Savitz Department Store

Savitz Department Store operated in St. Matthews, South Carolina from 1908 to 1992. The store got its start when an immigrant Latvian peddler by the name of Solomon Savitz (1876-1947) made a deal to buy an existing store in St. Matthews in 1904. At first, Savitz Department Store functioned as a general store. As time passed, however, the store only sold dry goods. Of the eight children birthed by Savitz’s wife, Ida Read Savitz (1879-1948), sons Maurice (1914-2008) and Daniel (1920-1985) involved themselves the most in the operation of the family business. After World War II, Maurice and Daniel took over management of Savitz Department Store. The brothers bought out their siblings’ shares in the store in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Daniel retired in 1984, and Maurice sold Savitz Department Store in 1992. Maurice’s daughter Susan worked as a cashier at the store before she attended Emory University, and his son, Peter, helped run the store for a few years after he graduated from Wharton School of Business. Daniel Savitz’s wife, Charlotte Wolfe Savitz (1920-1983), worked as a buyer for Savitz Department Store.