"So many people have asked me why I put in so much time on the job," he said. "I tell them my boss makes me do it." But then if you prod him to reveal his boss is, he'll give you a little smile and a wink and admit that the boss is him. "It's a joke. I have to joke about it, so they won't think I'm nuts," he laughed. "But the truth is, I really love my work, I being here in the store, surrounded by all these beautiful furs, and I especially love being with my customers, talking with them and serving them. You might think this sounds corny, but that's the way it is. And by the way the reason I come is so early every day is that it's the only time of the day when there's no one here and I can get a lot of work done."

Connie said he's known only one other person who had that same kind of an agenda, and that was his father, Sol Holzman, who founded the firm back in 1918. "I pick up his bad habits, I guess," he said. "One thing I wish, though, was that my father would have told me the exact date the he opened his business. Maybe he did, and I forgot. Anyway, it would be nice to know so that we'd know specifically when to celebrate out 90th anniversary." He gave a little shrug and smiled again. "But perhaps it's just as well. This way we can celebrate all year long."

...Although Connie recalls working in the stores in various little jobs form when he was only 10 years old, helping his father and mother, Beatrice, it wasn't until 1953 that he came into the firm on a full time basis. "I had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison (with a degree in labor economics)," he said. "I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do. Initially I was going to become an accountant, and tried it for a while but it just didn't seem to be what I wanted. I was like my father, I enjoyed being with people and relished the challenge of business competition. So I thought I'd try the family business for a while. As you can see, more than a half century later, I never left."

Sol stayed on as the firm's owner and chief operating officer until 1973, when he retired. It was then that Connie tool over. A few years later he moved the company to its present location at 1111 W. Mitchell. Sol died in 1989.

"So many things have changed since the old days," Connie said, somewhat wistfully. "Once there were more than 60 fur stores in the city, and we had our own furriers' organization. Can you believe that?"

By the way, you'll find a lot more than just gorgeous furs at Connie's place. He took us on a tour, and we were amazed: beautiful and unbelievably soft leather jackets and coats, accessories of all kinds, a complete restyling and repair department, climate controlled storage vaults for furs. Connie stores more than 4,000 of his customer' furs for them, protecting them from theft and/or wear when they aren't being used.

as found in the January 2008 article in 50 Plus New Magazine  (Vol. 22 No.1)