Workday Wednesday: J.S. Broida’s Clothing Shop in Parkersburg, WV, 1918

1907 ad for Broida & Adams, owned by Jacob S. Broida and C. H. Adams in Parkersburg, West Virginia, via “Parkersburg, 1907, a souvenir of the city of Parkersburg, etc. by W.M. Barnes Directory Co., via Library of Congress.

Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)

Jacob S. Broida and his wife, Anna M. Broida, were owners or part-owners of a retail store in Parkersburg, West Virginia, for many years. The store sold “dry goods” which, as Wikipedia describes it, were “products such as textiles, ready-to-wearclothing, and sundries.” (Sundries are personal care items, like soap.)

An example of a dry goods store in West Virgina (NOT the Broida store). Preserved Dry Goods Store on Shenandoah Street in the Lower Town of Harper’s Ferry National Park. Photograph by User:MamaGeek-Joy Schoenberger, 2007, via Wikimedia.

Their store evolved to carry just fine women’s clothing, and they later opened a second store in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

Directory listing for J. S. Broida and Broida & Adams Store, via “Parkersburg, 1907, a souvenir of the city of Parkersburg, etc.,” page 82, by W.M. Barnes Directory Co., via Library of Congress.

In November of 1921, Jacob S.Broida arrived in New York City on a buying trip for his store. We found a list of the products carried at the store:

Buyers Arrive in New York City, including J.S. Broida of Parkersburg, WV. New York Tribune, Nov. 25, 1921, page 17, via Chronicling America at the Library of Congress.

[Note: “Pennsylvania” is listed at the end of his entry but unsure what it means.]

Businesses are required to provide a “Biennial Report” to the state in which they are incorporated, so we learned that Jacob’s store was still in Parkersburg in 1922, sold clothing, and employed two men and nineteen women.

J. S. Broida Clothing Store in 1922, State of West Virginia, Department of Labor, Biennial Report, p. 145, via GoogleBooks.

The Broida store was bought out by Stone & Thomas in 1956. For a short while it was called, “Broida’s, Stone & Thomas” and the chain grew to 19 stores. The stores were sold to Elder-Beerman, Peebles, and Belk in the late 1990s.

Notes, Sources, and References:

See captions for citations.
“Dry goods” definition and image– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_goods
Stone & Thomas buyout– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_%26_Thomas

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Workday Wednesday: J.S. Broida’s Clothing Shop in Parkersburg, WV, 1918

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