Employment and Business

Joe Rosenberg inside his menswear store, c.1935.

Photo Courtesy of Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, accession 2008-9-10.

Jewish-owned shops were clustered on Main St. and Oak St. They offered clothing, home furnishings, and general merchandise. Some familiar names include Schacter’s Grand Union Grocery, Herman’s Home Furnishing, Brown’s Furs, and many clothing stores (Sol Waiser, Rosenberg, Adams, Lefcoes, Silverstein, Hoffman, Himmel, Wasserman and Bob Kizell).

Joe Rosenberg’s Men’s and Boy’s Wear supplied clothes to the working men from isolated lumber and mining camps. He would hold the next season’s clothes and some of their savings for these men who frequently spent everything else. They would reclaim them when returning to the bush.