Kerber’s Marine Grocery on Tiffin Avenue

Now home to Divine Awakenings, the former Kerber’s Marine Grocery was in business on Tiffin Avenue in Sandusky for many years. Lorenz Kerber built this building in 1888 as a grocery store that took supplies to coal, ore and grain boats in Sandusky, Huron and Marblehead. Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treasure by the Bay that Kerber’s sent out supply boats to meet the grocery needs of the big freighters. For a few years, Lorenz Kerber was in a partnership with Charles Miller. Sadly, Lorenz Kerber died at the age of 30 in 1892. His sons continued in the family grocery business. An article in the Sandusky Register of February 6, 1911 stated that the partnership between Charles F. Miller, F.A. Kerber and O.J. Kerber was dissolved, but the business apparently continued. 

This earthenware jug was a holiday item from the 1910s, when F.A. and O.J. Kerber were running Kerber’s Marine Grocery:

The grocery business remained in the hands of the Kerber family until the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, the business was known as the Sandusky Marine Grocery. After the grocery ceased operation, a children’s clothing consignment shop was in the building for several years. In 2018, the Divine Awakenings shop is now at 1006 Tiffin Avenue. When you drive down Tiffin Avenue, you can still see the name L.A. Kerber at the top portion of the storefront, reminding of us of the roots of this long standing place of business in Sandusky