(by Gregory Witul • Wed, Dec 03, 2014) Buffalo’s East Side has been home to a number of great men’s shops. All along Broadway men could stop at Posmantur’s, D & L Clothing, or even Mel’s $9.99 Clothes, but for generations of gentlemen there was only one place to shop, Spolka. This week we will look at a match safe from this legendary haberdashery and the family who operated it for over 100 years.
The store that became known as Spolka began its life as the Polska Spółka Akcyjna or the Polish Stock Company. Joseph Nowacki, Wawrzyn Winiewicz, and Andrew Nowacki conceived of the idea of starting a community owned and operated tailor shop in late 1906. These men, along with a number of their friends, had the means to start the operation but lacked the technical know-how of clothes manufacturing to get the company off the ground.
In early 1907, they approached Alexander Szczukowski, a prominent Woltz Avenue tailor, and offered him the opportunity to run their developing company. As Szczukowski began organizing the operation, Joseph and Andrew began selling stock in the company to wellestablished businessmen like Albert Nowak and Edmund Hodkiewicz and even to everyday people who could afford the $5 shares.
