Snyder's Market was founded by Morris Snyder, a Polish immigrant who started out pushing a cart selling fruits and vegetables, who then eventually bought a horse, a bigger cart, and finally built the market in 1913. Morris' first son, Sidney, had his first piano lesson from a customer who couldn't pay the bill. He went on to play piano semi-professionally, and as of this writing in September 1998, at the age of 83, Sid's still gigging. He took Tommy to night clubs for jam sessions when he was 9 years old. At age 12, Tommy played his first paid job as a drummer with his father. He also worked part-time in the market during school vacations. Tommy and his daughter, Shanti, recorded the duet, "One Wish For You" just before her 16th birthday and she too is determined to carry on the musical tradition, and is already active in the music industry in Japan.

A "right place-right time" set of circumstances brought Tommy to Japan to join the Japanese rock group, Godiego; eventually releasing 40 albums, becoming one of the biggest selling groups in Japanese music business history. During his time in Japan, Tommy developed as a songwriter, with over 200 songs/lyrics recorded by Japanese and American artists alike. As vocalist and/or creator, he performed hundreds of jingles, wrote books/music for children, and established himself firmly in the Japanese music industry. Presently, Tommy is based in Paris.

All the photos of the market were taken in 1937. Tommy's grandparents, father, aunt and uncle can be seen in various pictures. After Morris died in 1968, the store was closed and the building is now being used as classrooms for the Sumner Avenue Elementary school next door. (the Snyder family went to that school) In 1997, the school was told by the city of Springfield, Mass to leave what remains of the original Snyder's Market sign intact.

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