Marker is in Detroit, Michigan, in Wayne County. A significant historical year for this entry is 1893. In addition, it is included in the Michigan - Historical Society of Michigan series list. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. Founded in 1893, for more than 100 years of continuous operation in service to the people of Michigan and for contributing to the economic growth and vitality of our state.Įrected by Historical Society of Michigan. This plaque is issued by the Historical Society of Michigan in recognition of Henry the Hatter. Founded in 1893, for more than 100 years of continuous operation in service to the people of Michigan and for contributing to the economic growth and vitality of our state. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Henry the Hatter. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Detroit.Ĭopyright © 2009 NPR. This time around, that's far from certain. Through it all, there was always an auto industry everyone knew would recover. GONYEA: In more than a century, Henry the Hatter has survived a depression and successive recessions. You have to be paying attention to what's going on here because what happens to the auto companies happens to everybody in Detroit. You sound like you're using the same language as the car companies. WASSERMAN: And we'll be leaner and meaner, and you know, we won't be asking the White House for any bailout money. GONYEA: Meanwhile, Wasserman says he has held on to a core group of loyal customers like Bridgeport, but he has had to close one of his three area stores. MACK BRIDGEPORT (Retired Auto Worker, Detroit, Michigan): I don't want them to mess with my retirement. He says he's hoping the car companies get the help from the government they are asking for. GONYEA: One of those customers is 60-year-old Mack Bridgeport(ph), a retired assembly line worker at Chrysler. These are live customers, I'm happy to say. GONYEA: And we're standing here in the store, and we can hear activity around us. WASSERMAN: Yet every day, I get up and come to work, and I have to proceed like life is more or less normal. It is one of the few remaining businesses on a nearly desolate downtown street in an economy Wasserman calls the worst he's seen. And I recall wondering then, 16 years ago, how the place managed to survive, and I wonder the same thing now. The photo was from the store's 100th anniversary, which I covered way back when I was NPR's Detroit bureau. GONYEA: I remember that jacket, look at that hair. WASSERMAN: He's around, he's - and there you are. When I walked into the shop, I realized I'd been there before, and Wasserman had the proof in an old photo album. His late father, Seymour, owned the store before him. PAUL WASSERMAN (Owner, President, Henry the Hatter): Henry the Hatter is an exclusive men's hat store that's been in business since 1893, which would make it 116 years and counting. Paul Wasserman is the owner and president. Vintage red neon spells out the name in script: Henry the Hatter. And those troubles ripple far beyond the factory floor, as NPR's Don Gonyea discovered during a visit to one Motown institution last week.ĭON GONYEA: The storefront is at 1307 Broadway in downtown Detroit, on a block in the shadow of General Motors' world headquarters. What sets this town apart from its metropolitan counterparts, of course, is the troubles of the auto industry. We learned just a few days ago that the jobless rate there hit 22 percent. It's Detroit, which has the worst unemployment rate of any big city in the country. A tip of the hat now to a city struggling to survive. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
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