Here we have a metal shoehorn from the E. M. Kahn and Company, “Complete Outfitters to Men & Boys,” which was located on Main and Elm, at Lamar. The founder Emanuel Meyer Kahn, a Jewish immigrant from Alsace-Lorraine, France, founded the E.M. Kahn Company in Dallas in 1872 at the age of 21. He was one of the first businesses in Dallas to put price tags on his merchandise, rather than haggling, which was normal with customers. The company was a retailer of menswear and eventually had girls and women’s departments, with multiple locations.
The business continued for ninety-two years as a family-owned business and had the distinction of being the oldest retail store in Dallas, as well as the city’s first air-conditioned store. It was known that E. M. Kahn, always stood out in a crowd, immaculately dressed in a chocolate-brown suit.
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/kahn-emanuel-meyer
http://dallasmemorabilia.blogspot.com/2015/07/em-kahn-co.html
https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2008/november/the-jews-who-built-dallas/
I picked up the same shoe horn in an antique shop today for .75 cents! I absolutely fell in love with it because of the history! I am going to use it in a woodworking project I’m building. I think it’s fabulous and screams 1940’s Dallas!
I was a runner for EM Kahn. I’d run over the fitted suits, slacks, shirts and what-have-you from the downtown store to lawyers, politicos, business big-wigs, etc. My girlfriend’s dad, Curly, was the lead salesperson & hired me two summers in a row. Curly was the best dressed man I’ve ever known. Curly WAS EM Kahn then. He’d come and go in a perfectly beautiful two-seat MG. Everyone in downtown Dallas knew Curly.
I’d go on, but EM Kahn represented the highest o Dallas style and distinction. I testify to that…
I worked as salesman in men’s furnishings during the summers and Christmas holidays of 1962 and 1963. The men’s furnishings manager was Vic Rubin, who was initially pretty tough on me, but became almost like a second father to me during the times I worked there. I also remember Mr. Toblowsky, who was the V.P. for personnel. Decades later, while reading a book on women’s rights, I learned that Ms. Toblowsky was a renowned and respected figure in that movement in Texas.
I remember shopping at E M Kahn in Wynnewood. My Dad’s cousin worked there in the boy’s department. He mainly sold boy’s suits. They had a pneumatic system there too. I love to watch the clerks write up and send it through the tube. Charge or cash. In a few minuets it would shoot back with the charge approval or your change. It was the highlight of my day!
I BOUGHT AN E M KAHN TOP HAT AND WOOL TUXEDO AT AN AUCTION IN MUSKOGEE OKLAHOMA A COUPLE YEARS AGO. JUST HAD THE TUX CLEANED BUT IT IS IN SAD SHAPE AND FALLING APART. IT WILL HAVE TO BE RESTITCHED AND SOME HOLES PATCHED. THE HAT IS SOILED AND WILL NEED TO BE CLEANED.
I have a wooden coat hanger withE.M.Kahn & Co on it.
Somehow it found it’s way over here to Suffolk England.
Must be years old.
My older brother and I both worked at the Lochwood store in the 60’s . I learned a ton about interacting with customers and colleagues. Some memorable characters there: Mr Bickley in Men’s clothing, Fred in Men’s shoes and clothes, Ali the tailor, and others whose names now escape me. Really made me respect retail sales folks to this day!