The Klotzman brothers, Sam and Joe, came to Montevallo from West Blocton and opened a dry goods store in the former C.L. Meroney building in the early 1930’s. The Klotzmans were businessmen whose father had been part of the substantial number of Jewish merchants thriving in West Blocton as a result of the prosperity generated by the nearby coal mines. A similar economic environment had been created in Montevallo from its own mines, just a few miles outside of town, and supplemented by local farmers and the rapidly growing faculty and student body of Alabama College.
Joe and Sam dissolved their partnership in the 1940’s, so Sam, his wife Rose, and within a few years, their son Harry, continued to operate the business until it closed for good in the 1980’s. In the early years, the Klotzmans sold traditional mercantile goods but gradually phased out hardware and farm implements to specialize in shoes and clothing for the entire family.
There is considerable evidence in local newspapers from the 1930’s that retail clerks employed by businesses located on Montevallo’s Main Street were members of a union organized to represent their interests. This could very easily be attributed to the local labor atmosphere created by the United Mine Workers Union that miners in Aldrich and nearby mining communitites such as Dogwood, Boothton, Marvel, and Piper belonged to. It is not known if Klotzman’s clerks were union members, but there were certainly other local retailers operating with union labor.
Also, the Klotzman’s religious faith often compelled them to close their store for most of the day on Saturdays in order to observe major Jewish holidays during the year. In the mid-20th century, Saturday was the big shopping day of the week when families from all over the area would come to town to shop for groceries and essentials, get hair-cuts, visit with friends, and just enjoy a change of pace from their day-to-day routine. The Jewish holiday traditions required the faithful to refrain from conducting business on those Saturdays until sundown. To minimize the financial impact of missing their largest sales day of the week, and knowing that shoppers were in no hurry to get back home, the Klotzmans advertised in the Montevallo Times they would re-open right after sundown and stay open until 10:00 pm.
Thank you to Clay Nordan, Vice-President of the Montevallo Historical Society, for contributing these images and information!
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