The Simon Levi Company has come a long way since it’s founder and namesake left his homeland of Bohemia (then part of Austria and later Czechoslovakia) at the age of twelve. He headed due west to the New World, determined to make it on his own. He worked his way to California in various mercantile establishments and paid his own way through college to better understand the retail and merchandise business. Just 10 years after arriving in the U.S., Simon Levi opened his first general mercantile store in the frontier town of Temecula, California just outside of San Diego in 1873.

Set on the end of the San Diego – Temecula railroad line in one of the area’s only civilized territories, his enterprise quickly became a success as the crossroads for hundreds of new settlers needing supplies, meals and lodging. He soon extended his business into the thriving port of San Diego, formed partnerships and as trade increased his firm became a wholesaler. Fostering trade, imports and encouraging agriculture with sales of honey, eggs, barley and wool, he increased warehousing and business boomed. Dedicated to community involvement, Levi also utilized his leadership ability and held offices in all aspects of the San Diego commerce, political and public safety arena. Simon Levi’s success reached from Baja California north to San Luis Obispo.