Longtime Elgin grocer, dress shop owner dies

Bernice Gromer was the epitome of what it meant to be a “lady.”

“My mom was a very kind person, and very talented woman. She was beautiful,” said her youngest son, Doug Gromer, 59, of Chicago.

The lifelong Elgin resident and matriarch of a chain of grocery stores in the Fox Valley area died Tuesday at age 91.

She and her late husband, Richard Gromer, owned and operated the iconic Gromer Supermarkets and were known to everyone as the “town grocer.”

The couple were inseparable, former Elgin Mayor Ed Schock said.

While Richard bagged groceries and chatted up customers, Bernice played the piano in the store, often during the holidays, he said.

“They were a team,” Schock said. “She would play Christmas carols. She also performed with some other smaller groups and they would do benefit concerts. She was quite talented ... not just your average pianist.”

Bernice Gromer was skilled with an accordion and piano. During her high school years, she played with several local bands and performed weekly on the radio.

“She used to play all around the Fox Valley area,” Doug Gromer said.

After high school, Bernice got a job in Chicago as a switchboard operator for the FBI. At 16, a blind date with her best friend Lucille's brother, Richard Gromer, would change her life forever.

The couple took over the Gromers' family business — a one-room store along Liberty Street in downtown Elgin, started in 1935 by Harold Gromer — after Harold's death in 1954. They ran the store together for decades.

“At one point they had six stores in the Fox Valley area,” Doug Gromer said.

Though music was her passion, Bernice secretly loved fashion and wanted to design clothes for women. She got her chance in the early 1980s.

The Gromers purchased the Wing Park Shopping Center, and Bernice turned one of the stores into a dress shop — B'Elegant Fashion — which she operated for about 13 years.

“She had fashion shows,” Doug Gromer said. “I was always amazed with my mom. She started a business when she was 60 years old. She went to markets in Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta, did most of the buying for her dress shop.”

The Gromers closed all the stores in the late 1990s and decided to retire.

Bernice Gromer was active in a number of women's clubs and charities in Elgin. She played the piano for several years at the Anvil Club in East Dundee and for residents of Oak Crest Residence of Elgin, where she volunteered.

“She had her own impact on the community apart from Dick,” Schock said. “They were kind of an inspiration. They were always positive. They were very positive. They were boosters for the city, always building up Elgin.”

Doug Gromer added, “They loved Elgin. It was their life.”

Bernice Gromer is survived by her children, Cheryl Landeck, Gordon Gromer, Linda Gromer, Doug Gromer and Cindy Pondel; eight grandchildren; and seven great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; and husband in 2006.

Visitation is 4 to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 until the funeral service at 10 a.m. Saturday at Laird Funeral Home, 310 S. State St., Elgin. There will be a private burial at Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin. Memorial contributions may be made to any charity.