Stein’s Young Men’s Shop

Benjamin “Ben” Stein (1892-1944) opened Stein’s Young Men’s Shop around 1923. Born in Brooklyn to Russian immigrants Carl Charles (1856-c.1910) and Lena Volk Stein (1860-c.1940), Ben began his working career as a clerk for an exterminating company in New York. By the mid-1910s, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked as a salesman and then enlisted in the military during World War I. After serving overseas from 1918 to 1919, he returned to the States and married Rose Rubenstein (1905-1951). By the early 1920s, Ben and Rose moved to Columbia where Ben established a haberdashery in his name at 1604 Main Street. By 1928, the store address changed to 1610 Main Street and Rose gave birth to their only child, Helene (sometimes spelled Elaine) Caryl (1928-2022). Within the year, Ben the rebranded the store and began operating under the name Stein’s Young Men’s Shop.

This move came just two years before Jewish businessman, Joseph F. Stein (1891-1973), constructed another men’s shop called Stein’s on Main Street in Columbia. The latter became one of the 91 stores in Joseph Stein’s national retail chain. In response to the new addition to Main Street, Ben placed advertisements distinguishing himself from his competition with statements like, “We are the ‘native’ STEINS” and “Don’t be mislead by new-comers!!”¹

By 1937, Ben moved his clothing store to 1428 Main Street. Within two years, he acquired and renovated the adjacent store, and, in 1939, announced the addition of a shoe department. By 1940, he also began carrying military uniforms and placing advertisements directed towards servicemen stationed at Fort Jackson. Sadly, Ben died four years later, at age 49, due to an acute coronary occlusion.

¹ “Stein’s Clothes,” State, May 18, 1939, 5.