Something for Everyone: Memories of Lauerman Brothers Department Store - Tapa dura

Something for Everyone: Memories of Lauerman Brothers Department Store is a thoroughly accessible history of this chain that began in 1890 as a general store in the town of Marinette, Wisconsin. Lauermans' popularity and success climbed in subsequent decades, yet competition from big-name stores such as K-mart and Walmart eventually brought the business to an end in 1987. Something for Everyone blends business, economics, and nostalgic memories into an appealing whole, charting the rise and fall of a family-based retail chain. Black-and-white photographs pepper this excellent addition to Wisconsin history collections! (James A. Cox, Midwest Book review, October 2013)

In 1890 the Lauerman brothers opened a general store in the lumber-boom town of Marinette, Wisconsin. The business prospered, and soon the brothers abandoned their small quarters on Main Street for a magnificent department store on Dunlap Square in the heart of Marinette. Thanks to the Lauermans’ devotion to offering diverse merchandise, superior customer service, and loyalty to their employees, the store would remain a lively, vital part of the Marinette fabric for one hundred years.

This book traces the history of the Lauerman enterprise and its importance to the community of Marinette and dozens of counties in northern Wisconsin and the UP. The author takes readers on a tour of the store’s most memorable and delightful features, from the plethora of merchandise offered to the record-listening booths to the famous frosted malt cones. Along the way we hear the recollections of dozens of former customers and employees whose memories form a unique tapestry of family, business, and community story. As it brings to life the people who worked and shopped at Lauermans, Something for Everyone will have readers fondly recalling their own favorite shopping destinations during the golden age of department stores.