Lakewood Lore

Big stores once thrived in city

Many Lakewoodites decry the fact their community does not have a department store. Some recall, too, that that wasn't always the case.

Once there were two such shopping havens here for local residents -- Schermer Bros. and a branch store of Cleveland's Bailey Co.

Schermer's opened in 1906 at 12201 Madison Ave. at Magee in what was then called the Carbon District. Originally it was a clothing store operated by Abraham and Gussie Greenwald, who immigrated from Hungary.

Later, two of their nephews, Isadore and Joseph Schermer, were summoned to America to help run the business. By 1918, now in management roles, they changed the name to Schermer Bros.

In 1920, they enlarged the store and sent for their brothers, Sol and Harry. Still later, additional help came from abroad in the form of two more brothers, Jack and Leo, and other members of the family.

A story in the May 1924, issue of the Lakewood Post called Schermer's "One of the finest department stores in the state." That year the outlet had undergone further expansion and remodeling.

It occupied three floors of a building -- 80 feet wide and 125 feet deep, with 30,000 square feet of floor space. It stocked dry goods, clothing, shoes and household furnishings. Infants wear, too, was a feature, and there were toys, hardware and appliances in a bargain basement.

As merchants, the hardworking Schermers had two distinct advantages. They could speak the Slavic languages of the Central Europeans who populated the neighborhood. Also, they kept their store open seven days a week to accommodate the immigrant customers, most of whom worked long hours in nearby factories.

However, bad luck enveloped them in 1962. Early in the morning of Aug.12 in that year, a $300,000 fire of unknown origin broke out in the store, completely gutting it. Firemen worked 12 hours to put out the blaze, and three of them were injured in the process. Then, four days later, a severe windstorm blew down the building's remaining east wall.

Nevertheless, doggedly the family did not then give up. They opened a new place, albeit smaller -- the Schermer Bros. Discount Store at nearby 12221 Madison, which operated until 1970.

Bailey's is a different story. It was founded earlier -- in 1881 -- and was the first of Cleveland's downtown department stores to create East side and West side branches -- at Euclid and East 101st in 1929 and at Detroit and Warren in Lakewood the following year.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post June 28, 1990. Reprinted with permission.

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Reprinted with permission.

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