For much of the last century, West Coconut Grove was home to dozens of small mom-and-pop grocery stores and markets, including some that served as informal community centers where residents could pop in for a loaf of bread or something for dinner and perhaps linger to talk to a neighbor they hadn’t seen for a day or two.
Throughout the historically Black section of the Grove, shopkeepers mentored neighborhood youngsters, sponsored sports teams, cashed paychecks and even extended credit to customers they knew.
“It was like family,” says Winifred Pope, who, with her late husband Isiah “Ike” Pope, Jr., for 30 years ran the Douglas Road grocery that still bears his name…