The Lowenstein family. (Photo courtesy of Negaunee Historical Society)

By VIRGINIA

PAULSON

Negaunee

Historical Society

NEGAUNEE — Joe and Ida Lowenstein came to Negaunee from Latvia Russia around 1900. Joe Lowenstein sold clothing and household items from a cart that he would push up and down Iron Street.

By 1910, he owned his own store which was called, “Cheap Joe’s.” In the January 15, 1915 edition of the Iron Herald, it was written that the most important real estate transaction in Negaunee was the purchase known as the Sporley property, that consists of one and a half lots, with frontage on both Iron and Jackson Streets, by Joseph Lowenstein.

The building had previously been occupied as a saloon, barber shop, and a confectionary store.

Joseph Lowenstein made the purchase as an investment with the intention of erecting a building for his own occupancy.

What Mr. Lowenstein has in mind is a modern building, utilizing entrances from both Jackson and Iron Streets.

He has made a wise choice in selecting this site for his business. It is convenient to the three banks, the post office and city hall.

In 1921, Joe commissioned the new building known today as the “Lowenstein Building.” Upstairs were two spacious apartments, offices for a dentist, a barber, a psychiatrist and the attorney’s office for Aaron Lowenstein.

Joe and Ida had six children, Bertha, Rose, Leah, Sarah, Aaron and Sam. All of the children except Aaron participated in the clothing business. Aaron, was a successful attorney with a business in Negaunee.

Bertha was the oldest daughter and acted as the cahier for the business. She always urged her employees to sell more than one item.

Rose was known for her pleasant personality, Sam ran the men’s department and was also highly regarded. Sarah was the only child to get married. She married a Mr. Blum, who owned a shoe company and she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she became a teacher.

Leah was also a teacher but moved back to Negaunee to work in the store.

She was the last owner of the retail business and was known as the shrewdest of the family.

Remembering Lowensteins … a hand operated wire money basket that went around the store on a track, so whoever waited on you could put your money in it and send it off to Bertha who was sitting in her chair at a counter that was set up high enough that she had view of the whole store.

In later years you could find Bertha sitting on the couch in the women’s department, probably the couch that belonged to the psychiatrist.

There were never any sizes on the garments, the labels were always cut off. They had their own code for sizes, 007=size 14, 006=size 12, and of course those of us who shopped there knew that everything you looked at was just your size.

Who could forget the changing room, right behind Bertha’s desk, a curtain that they pulled around you, and when you moved around the curtain would open and you could see Iron Street.

If you had lipstick on when you tried on clothes, you had to put a tissue between your lips so as not to soil the clothes.

You could take things home to try on and on your sales slip they would write “on approval.”

When the new shopping malls opened up, and were open on Sunday, the Lowensteins used that time to check out the competition and they would let you know how their prices compared. There are as many Lowenstein stories out there as there were shoppers.

The logo for Lowensteins was, “Where Smart Things Come From.” And for anyone who ever shopped there you knew that to be true.

Joseph Lowenstein died in 1935 and Ida died in 1944. The children bought the business from their mother in 1941. Leah passed away in 1993, and with her death the Lowenstein clothing business passed into the pages of Negaunee’s history.