Schachet Mercantile Company, circa 1978

Exterior view of the Schachet Mercantile Company on West Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado. The building was originally built as a saloon in 1896, rented by Eli Schachet and his sons in 1918 and served as the headquarters for their meat and fish store until it closed in 1981. Schachet came to Denver for his health and served the Jewish West Colfax neighborhood for many years as a ''schochet'' (ritual slaughterer for kosher meat). With his sons, he... expanded his business to include smoked fish delicacies such as lox and sable. A close friend of Berel Manischewitz, the founder of the B. Manischewitz Company, a specialty food company that specialized in matzo, or unleavened bread, Schachet became the exclusive distributor for the newly formed Manischewitz Company products in Colorado and other western states. Bugsy Siegel ate at the delicatessen that was part of the Mercantile Co. when he was in Denver. The building currently houses Brooklyn's Sports Bar, and the production of smoked fish is now carried on in Edgewater, Colorado under the name Arctic Pacific Fisheries.