Something for Everyone: Memories of Lauerman Brothers Department Store

by Michael Leannah

Overview

In 1890 the Lauerman brothers opened a general store in the lumber-boom town of Marinette, Wisconsin. The business prospered, and soon the brothers abandoned their small quarters on Main Street for a magnificent department store on Dunlap Square in the heart of Marinette. Thanks to the Lauermans’ devotion to offering diverse merchandise, superior customer service, and loyalty to their employees, the store would remain a lively, vital part of the Marinette fabric for one hundred years.

This book traces the history of the Lauerman enterprise and its importance to the community of Marinette and dozens of counties in northern Wisconsin and the UP. The author takes readers on a tour of the store’s most memorable and delightful features, from the plethora of merchandise offered to the record-listening booths to the famous frosted malt cones. Along the way we hear the recollections of dozens of former customers and employees whose memories form a unique tapestry of family, business, and community story. As it brings to life the people who worked and shopped at Lauermans, Something for Everyone will have readers fondly recalling their own favorite shopping destinations during the golden age of department stores.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870205811
Publisher:	Wisconsin Historical Society
Publication date:	08/27/2013
Edition description:	1
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	648,003
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Michael Leannah has had a long career in the public schools of Milwaukee and Sheboygan. His stories for children have been published in magazines in the United States and in Australia; his radio plays have won national awards and have been performed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. In 2007, he edited Well! Reflections on the Life and Career of Jack Benny. Leannah grew up in Marinette, Wisconsin, within walking distance of Lauermans Department Store. He now lives with his family in Sheboygan.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: A Day in the Life of Lauermans xiv

1 A Brief History of the Department Store 1

2 The Rise of the Lauerman Brothers 13

3 The Lauerman Family 30

4 Why Lauermans Worked 44

5 Working at Lauermans 52

6 The Top Five 67

7 The Departments, from Top to Bottom 75

8 Behind the Scenes 100

9 The Greater Community 122

10 Advertising and Promotion 134

11 Other Business Interests 147

12 The Store's Demise 166

The Lauerman Family Tree 174

The Lauerman Brothers' Code of Ethics 177

The Names 178

Last Word 190

Index 191

Editorial Reviews

Something for Everyone: Memories of Lauerman Brothers Department Store is a thoroughly accessible history of this chain that began in 1890 as a general store in the town of Marinette, Wisconsin. Lauermans' popularity and success climbed in subsequent decades, yet competition from big-name stores such as K-mart and Walmart eventually brought the business to an end in 1987. Something for Everyone blends business, economics, and nostalgic memories into an appealing whole, charting the rise and fall of a family-based retail chain. Black-and-white photographs pepper this excellent addition to Wisconsin history collections! (James A. Cox, Midwest Book review, October 2013)

From the Publisher