Brener’s practice of giving away balloons and candy to children who came to his store. The nickname of “Uncle Herman” has at least three different accounts in newspaper articles. “At that time I bought a lot of shoes for 75 cents a pair and sold them for $1.” “Back in ’31, a $2.99 shoe was a quality shoe and a $4.99 shoe was really high priced,” he told the Chattanooga News-Free Press in a interview. So, he offered shoes that he had bought in large lots that included some blemished at the factory. The shoe retailer knew that his customers didn’t have much money to spend in those days of the Great Depression. He had few neighbors, for there were only two other stores still in business on that side of the street. Two years later, undaunted by the bad economy, he moved one block south to the 800 block.

In 1929, Herman Brener borrowed $2,500 to launch his own business selling shoes at a storefront in the 700 block of Market Street. The Main Street area became like a second downtown during Max Brener’s time there, and Herman Brener learned retailing by working in his father’s store.

His father, Max Brener, had come to Chattanooga 1889 from Lithuania as a peddler, and then opened Brener’s Department Store on Main Street in 1896. Herman Brener was the proprietor of the Chattanooga Shoe Store. your feet have grown a lot since last school year,” said many mothers to their children.

Kress, and, with the help of a metal shoe horn, squeeze into new shoes at Uncle Herman’s Chattanooga Shoe Store. In the 800 block of Market Street, one could shop for new school clothes at Loveman’s, buy school supplies at S.S.

Buster brown shoes chattanooga