The opening of Cedarvale brought a major grocery store - Applebaum's to the area. For some living in River Hills, shopping at Cedarvale was convenient. For many Burnsville high students, it meant a first job.
Founder Sid was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on February 28, 1924 to Oscar and Bertha Applebaum. He was the youngest son and second youngest child of nine. His parents immigrated to the United States from Russia on their honeymoon. Oscar Applebaum sold produce door-to-door in St. Paul, Minnesota from a horse-drawn wagon. Oscar opened a fruit stand on the corner of St. Peter and 7th streets in downtown St. Paul with a $65 loan from his eldest son. That fruit stand became the first Applebaum's Food Market. As a young boy, Sid Applebaum bundled soap, bagged rice, worked as a box boy and delivered fruit and produce for his father’s fruit stand.
By 1979, the family business included about 30 metro-area Applebaum's stores and one in Duluth. In 1979, the chain was sold to National Tea Co., and Applebaum continued on, working for them.