“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it,” said Henry David Thoreau, the 19th century American writer. And while several generations of the Ugents, Komisars and Steins of Milwaukee were busy working, success came to them — three entrepreneurial Jewish families, all proprietors of city businesses for over 70 years.
“None of us ever retire,” said A.J. (Abraham) Ugent, whose father, Morris, went into business as a tailor in downtown Milwaukee in 1921. “We die with our boots on.”
In 1928, Morris, A.J.’s father, started manufacturing and selling furs from his shop. His sons, A.J. and Aaron, worked with him at the shop. In 1959, A.J. opened his own shop, A.J. Ugent Furs, at 8333 W. Capitol Dr.
Now 82, A.J. still goes to work at 6:30 every morning. His son, Rod (Rodney) Ugent, now runs the business, and his daughter, Lori Nashban, is also involved. A.J. commented that “many people can’t give up control [of their businesses], but I am an army man and I know you have to have succession.”
In addition, “young people get along with each other and my son is also active nationally [in trade organizations] and he gets a lot of good ideas from outside of Milwaukee,” A.J. said.
Noting that A.J. Ugent Furs is only one of a handful of Jewish furriers left in Milwaukee that still makes special-order coats, A.J. added, “The business has changed; there is less and less manufacturing in the U.S.” and all of the stores have essentially the same products.
“But I have [excellent fur] workers … and we not only sell fur coats, we guarantee them and take care of them,” he said.
In the summer months, fur coats must be stored in cold, climate-controlled storage rooms or the leather will dry out and become fragile, Ugent explained. “We have 6,500 coats hanging here,” he added, as he conducted a tour of the storage vault and then the store’s upstairs workroom, where four women — natives of Germany, Greece and Korea — sewed coats.
Sociable and seemingly robust, A.J. appears to be content to have his son running the business. “He’s doing a very good job,” A. J said of Rod.
‘Breathe, eat and sleep furniture’
Like Morris Ugent who used his expertise as a tailor to become a retailer of furs, Irwin Kerns came here from Russia with the skill to upholster furniture and eventually acquired a retail furniture store.
Starting off at 3rd and Garfield downtown in 1928, Kerns moved his business to Mitchell St. on the near South Side in 1948.
“At that time there were several big department stores [on Mitchell St.] and it was the place to go for bridal gowns and furniture. It was a precursor to the malls for one-stop shopping,” said Maureen Komisar, Kerns’ granddaughter, who is now store manager, in-house counsel and part of the third generation of the Bilt-Rite Furniture family.
Kerns’ daughter, Claire, married Mort Komisar, “the best salesman in the world,” according to Maureen, in 1950 and he joined his father-in-law at Bilt-Rite Furniture.
Working alongside their daughter, Maureen, is Claire and Mort’s son, Marty, who is now the “overall boss.” As children, Marty and Maureen grew up spending many after school and Saturday hours in the store. “We had special lunch boxes to bring only to the store,” Maureen said in a recent interview there.
Marty started working at the store when he was 12 — “and when he was a student at Marshall High School, the Bilt-Rite delivery truck would pick him up after school and bring him to Mitchell St.,” Maureen added.
By 18, Marty was working on an accounting degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and running the store. On a trip to Miami, he met, and later married, Gail, a New Yorker who happened to sell home furnishings. She still does, but now at Bilt-Rite.
Marty’s children, Randi and Bradley Komisar, grew up spending lots of time at the store and after high school they “both made a conscious choice to go into the family business,” Randi said.
They are both graduates of High Point University, located in High Point, N. C., the only university in the U.S. to offer majors in furniture. Randi, a 2000 graduate, majored in interior design, while Bradley, who graduated summa cum laude last spring, majored in business administration, furniture management and marketing.
Bilt-Rite expanded from its original store at 7th and Mitchell into three other buildings to the west. It now has seven floor areas with furniture packed into virtually every square inch of space.
“We are a full-line furniture store with over 100 different lines and a lot of special ordering. We can, for example, put a different fabric on an upholstered piece. And unlike the average store, which has 80 percent imported furniture, we have predominately American-manufactured, superior quality furniture and the ability to service our products,” said Randi.
“We have always been known for our huge selection, value, quality and service,” Maureen said, adding, “Anytime you walk into the store there is always a Komisar [there]. And on weekends and holidays we are all there.” “Yes, we breathe, eat, and sleep furniture,” quipped Randi.
Active in the Jewish community and passionate about Israel, Komisar family members admitted a strong connection to their Jewish customers. “Each Jew relies upon one another and it gives us naches when members of the Jewish community come in [to the store],” Maureen said.
Trust and honor
Another Jewish entrepreneur who can be found in the annals of urban Milwaukee is Harry Stein. “My father was a Damon Runyon-type of character,” said Ken Stein about his father, in a recent interview at Stein’s Jewelry.
He was referring to the early 1900s inspiration for “Guys and Dolls” —a tough, cynical reporter, who mingled with gangsters and show people — an archetype of a certain type of hip, nightlife-loving city dweller.
“And downtown in the [19]20s and 30s, the city was a very interesting place,” Stein added.
“The story goes like this: My dad was walking down the street looking for something to do — some work, because it was the Depression, and he found a store for sale [on 3rd Street]. And he bought it for $100.”
It was a pawnshop and Ken has a photo of its original sign, ‘Harry Stein’s Loans.’ After several moves and the addition of the word ‘jewelry’ to the sign, Stein’s Jewelry is now located at 715 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Ken joined his father in business at age 24 after earning a college degree in business and spending a short time working elsewhere. “My dad tricked me and said he was going to retire — he kind of caught me at the right time,” he said. Ken’s wife, Dee, has worked with him since they married in 1962.
Born in the U.S., the children of Russian and Eastern European immigrants, Ken’s father Harry continued working until he died in 1986. His mother, Sylvia, worked five days a week until she had a stroke at age 91.
By 1998 the Steins had stopped offering loans. Now, Stein’s Jewelry looks like a New York diamond district shop, with a huge inventory of fine jewelry, including precious gems, and antique and estate jewelry.
But their business goes beyond selling from inventory, Ken said. “We are also asked to pursue [specific, unusual] pieces.”
Through the ups and downs of urban Milwaukee the Stein’s have always felt secure in their downtown store, “even when we went through the [race] riots in 1967. The people, the officials and the police have always been great. We’ve been very well received in Milwaukee and it’s a great place to do business,” said Ken.
Like all other aspects of life, times have changed in the jewelry business. “Trust and honor were always very important. The old way of doing business on 47th St. [in New York’s the diamond district] was with a handshake — they would say ‘mazel’ — it’s a deal. Your reputation spoke for it. I do a lot of business on the phone with people I’ve never seen. But now the younger people use the corporate model,” said Ken.
Ken and Dee’s son is a cardiologist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Medical School, and their daughter is a stay-at-home mom who is not interested in taking over the family business. The third generation is the most difficult [to pass a business on to], said Ken, “because of the mobility of the society.”
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