Yesterday’s post dealt with Downtown Lorain hanging on in the early 1970s, with the businesses hoping for better times thanks to the coming urban renewal improvements.
One of those businesses still with a presence in Downtown Lorain at that time was Sam Klein Company. (I remember as a kid being confused with two stores with same-sounding names: Klein and Kline’s.)
Below is a nice profile of the store and the two men behind it: brothers Allan and Warren Klein. It ran in the Journal back on January 23, 1972 and was written by Staff Writer Glenn Waggoner.
The name of the store has a surprising story behind it.
As the article notes, “Sam Klein opened his Broadway Avenue men’s clothing store in 1891. The same store is open today, selling 70’s fashions in a modern decor.
“The name “Sam Klein” remains above the entrance, although brothers Allan and Warren Klein are now the owners.
“The Klein brothers, however, are not even distantly related to founder Sam Klein.
““The store was bought in 1927 by our father, Julius, who was not related to Sam Klein but kept the name since it was an established business,” explained Allan Klein. “The name was purely coincidental.”
“He and his brother both worked in the store in their youth, and both are graduates of Lorain High School. They opened a second Sam Klein store at Midway Mall in 1966, which has been “doing great,” according to Warren Klein.
“He spends most of his time overseeing the Midway Mall store, while Allen Klein supervises the 425 Broadway store.”
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I’ve written about the Sam Klein Company a few times. This post dealt with the early history of the firm, and this one told the rest of the story.
1 comment:
Following your link to "the rest of the story" I notice that when Warren Klein retired and went out of business he said it had been a family business for 103 years. I guess he decided Sam was family after all!
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