A Trial is All We Ask…

"A Trial Is All We Ask" was the the motto of Kittner's Department store for a long time. It's been on my father's and Uncle Bill's business stationary my whole life. They took over our family's clothing store in the small town of Weldon, NC, from my grandfather, Louis Kittner, who was a cobbler by trade. Louis Kittner immigrated from Eastern Europe at the turn of the century. Louis moved around New York, Philadelphia, and down to Petersburg, VA as he traveled the country visiting relatives that had already settled in America. The story, as told by my Uncle Joe, is that Louis worked in various railroad stations shinning shoes to make a living. One day, at the Norfolk, VA station, Louis was shining a gentleman's shoes. The gentleman told him that he had been riding the trains all over the countryside… and that there were folks out there that weren't even wearing shoes yet. The gentleman ventured to say to Louis that he could make a lot of money if he set up a shop in one of these little railroad towns and sold the people shoes and fixed them.

And so Louis, my grandfather, took the little money he had to the train ticket office and asked, "How far will this get me?" Apparently it got him to Weldon, NC, at that time a bustling railroad town, where he set up shop, met an immigrant girl (Rose), got married, and raised six kids. He opened the store June 18, 1914. The town's folks took quite a liking to Louis. Back in those days, before the advent of radio and television, watching craftsmen work was a popular form of entertainment. With his mouth full of shoe tacks, Louis would spit them out and hammer in the soles. According to Uncle Joe, a group of Weldon's good ole boys used to spend the time of day watching him work…just waiting for the day he'd swallow one.

Louis was so well liked by the town that at one point he was actually asked to join the Klan. Apparently, the local Weldon chapter didn't know that they were suppose to hate Jews, too. Louis politely declined the invitation without incident. Another favorite Louis story that Uncle Joe tells is about a day when the Klan marched down the main street in Weldon. Young Joe got Louis to come out of the store and watch the parade. Joe wondered out loud who all these men were in their masks and robes? Then Louis started listing them out, "There's Mr. Smith, there's Mr. Johnson…" Joe asked his pop how he knew who the people were. "Well," said Louis, "I sold Mr. Smith that pair of shoes last week and sold Mr. Johnson…"

The store expanded over the years and included shoes and clothing for the entire family. It was a treasure in downtown Weldon; where it enriched the community with fairness, humanity, Levis, Chuck Taylor sneakers…from the finest suits and dresses to Hanes underwear and steel-toe workboots. The Store also nourished and educated Bill and Harry's children as well as gave their friends and cousins a real neat place to play and grow up. With the retirement of my father and uncle, Kittner's Store closed shop in 1997.

I dedicate my Web site to the memory of Louis Kittner and the work of his family and employees at Kittner's Department Store.