One of Lyon County’s retailers was S & L. In the Aug. 15, 1930, Marshall News Messenger, there is a story about S & L’s move from Main Street to the Knights of Columbus building. The S & L opened in April of 1929 in the former Bee Hive building (where Mariachi is located) on Main Street. The newspaper article reports that S & L would move to its new, larger location, the former Burg Department store, in the Knights of Columbus building about the first of September. At the time, S. Frohman was the store manager.

According to the article, the store handled a complete line of ladies’ ready to wear apparel, millinery and furnishings, men’s and boy’s clothing and furnishings, dry goods, infants and children’s wear, household goods, floor coverings, toilet articles and shoes. “The new store, which will be the largest and most completely stocked department store in Marshall, will contain, in addition, a full line of groceries. The entire interior of the K. of C. building on the first floor, recently occupied by the Burg Department store, is being remodeled and redecorated to accommodate the enlarged stock of the S. and L. Company.”

Salkin & Linoff was a Minnesota-based retailer of primarily private label women’s, junior (and to a lesser extent) men’s and children’s clothes. The retailer had a wide variety of store name plates, including S & L, Bostwicks, Peck & Peck, Stevensons, Wrangler Wroost, Hurrah!, Morrey Alan (later shortened to Morrey A), Nina B, Bostwicks for Men, Bostwicks for Women and Mauritizos.

The company was founded by Joseph Linoff and his cousin Sam Salkin in the early 1920s. At its peak, Salkin & Linoff was one of the largest independent clothing retailer with 400+ stores across the United States. Under the leadership of Sam Salkin’s son Morrey, the company continued to grow through the late 1980s but the growth stopped when aggressive growth of new store openings could not mask volume and profitability problems.

The photograph featured this week is 3rd Street in Marshall prior to S & L’s move in 1930. The sign for the Burg Department store can be seen on the left side of the photograph attached to the Knights of Columbus building.

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