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| In 1919, Porter¹s heirs sold the store to Simon Gottlieb. Gottlieb died unexpectedly in 1926 and his son Theodore ³Ted² Gottlieb inherited the business. A graduate of Harvard and the New York School of Fine Arts, Ted had big dreams for his furniture store. In the 1930s, not intimidated by the Depression, he purchased five old ³rat trap² buildings at the corner of Sixth and Wisconsin, and turned them into a model store unlike anything anyone had ever seen. The purchase made front page news in Racine. Ted traveled across the United States studying furniture stores, retail practices and marketing techniques. He oversaw the remodeling of the new store and had a hand in virtually every part of the business. His innovative techniques in merchandising, advertising and customer service were groundbreaking for their time, and he continued to be a newsmaker throughout his life. |
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