Arlington Public Library: Oral History: Public Shoe Store

Arlington VA

15 July, 2021

11:57 AM

Description

Press release from Arlington Public Library: July 15, 2021 Interview with Dr. Sholom "Doc" Friedman and Karen Widmayer Public Shoe Store, 1983. Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people's personal experiences. Advertisement in the Northern Virginia Sun for Public Shoe Store, October 31, 1968. Image courtesy of Virginia Chronicle. View of Wilson Boulevard from east to west, including the large Public Shoe Store sign, 1991. VS: So it was all your dad [Samuel Friedman] needed? Large enough? SF: Oh, yeah. It was a pretty big operation back then. VS: Sounds like it. What decade would you call your heyday, the best years, or the best decades? SF: Probably after the war. VS: So the '40s and '50s when families were moving and growing and all that sort of stuff. SF: Right. KW: Even when I worked there, I mean, there'd be ten or fifteen numbers pulled, people sitting and waiting. I mean, it was crazy on Saturdays. VS: That's good business—that was a Saturday. KW: Yeah, that was still '60—well, I was—started working there when I was about seven, so that's late '60s and into the early '70s. I think at that point, that's when things started changing a little bit with Arlington and the retail. But the businesses stayed. VS: So it was all your dad [Samuel Friedman] needed? Large enough? SF: Oh, yeah. It was a pretty big operation back then. VS: Sounds like it. What decade would you call your heyday, the best years, or the best decades? SF: Probably after the war. VS: So the '40s and '50s when families were moving and growing and all that sort of stuff. SF: Right. KW: Even when I worked there, I mean, there'd be ten or fifteen numbers pulled, people sitting and waiting. I mean, it was crazy on Saturdays. VS: That's good business—that was a Saturday. KW: Yeah, that was still '60—well, I was—started working there when I was about seven, so that's late '60s and into the early '70s. I think at that point, that's when things started changing a little bit with Arlington and the retail. But the businesses stayed. The exterior of Public Shoe Store around the time of its closing in 2016. The exterior of Public Shoe Store around the time of its closing in 2016. Central Library, First Floor 1015 North Quincy Street Arlington VA 22201 703-228-5990 This press release was produced by Arlington Public Library. The views expressed here are the author's own.