Little Frank Auto Stores

 Downtown Holyoke was bustling with retail stores during the first half of the 20th century, including purveyors of clothing, jewelry, shoes, groceries, household goods, and pharmaceuticals. 

By way of background, Frank "Little Frank" Kleinerman moved to Springfield in 1933 to pursue a business opportunity. He had ten years of experience in the auto supply business and planned to create a chain of similar stores here. Headquartered in Springfield, the first store was at 235-237 Worthington Street near Stearns Square, opened in May 1933. 

On July 13, 1933, the Little Frank Auto Store opened at 213 High Street in Holyoke, adjacent to the Holyoke National Bank annex building occupied by the Mohican Market. The 3-story building was owned by Holyoke Savings Bank and was the bank's headquarters in the past. 

By 1935, it had stores locally in Holyoke, Chicopee, Springfield, Pittsfield, North Adams, Northampton, and Greenfield. Their slogan was the "World's Lowest Prices."

Little Frank was more than a dealer of car supplies, such as parts and repair items, seat covers, lubricants, mufflers, and tires. It inventoried hardware items, paints and paint supplies, hunting gear, radios, camping, and picnic accessories. The store continued to add recreational and vacation items to its approximately 27-by-90-foot space. It was a one-of-a-kind retail store in Holyoke for its time.

Weekly ads were placed in the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram displaying dozens of items from its array of stock that were on sale. The ad usually featured a cartoon caricature of the smiling Little Frank.

In 1940, Little Frank's chain celebrated its 31st anniversary. 

On November 13, 1942, the Holyoke Savings Bank sold the building to O'Donnell's Package Store. At the time, a barber shop and 2 apartments were on the upper floors.

Items that would appeal to shoppers continued to be added. Insulated ice boxes, fishing equipment, tennis racquets, toys, bicycles, phonographs, records, and more for the car supplemented its growing inventory.

In 1946, Aquadro & Cerrutii, a contracting firm from Northampton, eliminated the front display windows and walled the space to provide more interior display area. 

Additional items included screen doors, electric train sets, scooters, and lawn and garden tools. Yes, Little Frank also carried the one-handed egg beater and chicken feeders.

In 1948, ranges, refrigerators, and stand-alone freezers were available.

Events that would affect Little Frank's Holyoke store and the entire chain began to occur in 1953. In February of that year, Ernest J. Davignon, a jeweler who resided in Smith's Ferry, purchased the 211-213 High Street building from the O'Donnell family. He opened a jewelry store on the second floor. His plan was not to renew the lease with Little Frank once the remaining 30 months elapsed. He was considering moving his jewelry store to street level once the lease expired.

Also, in May 1954, the Jack & Harry's Auto Store chain purchased the Little Frank Auto Store chain. The newly renamed business would remain at the present location until moving in 1955. This will be the topic of my next blog.

Citations:

Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Union-News; publication dates and pages are shown.