Manhattan Clothing Store

Around the turn of the twentieth century Samuel Kaplan and Henry Isaacs were the proprietors of the Manhattan Clothing Emporium at the northeast corner of Market and Jackson Streets in downtown Sandusky. An article in the July 31, 1901 issue of the Sandusky Star, stated that the store was having a red tag sale. Both the original price and the sale price were on the tag, so that shoppers could see exactly how much they would be saving if they purchased the item. The proprietors of the Manhattan, which sold apparel for men and boys, brought out new stock every time the seasons changed. 

This baseball team was sponsored by the Manhattan store in the 1910s. They were known as the Manhattans, of course.

Here is an ad for the Manhattan store which appeared in the September 15, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal.

Samuel Kaplan was born in Lithuania and emigrated to the U.S. as a young man. He had no formal education, but he taught  himself how to read, and write, to speak English, and became familiar with American business practices. After Henry Isaacs retired in 1930, Kaplan ran the Manhattan Clothing Store on his own until his death in 1937, when the store was run by Alston V. Erckman and Leonard Sauer. You can see the sign for the Manhattan store in the picture below, taken during the Northwest Territory Celebration in April of 1938.

In 1953, Mr. Sauer retired and Alston V. Erckman became the sole proprietor of the Manhattan Clothing Store. Mr. Erckman was honored in 1955 for his fifty years of service with the Manhattan store. He had started as an errand boy around 1905. Eventually he learned all aspects of the business and became president of the company. After Mr. Erckman’s death in 1962, Ray Barman and Bud Dodge bought the business. Ray Barman became the sole owner in 1976. 

By 1983 the Manhattan store ceased operations in Sandusky, though it kept a branch store in Tiffin for a time. Below is a picture of the Manhattan store taken shortly after its going out of business sale.  The Manhattan was located at 238 Columbus Avenue in Sandusky during its last twenty years of operation.

      

The Manhattan store served men and boys in the Sandusky area for over 80 years. Do you have any memories of shopping at the Manhattan?