Adler’s Fabric Store, anchor of Philadelphia’s ‘Fabric Row,’ closed up shop in January
Times inevitably change, and with it, the need for certain goods and services fall by the wayside. So it was for Adler’s Fabrics, which was a mainstay of Fabric Row on South 4th Street in Philadelphia until its closing on Friday, Jan. 25, after 44 years.
Jay and Jeannette Adler, who owned and operated the store, are longtime Cherry Hill residents who are sad their work could not continue, but happy they made such an impact on the community.
“I’m at the front of the store, and a customer I’ve never seen before, maybe in her 40s, walks in and she says, ‘I know you must be busy, but I heard you’re retiring and I just want you to know your business was the pillar of the community and you’re going to be sorely missed.’ I nearly cried,” Jeannette said.
“I went over and hugged her. What I’m trying to say is that you don’t know how many people you touch when you run a business for that many years. All our fabrics in the homes of so many people over the years.”
Naturally, there would be no Adler’s Fabrics if not for intrepid relatives who risked their lives and livelihood to seek better things in America.
“My grandparents, they came from Ukraine, from Kiev, right to 4th Street in 1923. They would sell, on the street, linens and stuff. They had a cart first, and then a stand. Then, they bought the building where we were, 742 S. 4th St.,” Jay recounted. “So, they started a fabric business, and they were there for quite a few years. In 1958, they moved down the street to another store, which was also in the fabric business, too. It was the beginning of my life. They lived over the store.”
Adler and his father then purchased the store in the late 1950s, but instead of keeping the family business afloat, they converted the space into a laundromat. That business prospered for the next decade-and-a-half, but by 1974, Jay had enough and wanted to go back to what he studied at what was then called Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, now known as Jefferson University.
“He personally gutted all the machines and started out selling fabrics three, five yards at a time. He then went to flea markets and sold bolts of fabric. As the years went on, salesmen would come in and we would buy larger bolts. I would then join him on Saturdays and work in the store,” said Jeannette.
“In 1986 or ’87, when I was working for RCA, GE bought out RCA, and Jay said to me ‘if you’re gonna work full time, why don’t you join me?’ I said I didn’t think it would work out. We were married and to work together might not work … at this point we were married 22 years. I decided to join Jay and it was the best idea ever.”
For Jeannette, it wasn’t just a way to spend more quality time with her husband. She learned how to sell and attended several classes related to the business, first, at Cherry Hill High School West where she learned how to make draperies, and later, a course at Temple University where she learned about upholstery and the history of furniture in Philadelphia.
“I would say now we’re married 54 years, and we’ve worked together 108 years. Back then, in the store when it was only 40 years, I’d say it’s been 80, and they all loved that,” Jay noted of his customers.
To ensure all businesses on the block prospered, at one point in the 1990s, David Auspitz — former owner of the Famous Deli on the corner of 4th and Bainbridge — came to the Adlers and other owners to begin an association. Once banded together, they decided to call themselves an iconic name: “Fabric Row.”
“They collected dues and if someone had a wedding or a death in the family, the association would be supportive, Jeannette said. “We would advertise in the magazine that goes into all the hotels and get business from it.”
Inevitably, the itch to close out one chapter of their lives and begin another started to rise to the surface.
“A year ago, we decided to retire, and we had some people interested in our building. We sold to a very nice person. He was actually humbled to know that, after 96 years that the building was in our family, that he was the first person to own it. He was very respectful to Jay and I,” Jeannette said.
After almost five decades of dedication to their life’s work, it was a strange thing for the Adlers, on Saturday, Jan. 26, to not have any pressing business ahead.
“The only time we ever took off on a Saturday was if it was a Jewish holiday, but we always worked through Saturday, and the next day (after the store closing) was a Saturday and we thought it was great we could sleep late,” exclaimed Jeannette while Jay nodded knowingly.
With less than a month separating them from their working and retired life, the Adlers are taking it slow for now, but have bigger things in mind for the remainder of their lives.
“We have three grandchildren, so we’ve been doing things with them more often and helping out our children since they still work. We joined the JCC, and we’re more into exercise, and look forward to volunteering, maybe taking some classes. We’re traveling to Florida, and we have the whole family, 26 of us, going to Florida and it’s three generations. I’m sure we’ll travel more to more places,” noted Jeannette.
