Wein Bros. suppliers (1918-1929)
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Joseph and Fage Rachel (Kalman) Wein lived in Suwalk province in present-day Poland in the latter half of the 19th century. They had nine children, Philip (1871-1932), Sheine (1873-1955), Reuben (1875-1957), Hyman (1878-1972), Rivka (1880-?), Moshe (1883-1923), Gussie (1886-1959), Thomas (1889-1941), and Victor (1894-1917). Sheine, Rivka, and Moshe remained in Europe with their parents, while their siblings all immigrated to the United States.
Gussie Wein started a dressmaking shop in Reynoldsville, Pa. Thomas Wein immigrated to Sweden around 1903 and then to New York in 1908, joining his older brother Philip Wein. After pursuing opportunities in Wisconsin and upstate New York, Thomas and Philip Wein started the Bazaar Store in Clarion, Pa. in 1912, one train-stop from Reynoldsville. They wanted to be closer to their sister without directly competing. After a fire in 1916, they reopened at 622 Main St. under the name Wein Brothers. They purchased the building and a neighboring lot in 1922, allowing for an expansion. The business also had a branch in Brookville by 1931.
Thomas Wein is believed to be the first draftee from Clarion County in World War I. He was exposed to mustard gas while stationed in France during the war, likely leading to his early death at 51.
Philip and Jenny (Finkelstein) Wein had five children, Meyer (1901-1972), Sarah (1902-1998), Charles (1906-1985), Milton (1910-1950), and Ruth (1917-2007). Thomas and Sophie (Finkelstein) Wein had four children, Morris (1923-2003), Victor (1924-2010), Joseph (1928-2012), and Faye (1932-1988). As the first-generation founders died in the 1930s and early 1940s, the business was passed to six families in the second generation.
Wein Brothers had a large and diverse customer base throughout Clarion County and into the surrounding area. It also maintained a wide network of suppliers. By the 1920s, the company was purchasing goods from factories and wholesalers companies across the American east coast, mid-west, and southeast, as well as the Fifth Avenue and Penn Avenue wholesaling districts in Pittsburgh. Through the middle decades of the 20th century, it began sourcing goods from companies located west of the Mississippi River.[1]Wein Bros. suppliers (1918-1929) (online), [2]Wein Bros. suppliers (1930-1939, 1978-1979) (online).
Morris Wein’s son Alan Wein joined the business as a third generation in 1982 and oversaw its operations into the 21st century. Wein Brothers closed in 2020, making it one of the longest-operating Jewish-owned department stores in Western Pennsylvania.
Throughout most of the 20th century, the extended Wein family represented a large percentage of the Jewish population of Clarion, Pa. and sometimes the entire Jewish population. The family was active in regional Jewish communal activities, including Tree of Life Congregation in Oil City, the Northwestern Pennsylvania Council of B’nai B’rith, and other initiatives and organizations in the area and the wider region.
