Michael F. Rizzo, Sample Shop .................... Hertel Avenue - Table of Contents
History of the Sample Shop
1645 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, New York
Photo courtesy of Buffalo Stories
1990 ... Photo courtesy of Buffalo Stories and the Buffalo News archives
1974 ... Buffalo News archives
Anne Bunis started the Sample Shop in the front parlor of her Hertel Avenue home in 1929. Soon after, her husband, Louis, had the idea to have “living mannequins” in the front window. What had been static displays had become fashion shows for passersby on Hertel.
That one house grew into a string of five houses within a decade. In 1947, the houses were torn down and the long familiar Sample store was built.
The 11-store chain dwindled to three, and those remaining Sample stores were ordered closed by a bankruptcy judge in 1990.
In 1993, the flagship store on Hertel Avenue was razed to make room for a senior apartment complex.
- Steve Cichon, Torn-Down Tuesday: The Sample's Flagship Store on Hertel Avenue. The Buffalo News, July 5, 2016 (online October 2018)
October 2018 photo
October 2018 photo
October 2018 photo