142 -144 Market House
W - F: 8 - 6, Sa: 6 - 6, Sun: 11 - 4

Elmer Simpson has been selling to Findlay Market customers since he was five years old, but he's been a part of the neighborhood since he was born. His first home was on Elm Street, where he lived until he was nine.

His father, Gene Simpson, and partner, Ralph Ossenbeck, started the produce stand in 1955 in front of Rothenberg Shoes on West Elder Street. Elmer got his start selling shopping bags for a nickel. He did very well for himself because people would give him a quarter and tell him to keep the change. By the time he was seven, he was standing on a melon box selling produce that didn't have to be weighed, like oranges and cucumbers. He did that only on weekdays after school. His father thought Saturdays were too busy.

It all changed when he was fourteen. One Saturday he and a friend decided to take the bus downtown and goof off for the day. They went by the produce stand, and decided to jump in and help, just for the heck of it. "As a 14-year-old I couldn't have made a bigger mistake," Elmer remembers. His dad saw what he was able to do, and the very next Saturday he was up at 3:30 a.m., and every Saturday after that, to put in a full day.

When Elmer finished high school, his father gave him $1,000 with two options: put it toward college tuition, or work at the stand full-time and use the money for a down payment on a car. Elmer chose the car. But after working his first winter he thought he had had enough. He found a factory job at Chase Industries and looked forward to spending winters indoors.

When his dad died in 1975, Elmer returned to help Ralph. They stayed together for 18 years. In the beginning, Elmer worked for Ralph. Then in 1986 Ralph did something common for a merchant. He "retired" but stayed on as an employee of the very business he started. Elmer bought him out in 1991. Even though he quit after his first winter, Elmer now says working outdoors is a big reason he stays.

In 1995, an accident kept him away from the market for months. He fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a severe brain injury. He didn't recognize anyone, for weeks. When he recovered enough that he could walk around again, the rehabilitation nurses brought him to the market to see if his produce stand would trigger any memories.

As soon as they arrived, Elmer walked behind the stand like he had never been away. He immediately waited on a customer. It ended up being a very large order. Elmer did it himself and added everything up perfectly. For lunch that day he had two cheeseburgers--the most he had eaten since his accident. Two weeks later he was out of the hospital. He made a full recovery except that his sense of smell never fully returned. He can't smell strawberries and bananas, of all things.

If you ask a second or third-generation merchant why they choose this line of work, many will say it's in their blood. Elmer's got the medical history to prove it.