Thanks to those of you who responded to my query about the nature of such a shop. We all seem to agree it was a place to buy live fowl and fish at the least.
Unfortunately it doesn't get me any closer to my mother's cousin Barney Shapiro who supposedly was a butcher in Harlem 75 years ago, but it's always nice to have another piece of the big picture.
Michelle Frager NY area WOLFSON LIFSCHITZ SHAPIRO FRAKT in Bobruisk and Glusk FRAKT in Kovne (Kaunas)