Herman Helms the Store

Although Freedlander’s only sold men’s clothing when it opened, the store expanded to include women’s clothing, a toy department, and a milinery section.

 

Freedlander’s customers often had charge cards, but eventually these gave way to credit cards around the 1970s.

 

Freedlander’s was a popular place during the Christmas shopping season, especially the Toyland Department and Santa.

 

Herman Freedlander and his son, Harold, both ran the store before it was sold to investors in the late 1980s.

Dollar Day sales were a chaotic and well remembered event in the store’s history.

 

After his father’s untimely death in 1898, young Herman Freedlander (1879-1973) took over the management of the Buffalo One-Price Clothing Store. With six siblings and his mother to support, Herman quit high school after only two years, and with just one other employee, fought to keep his father’s business alive.¹ Under Herman’s management, the store eventually expanded as it changed from an exclusively men’s clothing store to include multiple departments such as a women’s clothing department. Freedlander’s was housed in multiple buildings. Through attendance at the Bixler Business School and hands on experience at the store, Herman steadily built his business prowess.²

The Great Depression required businesses to employ creative methods to maintain economic prosperity. During the 1930s,  Freedlander’s combated the bad economy by offering free facials and dressmaking classes.³ Although David Freedlander is credited with opening the store, Herman made it a prosperous and popular place that attracted people from all over Wayne County. His amiable and approachable manner kept customers coming in throughout the years and his son, Harold, eventually took over management of the store. Herman was on the floor every day, greeting customers from 1897 until his death in 1973 at ninety-four years old.

¹ “At 93, He’s Still Boss in Wooster Store,” Canton Repository, December 24, 1972, 5.
² “On their 100th Anniversary and for their Many Contributions to Wooster and Wayne County,” 84th Annual Meeting of Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce, March 22, 1984, Wayne County Public Library, Wooster Main Branch, Genealogy Department.
³ Ann Freedlander Hunt, Gone but not Forgotten: A Freedlander Legacy (Minneapolis, MN: Two Harbors Press, 2012), 42.