• The downtown Whiteville anchor business will cease operation later this year.

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

Sunday suits, back-to-school clothes and summer dresses will have to come from somewhere else next year.

Kramer’s Men’s and Ladies’ Stores announced this week the doors to both retailers will close around Christmas. The clothing stores have been a fixture in Whiteville for 89 years.

Gary Kramer, who with his brother Michael is part of the third generation of owners and managers of the business, said the “time has come to try something else.” Both men started working in the store as children. Gary said he swept floors and ran errands, starting when he was 8 or 9.

The old-fashioned store can still compete in a modern market, Kramer said, but that may not always be the case.

“Times have changed,” he said. “We aren’t being forced out of business. This is something we chose to do. The time is just right to do something else.”

The stores were founded by Lithuanian immigrants Nathan and Celia Kramer in 1918. In the early days, Gary Kramer said, the stores sold not just clothing and shoes but some general merchandise. They sold tobacco canvas to farmers who traded their annual cash crops in Whiteville. The second generation of Kramers is still represented by Hyman, Gary and Michael’s semi-retired father. “Mr. Hyman,” as he is known downtown, still regularly works there, although he is technically retired.
Changes in consumer demands helped make up the Kramers’ minds about closing the store.

“Our children aren’t that interested in following us in the business,” Gary Kramer said. “The long hours, the weekends, the holidays, most people don’t want to work like that anymore. People today have a different way of doing business – a lot of customers have never experienced the type of service you get in a hometown, family-owned store, and they don’t understand it.”

Gary Kramer said he will miss not only the customers, but the company’s staff of 11.
“We have always had very loyal employees,” he said. “Our name may have been on the building, but they are what made Kramer’s successful.”

The family loves downtown Whiteville, Gary Kramer said, “and the place is still a very viable place for a business.

“I hope someone will come in and fill the void when we’re gone,” he said. “Downtown is still a good place to run a business.”

Kramer said his brother, a well-known artist, plans to further pursue that endeavor. Since their father is already retired, Gary Kramer said he’s the only one without concrete plans.

“I’ll be looking for a job,” he said, “but I’ll miss this place, I promise you.”