Our History
Lichnovsky Grocery | 1929 - 1993
January 1929: Lichnovsky Grocery was opened by brothers Frank and Roman Lichnovsky. Shortly after, Frank and his wife, Annie Hutyra, purchased the store from Roman. It then moved to its East Pine Street location, a now demolished building next to Ace Auto Supply.
1934: Frank Lichnovsky had extensive repairs done to Lichnovsky Grocery while at its East Pine Street location.
December 1960: The store name was changed to Lichnovsky Super Save Grocery.
January 1961: The store moved from East Pine Street where it had been for 31 years to its new location at 203 West Pine Street.
September 1988: Aubrey Griffin purchased the store from Larry Lichnovsky and renamed it West Super Save Grocery. The Lichnovsky family had owned the store for more than 60 years across three generations, from Frank and Annie to their son, Harry, and his wife Bessie Bezdek, and then Harry and Bessie’s son, Larry.
1990: Larry Lichnovsky reacquired ownership from Aubrey Griffin.
February 1991: West Super Save Grocery opened a meat market.
May 1993: Carl and Pattie Donovan purchased the store from Larry Lichnovsky.
Community Grocery | 1947 - 2026
July 1947: Mary Svacek opened Svacek’s Grocery & Market at 412 South Marable Street.
February 1953: Louis Karlik purchased Veselka Brothers Grocery located on South Marable from John and Joseph Veselka and renamed it Karlik Grocery.
September 1966: Mary Frances Marak purchased Karlik Grocery from Louis Karlik, her brother, who had operated it for the past 14 years and renamed it Community Grocery & Market.
August 1967: Ownership of Community Grocery transferred to Raymond and Rosalie Matus, Mary Marak’s daughter and son-in-law.
May 1968: The Matus family completed their remodeling of Community Grocery.
June 1982: Raymond Matus placed Community Grocery for sale.
September 1983: The store was purchased by Robert Kocurek.
March 1984: The store was purchased by Carl and Pattie Donovan.
May 1993: The Donovan family purchased the West Super Save Grocery location, retaining the name Community Grocery keeping their former location as a warehouse.
January 1995: After the passing of Carl Donovan, his wife, Pattie, assumed ownership and sold the warehouse location.
December 1998: Richard and Debbie Sulak purchased Community Grocery from Pattie Donovan.
March 2022: The Sulak family sold the store to a Houston-based company.
Community Grocery & Market | 2026
February 2026: Matthew and Paige Gloeckner purchased the store rebranding it as Community Grocery & Market and returning it to a locally owned and operated business.
The Owners
A native of West and 2006 graduate of West High School, Matthew joined the Texas Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University in Galveston earning a bachelor’s degree in maritime transportation in 2010. He actively holds a United States Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential as a Master of Unlimited Tonnage, authorizing him to command ships of any size on oceans worldwide, and is currently employed as a Mooring Master for ship-to-ship lightering.
Raised in Crawford, Paige graduated from Crawford High School in 2010 before moving to College Station to attend Texas A&M University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication in 2013. She continued her education at the University of Houston where she recognized and developed her passion for teaching and graduated from in 2015 with a master’s degree in communication. She is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer at Baylor University.
Since getting married in 2015 and moving back to the area in 2019, Matthew and Paige have welcomed three sons: Fischer, Hayes, and Beau.
Family Ties
As with most families in and around West, tracing ancestry is a common pastime and topic of conversation. Through Matthew’s mother’s family, the Hutyras and Bezdeks, Frank and Roman Lichnovsky are his great-great-granduncles with their sister, Rosa Soukup, being Matthew’s great-great-grandmother.