Welcome to A Man's World --- Kipp's Cigar Store, downtown Lockport, Circa 1930's. This was the scene at the store's Grand Opening. It was a different era back then and cigar smoking, any smoking, was really big among the male population. And the cigar store was a truly a man's world. Ralph Griffin sends in this picture and commentary as a result of a recent published question about the establishment here at the Lockport Home Page. Owner Harry Kipp (bald man in center) was a friend of Mr. Griffin's parents. You'll want to read the recollections below.
"Harry Kipp was a friend of my late parents and was also a steady companion of my father's aunt, although they never married. In fact, when Harry died in the mid 1950's, "Aunt Francis" inherited the store from him and managed to run it for a year or two before selling it to a Mr. Fry who kept it in business for a number of years after that.
"It was a "cigar store", and sold all types of tobacco products, as well as newspapers, periodicals, candy, etc. Harry had originally emigrated from Canada and opened the store in, I believe, the late 1930's. I was born in 1944, so only remember the store from the 1950's, but it must have been quite profitable as Harry always seemed to be "comfortable" financially, and was always generous to Francis's nephews on birthdays and holidays. Mr. Fry eventually sold out as well, and I think the store remained in business throughout the 1960's, and probably went out of business when "Urban Renewal" claimed most of Lockport's downtown about 1970. The photo that I found in an old family album shows the sales staff behind the counter at what appears to have been the "grand opening" in the 30's." ---Ralph Griffin, Virginia Court, Lkpt. (10/23/00