchased a third lot and constructed what is now today’s current store. For obvious reasons, Morry’s of Naples was the lifeblood of the Rabin family and because of this, Morry made every effort imaginable to sustain both the business and his family. He worked unimaginable hours. Everyday he was at work from 6:00 A.M. until 2:00 A.M. During the evening he would take a thirty minute break during which he would go home and have dinner alone. He preferred it that way, as it was one the only time of day that he had completely to himself. In the summer months, he would walk to the bay and swim from, “Horny Corner” to the 2nd street bridge, take a brief refresher nap on the beach and then return to the store for another eight or ten hours. In addition to his enormous dedication to the store, Morry was also extremely dedicated to his community and generous with his philanthropic efforts. He would call his wife Ruth to the store, kids in tow to load a van with boxes of wine, spirits and food to deliver to people all over Long Beach on almost every day of the week. He was extremely generous with charitable contributions and could be described as the quintessential gentleman, always offering to cash checks or lend cash advances to many of the neighboring locals when no one else at the time would provide such a service. Saying that Morry was a workaholic would be an understatement. In 1960, after years of hard work, growth and success, Morry survived a heart attack. Immediately after, his doctor recommended that for the good of his health he stay away from the business as much as possible. Two years later Morry moved to Palm Springs. Morry couldn’t stay too far away for too long though. Every week he would come into town for two days so that Harvey could have time off. In addition, during the holiday season Morry was back in the store and in charge of designing Morry’s famous holiday gift baskets and boxes; a much less stressful responsibility than his previous duties. Everything was on the right path until 1965 when a fire stuck started inside Morry’s of Naples. Fortunately, the design of the building was such that it was divided in two by a brick wall which caused most of the fire to remain in the back of the store. Due to all the smoke damage though, the entire inventory was wiped out. Although a major setback, this was only a bump in the road for the Rabin family and Morry’s business. In just ten days, the store was cleaned up, inventory was brought back in and Morry’s of Naples was back to serving the community. As time passed and the 70’s came about, wine drinking began to be a more trendy indulgence and thus more people wanted to purchase and drink wine more often than ever. Following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of his father, Harvey decided that stocking an inventory of wines from around the world, many unheard of at the time, and opening a temperature controlled wine locker facility where customers could store their private collections was the next logical step in the evolution of the store. Harvey’s ideas were the corner stones for both the incredible selection of wine available today as well as the original and newly expanded wine lockers still utilized by some of Morry’s oldest as well as newest customers. After some years together, Harvey’s wife, Cherie was affected by the contagious Morry’s entrepreneurial bug and hence wanted to participate in the family business. Cherie’s first mission was to get Morry’s involved with a nationwide organization known as, “Les Amis Du Vin,” or, ‘friends of wine,’ of which Morry’s became the affiliate in Long Beach. With connection to this organization, Cherie began to host wine tasting events at local hotels for up to 100 people at a time. The success and inspiration from this experience led Cherie and Harvey to conceptualize and launch their next project, a wine bar inside of Morry’s of Naples. Another forward thinking and innovative idea for the time, Cherie became the resident wine bar hostess and would organize and gather wine makers for weekly tasting events. The store and wine bar created a synergy which translated to increased business and growth that carried them well into the next generation, and into the time when their children would become seriously involved in the Morry’s project. After spending years abroad traveling the world, their son, Ken returned home, finished his university education and then became involved in the day to day operations and growth of Morry’s of Naples. In the following years, Ken recognized the need for change and thus began to reformulate the business so that it would fit into the more modern wine and spirits market in a very competitive manner. In 2005, Ken gave the go ahead to expand the wine bar from its original size into more of a lounge atmosphere, another first for the Long Beach area. The dim, old room where card games took place late at night and where patrons would cram themselves in to taste the newest juice Napa had to offer was gone, but in its place, a beautiful and much more spacious lounge where the selection became even greater was launched. Later in the year, Ken was joined by his sister, Annie, who has since helped with the growth and expansion of the business to a point their parents Harvey and Cherie and their grandfather, Morry might never have imagined. Today the entrepreneurial spirit Morry Rabin first instilled in the family business is thriving and well. The selection of wines and spirits is incredible and the wine bar, now named, ‘The Backroom,’ is a local hotspot. After 69 years in operation, Morry’s of Naples is everyday continuing its creative and forward thinking approach to business growth and the maintenance of its family legacy. |
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The Morry's of Today!...
| Morry's of Naples Serving and Supporting the Community since 1938! |
