Aged to perfection

When Kollner’s Prime Meats opened in Rockville Centre in 1930, it was just another in a chain of Kollner’s butchers. But after Max Kollner died and William Breidenbach took over control of the franchise, it started to become a Rockville Centre institution.

This year, Kollner’s Meats, one of the last stores in the country to carry that name, is celebrating its 80th anniversary in Rockville Centre.

“The last store closed about five years ago in Jamaica, Queens,” said Bill Breidenbach, the grandson of the original owner and the current proprietor. “The last of the franchise. This is it.”

William Breidenbach, who apprenticed with Max Kollner in 1925, became manager of the Rockville Centre store in 1930. When Kollner died in 1940, Breidenbach bought the rights to the store and operated it as his own. It took Breidenbach 10 years to finish paying off Kollner’s descendants for the business.

The original store was located at 40 North Village Ave. When Bill Breidenbach’s father took over operations in 1975, he moved the store to a larger location at 38 North Village Ave. The store stayed there until 1982, when it again moved, this time to its current location at 320 Sunrise Highway.

“My father was down here from about 1959,” said Bill Breidenbach of his father, who was also named William. The Rockville Centre location of Kollner’s has always been family operated. “My father joined [my grandfather] when he was 19. And my father was here to about 1990, when he was killed in a car accident. I’ve been here since 1972.”

The tradition of the family operated store continues today with Bill Breidenbach’s family.

“My son works with me,” he said of his son, Tom, who works with his father in between college classes. “He’s 19 years old. He works with me pretty much on a full-time basis.” Not one to break tradition, both of Breidenbach’s twin sons have the middle name William.

Breidenbach runs the store by himself with just a few employees to help. And in 80 years, the biggest change at Kollner’s has been the type of products they carry.

“There’s a lot more chicken as opposed to beef,” said Breidenbach. “And we do some deli and pizzeria supplies now, which I’m sure that my grandfather didn’t do 80 years ago.”

Comments about this story? ACostello@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 207.