Much like the store he has owned since 1982, Al Rosenberg, 58, has been a lifelong Butler resident.

The Workingman’s Store at 257 S. Main St. was built in 1933 and has been at the same location since. The small location employs only two people. Becky Fizer works for Rosenberg, having handled women’s and boys’ wear for 14 years.

Over its history, there have been just three owners: Isadore Cohen, who started the business; Al’s father, Joseph Rosenberg, who took over in 1973; and Al.

“A lot of people think that my father was the store’s owner all that time, but really he was just a clerk,” Rosenberg said. “He started working there in 1936, and he was forced to buy the business in 1973 or Mr. Cohen would have shut it down.”

Rosenberg has been a part of the store since 1968, helping out over Christmas and summer breaks as he attended Penn State University, until switching to full-time in 1973 when his father took over the business. When his father’s health began declining, he bought the store in 1982.

It has always been a family business.

“My mother, Ruth Rosenberg, was a bookkeeper for the store until she was 92,” Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg’s degree in accounting has helped him run the store, but he admits he learned the majority by watching.

“I learned a lot of the business from Mr. Cohen and my parents,” he said. “When my mom stopped doing the books, I basically went from doing nothing to doing everything.” Rosenberg has always done the buying for the store, but has also done some other things in recent years.

For example, the floor was stripped of the carpet and tile, leaving only the original hardwood floors behind.

“I think that’s one thing that separates us from the big retail stores,” Rosenberg said. “A lot of people, especially from out of town, come in and comment on the atmosphere here. It’s ‘homey,’ and has an antique feel. We even have the original sliding ladder for the shelves that’s been here since 1933.”

Another thing that separates The Workingman’s Store from other stores with similar merchandise is the service.

“It’s not even something we realize,” he said. “It’s just the way we do things. I think people buy because they want to keep the money local and give back to the community. I’ve had people tell me that our service is key to them shopping here.” The store itself is much larger than it appears from the outside. There is a balcony that overlooks the sales floor that is full of stock, mostly boots.

Above that is another floor with stock rooms that are filled with clothing items that can be found on the sales floor. The rooms used to be real estate and doctor’s offices, dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, Rosenberg said.

While the store offers merchandise for all times of the year, the store tends to do more business in the winter months, when construction workers and hunters buy more items.

“This mild winter has been terrible,” he admitted. “It’s weird because you can tell how busy it’s going to be based on how cold November and December are.” As for the future of the store, Rosenberg said he would like to have a free-standing store with lots of free parking but admits that his age is working against him.

“And I’d like to drive the big chains out of business,” he joked. “But we’re just going to continue to try to compete.”

This article was submitted by The Workingman’s Store.