Jacob John Siegrist, c. 1911
Jacob John Siegrist, c. 1911
Born in Eden, NY in 1858, Jacob Siegrist came to Buffalo and began working with the retail firm of Barnes, Bancroft & Co.
at age 18. After
14 years with the company and having progressed to manager and buyer, Jacob Siegrist became aligned
with the
New York City retailer, George F. Fraley, and in 1891 opened a small department store at 514 William Street
called
Siegrist & Fraley. They sold dry goods, notions, millinery, shoes, carpets, furniture and stoves.
Jacob Siegrist's motto was: "Serve the public well, furnish best quality merchandise at honest prices."
Within five years, a very successful Siegrist & Fraley expanded by taking over the entire block at William & Emslie and built
a large warehouse. The store and warehouse employed 250 people. In Buffalo's East Side, the store was the equivalent of
its Main Street competitors J.N. Adam, William Hengerer & Co., and H. A. Meldrum, among others.
Broadway between Peck & Mills St., c 1900. Store at right.
In 1895, Siegrist & Fraley opened a second location on Broadway across from the Broadway Market. It employed 150 clerks.
Jacob Siegrist emphasized quality merchandise at reasonable prices and friendly customer service. Said J.G. Sharp, one of his
managers, in a 1907 trade publication, "I believe in paying clerks straight salaries - good compensation for good men. That
prevents petty jealousies among employees that prove inimical to discipline. Good men always work better when assured of
a good income regardless of failure in sales, the loss of which cannot be attributed to them."
Jacob Siegrist was active in his community, well-regarded and elected as a Republican councilman in 1908. He ran for mayor
in 1910 and lost to Louis P. Fuhrmann by 1,242 votes.
Got His Early Training in a Utica Store Jacob J. Siegrist, Head of One of Buffalo's Most Important Merchandising Houses Utica Herald Dispatch, September 14, 1914 Women's Wear, a trade journal published in New York, in its issue of September 11, contains an appreciative sketch of Jacob J. Siegrist, head of Siegrist & Fraley, the big store of Buffalo's East Side. Mr. Siegrist started as a cash boy in the store of C. McCarthy & Co. at Syracuse at a salary of $1.25 aweek and for three years prior of 1877 was in the employ of J.B. Wells & Son Co. of this city. Mr. Siegrist wa sone of a family of 11 children. His father was a German Methodist preacher who moved to Utica when the son was 16 years of age. Of his early training the sketch says: "His duties were to take care of the furnaces, open all cases that arrived at the store, and make himself generally useful. He slept in the store, and it was his duty to be up early in the morning, long before the arrival of the clerks and sweep out the store and have it ready for business by 7 o'clock in the morning. He used to walk two miles for his breakfast because he could not afford to buy car tickets. Next in young Siegrist's daily programme was wheeling the pushcarts about the town to deliver parcels. There were no eight-hour working days then, and Jacob Siegrist worked from before 7 o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock at night. His feet were tired and sore and he grew thin and lantern-jawed, and so he told his father that he did not like the job. It was not a auspicious beginning for a brilliant career. The only sympathy received from his father, and Mr. Siegrist declares it was the best possible tonic any boy can receive, was the admonition, 'Stick to it and you will succeed.' "Jacob Siegrist stuck. It was a hard school, but in it he learned that first great lesson of success in the business world - to take orders and to serve. He learned other things, among them that it pays for the man at the head of the business to be on the job all the time. He learned how a man is best fitted for a certain place and at a certain time, how he gets hammered and molded and ground into shape by his work so that when a place opens he fits. It was not a pleasant, happy or self-satisfying process, but was effective - it made a merchant of Jacob Siegrist. "In 1877, the young man went to Buffalo and started in on the career that has made him famous as a merchant and one of Buffalo's most valued citizens. "When asked what, during his observation, has been the greatest change in merchandising methods in the last 25 years, Mr. Siegrist promptly replied: " 'Advertising. It has been and is today revolutionizing the merchandising methods of the United States.The printed word as the medium for reaching the pockets of the buying public as well as their confidence, is in its infancy. The newspaper and its readers ar ethe new elements in the selling game. " 'It is a wonderful trilogy this - the store, the newspaper page and the reader. It is the beginning of a new science and I am not sanguine enough to attempt the prophecy what its ultimate development will be.' "
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See an example of a full-page Siegrist & Fraley Advertisement in the Buffalo Express, June 1911.
As an employer, Jacob Siegrist appears to have been enlightened. He sponsored an annual Thanksgiving Eve
dinner, with entertainments by the employees. He closed the store on the day of the annual employee
outing, held in 1917 at Olcott Beach. He chartered interurban cars to transport the 500 employees to
the Niagara County resort, entertainment during the trip and later on the grounds furnished by a 12-piece band.
Among the after-lunch entertainments was the traditional baseball game between the competitive William St.
and Broadway store employees.
In 1919, Siegrist purchased insurance policies for all employees, $500 for the employee of 6 months' service,
and increasing annually thereafter. At that time 25% of the employee workforce had been with the
company for 25 years. The company had previously installed lunchrooms, rest rooms, a first-aid room
and eatablished two-week paid vacations. The company also paid employee bonuses.
In March 1920, Siegrist & Fraley sold both stores to W. A. Morgan, who immediately held a sale
advertising 35% to 50% off everything.
He sold both of the stores within the year.
By February 1921, Siegrist re-organized and re-purchased the William St. store with 15 of his previous
associates now having a financial stake in the store. It would be known as J.J. Siegrist & Co. He was 63
years old.
(Kobacker's bought the Broadway store). He advertised that "nintey percent of the original Salesforce
will be
back in their old positions." See the full-page announcement here.
Jacob Siegrist died in 1946; the store closed in 1947.
The William & Emslie Street site of the first Siegrist & Fraley store is now occupied by the Jesse Nash Health Center.
The Broadway site of the second store is now a parking lot across from the Broadway Market.