Dried Fruit – Russ & Daughters, East Houston Street, Lower East Side, New York, New York

Russ & Daughters is a family-operated food store specializing in appetizers. It is located at 179 East Houston Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City.

Joel Russ, a immigrant from Poland who arrived in Manhattan around 1905, started the business to cater to his fellow immigrants in the Lower East Side of New York. He began by carrying Polish mushrooms on his shoulders, and saved enough money to purchase a pushcart. He then expanded his operation and sold pickled herring as well as mushrooms. Then in 1914, he opened J Russ International Appetizers, a storefront around the corner from the current location. In 1920, Russ moved his store to its current location at 179 East Houston Street.

In 1933, he renamed the business "Russ and Daughters" after making his three daughters, Hattie, Anne, and Ida, partners in the store. Businesses typically took on the name "and sons", but since Russ and his wife Bella had only daughters, his business became Russ & Daughters. However, Joel Russ was not a feminist ahead of his time. For him, getting his daughters into the business was not a matter of women’s rights, but a matter of economic survival. According to Hattie, she and the other daughters had all been working in the store on weekends since they were 8 years old, fishing the herring fillets from the pickle barrels. And as each of the girls finished high school, she started to work full-time.