Bowing out after 122 years

I had seen the building and never really thought anything about it. When I say the signs saying ‘GOING OUT OF BUSINESS’, I figured it was another sales tactic. But then I learned a deli was going in the same building and pieces started to fit. ‘Going out of business’ meant exactly that. Shame, Propper Bros. Furniture which has been around since the early days of the last century was an odd comfort to me.
But it took a phone call from my mother to get me to go inside.
“I need you to see if they have a roll top desk. You can probably get a good deal,” she said over the phone.
Since I had an open appointment on Main St., I did not mind. I do enjoy looking at home furnishings, it’s like dress up for an empty room. What I don’t like is seeing price tags, I’m guilty of spending too much for a coffee table. Thankfully, an editor’s salary is enough to keep one from being too extravagant.
According to the company website, Samuel Propper and his brother Sigmund J. Jake Propper came to America from Hungary in the second half of the 19th century. They settled in Manayunk, a small neighborhood located in Philadelphia. According to Samuel’s son, Elmer Propper, they settled there because they found neighbors who spoke their language. They worked in the busy mills of Manayunk and made extra money in door-to-door sales. The sales experience led Sam, Jake and their father to open Propper Brothers in its original incarnation as a department store in 1888. It was a family business with many relatives helping to run the store as well as their three local warehouses.
Through the years, the store exchanged hands many times within the Propper Family. Relatives often bought each other out as they grew older or entered different professions. (The current owner is Sam Propper.)
In 1921, an addition was made to the original building to accommodate a new furniture department. This proved to be the forerunner of the current furniture store which successfully evolved during the late forties and into the fifties
I’ve always remembered it as a furniture store. The store retains its old fashioned charm, the old wood doors and tiled floor, of course, a sales associate speedily and politely attending on me was also quite helpful. The sales girls, Nasrine, carried a clip board, I knew, she’d be getting rid of that quickly.
I told her of my needs, “I’m looking for a roll top desk, have you any in stock?”
Sadly, there were none. But she showed me to three beautiful leather top desks currently in stock. Alas, I have no use for these items. (I bet you could get them for a good deal.)
“Anything else, I can help you find,” she asked.
“I think I’ll just browse a bit,” I said.
We made small talk where she learned of my occupation has Grand High Pooh-Bah of Our Town’s oldest and most read newspaper.
“Excuse me,” Nasrine said. (If you guessed, she returned sans clipboard with a manager, get yourself a cookie.)
While a perused the knick-knacks and cabinets on the second floor, James arrived and introduced himself.
“It’s true we are closing after 122 years of operation,” said James.
James also told me that the building was not going anywhere. (As if it was going to retire in Boca, with Elvis, JFK, Amelia Earhart and the Lindbergh baby) The owner was hoping to rent the second floor to a dance studio. The first floor had already gotten zoning for a deli. (Located across the street from Sorrentino’s Deli, I might add.)
But while we could speculate what may or not go into the Propper Bros. building, what we do know is that deals are to be made in this sale including the usual suspects like beds, tables, Persian rugs, chairs and ottomans (not the Turk but the footstool.) There is also a magnificent array of Ovarian Cancer awareness painted on the side of the building.