The Mail-Journal, Volume 15, Number 36, Milford, Kosciusko County, 27 September 1978 — Page 31

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’’The” Store in Elmer, Minnesota

by Lloyd Mattson In March, 1948, Max and Edna Schneiderman bought themselves a store. They bor* rowed the money and bought the general store in Elmer, Minn. If you don't know where Elmer is offhand, just look between Meadowlands and Toivola. There's nothing there, really. Just the store and a tiny depot on the tracks. There wasn't a chance that the Schneidermans would make it. First off. Max had no storekeeping experience. All his adult life he had worked in Duluth's steel plant; all save a hitch in the navy. With competition blossoming all around, a novice didn't stand a chance. Then there was the Elmer massacre. Max didn't know it at the time, but the woman he bought the store from was the widow of the man who outraged the whole area. Furious because the Elmer Township Council refused his application for a beer license, the store owner shot three councilmen dead, wounded another, then turned the gun on himself. That hardly builds good will among the friends and relatives! The Schneidermans moved their four children into the upstairs apartment over the store to learn that the sink had no faucets, and the bathroom was an indoor outhouse, as Max described it. And there they were, city folks in the country, facing an impossible job. Just to complicate matters, David, the oldest son, was handicapped.

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Max had thrown out the obsolete merchandise that harked back to the horse-plowing days. He added hardware and other items that seemed useful to his cutomers. He took to buying eggs from the farmers, and became immediately popular. What he didn't know was that he was paying the going retail price to the farmer. But the eggs came in handy. When the fifth child came along, Max negotiated with St. Lukes to pay the stork bill with a crate of eggs eath week. What Max lacked in retail moxy he made up in hard work and personal warmth, and he was learning all the time. The store became a family affair, and on the tenth anniversary of their move to Elmer, the Schneidermans held a grand opening of their first building addition, complete with fireworks and Torgo, the Mechanical Man. Fireworks became a Schneiderman tradition. Since their son, Dave, could not travel comfortably, Max and Edna

But not knowing what can't be done has advantages. Edna took over the Elmer postoffice, which was located in the store. Max worked from dawn to dark fixing and thinking and making friends. It was a tough six years. Max will tell you. But slowly the conservative country folks wanned to their new neighbors, and business picked up.

planned a Fourth of July celebration at home. With lots of enthusiasm and S2O worth of rockets and aerial bombs, the family and a few neighbors celebrated. What began as an evening for the family grew into the biggest fireworks display in the area. For a decade people drove to Elmer to share the fun. More than 200 cars and 700 people were counted one year. Even the approaching ore trains slowed so the crew could see the show. 4-H kids sold ice cream and pop, the neighbors shook Max's hand and Elmer's struggled general store became a community institution. Max and Edna can tell you stories all -day from those early years. Would they do it again? A yellowing newspaper clip from the Schneiderman scrapbook quotes Max, "How can I tell you how I feel? It sounds crazy to say that we moved to the country and found ourselves, but that's what happened. The day I spotted that for sale ad opened a whole new life for all of us. I wouldn't change it for anything." But that was 1960, before the bouncing economy and mushrooming suburban shopping centers with their appeal to shoppers. How could a country store hope to compete with high powered advertising pouring into every living room through television and radio? In fact, that Fourth of July thing was the only advertising Schneidermans ever did, and that began by accident. You'll find a handful of road signs here and there, but that is mainly so the delivery trucks don't get lost heading back to the store. Out there on County Road #5 without another building in sight, any armchair economist will tell you the store was doomed. The store was doomed for some other reasons. Max didn't know how to run a sale. No gigantic January clearance days, no big Christmas sales, no sales of any kind. What you see on the price tag is what you pay. One small corner held the few items that didn't make it on the floor, with modest mark-downs. Anyone will tell you that you can't keep customers without a sale now and then. Max didn't know about salesmen either. You got to get out there and sell, boys! But the Schneiderman's crew (mostly family members) were more like purveyors of information than salesmen. If you found something you liked, they'd write up the order. The salesmen worked on salary only; no commissions.

virtues, Schneidermans .Furniture is a shrine. Today it is Minnesota's largest home furnishings outlet north of the Twin Cities. The one-room general store now sprawls over 30,000 square feet of display space; and across the road stands a 33,000-square-foot steel warehouse.

Without advertising, sales or crack salesmen, the store had Ho future. To seal its fate. Max offered free delivery throughout the trade area. And that trade area stretched out a hundred miles and more in all directions! With so many fatal merchandising flaws, how could customers come from so far? For people who want to believe in old-fashioned

Max and Edna retired a few years ago and turned the business over to their sons. Larry, the egg baby, and Russel keep the store, and the customers just keep coming. The nearest population centers are more than forty miles distant, and the roads to Elmer are narrow and often rough. Yet you'll see Schneidermans' trucks in International Falls, Grand Marais, Duluth, northwestern Wisconsin, all of the Iron Range towns, the Twin Cities, and most towns in between. On weekends Schneidermans Furniture resembles a carnival, with crowds milling about and salesmen waiting to write orders. Fair prices, quality merchandise, a friendly atmosphere and integrity; these are the qualities people mentioif when you ask why they shop* at Schneidermans. The huge inventory offers a broad selection, and prompt free delivery assures the quick enjoyment of new purchases. If something isn't right, the truck will come back and pick up the item, delivering a replacement. You can't beat the advertising power of a happy customer. Max tells how he got a phone call one day to meet a plane at the Hibbing airport. He picked up a carload of people from Ft. Dodge, lowa. They shopped a while, and shortly afterward a truck was dispatched to Ft. Dodge, loaded with home furnishings. Shipments have been crated for Alaska, Wake Island, North Africa and most states of the Union. Canadian customers frequent Schneidermans Furniture as well. Thirty years of fair dealing have kept Elmer's unlikely store growing, making the Schneidermans a fair profit in the process. Max tells of the wife of a businessman stationed in Africa who visited the store. She ordered some furniture and a green carpet. Max tried to talk her

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blank check to cover the purchases and shipping costs. Max, of course, refused, warning the lady against such a reckless practice. The lady said simply, "I've heard of your store." She pressed the check into Max's hand and left. Schneidermans' formula wouldn't work everywhere, to be sure. A family business builds loyalties difficult jjp gain under normal circumstances. Schneidermans has become an extension of the family that built the business. They learned that it doesn't cost nearly as much to be considerate and fair as it costs to run double page spreads or prime time TV spots. Max and Edna drop by on weekends to help out as needed. And you'll find them in out-of-the-way places measuring floors for the carpet department. The policies they built into the business still govern day to day operations. For a couple that didn't have a chance to succeed, the Schneidermans haven't done half bad..

her out of that particular color, which to his experienced tastes simply wouldn't complement the furniture. The lady reminded Max that her African home was surrounded by desert. She needed something green to remind her of home! The lady symbolized the quality that has built the store in Elmer. She handed Max a signed,