Carl’s Fixtures

Carl Coleman Proser (1914-2007) opened Carl’s Fixtures in 1946 after spending two years in the navy during World War II and working as a sales representative for ladies’ hat makers before that. Selling primarily to those in the restaurant industry, Carl sold everything from café equipment to showcases and three-way mirrors. According to The Greenville News, “the business soured when a stream of war veterans tried to start restaurants without the capital to pay for fixtures.”¹ After just a few years in business, Carl closed the store and briefly co-managed Max’s Miscellaneous with his brother-in-law before establishing Helen’s Cancellation Shoe Mart with his wife, Helen Poliakoff Proser (1917-2000), in 1951.

¹ Paul Davidson, “Downton’s Past Slowly Being Replaced,” Greenville News, December 4, 1996, 46.