From Sunday's Record:
MILTON PROSNITZ, 90, of Hackensack died Saturday. Before retiring, he owned Prozy's Army-Navy Store, Hackensack. He was an Army veteran of World War II. He was a member of Temple Beth-El, Hackensack. He was a member of the Hackensack Chamber of Commerce and past master of Fulton Friendship Masonic Lodge, Hillsdale. Arrangements: Gutterman-Musicant, Hackensack. Related story:
Seventy-nine-year-old Army-Navy store to close in Hackensack, N.J.The Record (Bergen County, NJ)| December 24, 2004
Hugh R. Morley
Prozys Army-Navy store is being decommissioned.
The legendary workmen's clothing and outdoor goods shop will close early next year after nearly eight decades, the owners said Thursday.
The store's 10,000-square-foot location at 121 Main St. has been sold to a Brooklyn developer, George Butsikaris Realty Inc. The company will renovate the property and try to attract chain store tenants, a company official said.
The Prosnitz family, which founded the store, had been quietly looking for a buyer for several months, said broker Lynn Jantos, who handled the sale.
No closing date has been set. But large hot-pink and lime-green posters plastered on the store's front windows announced a "Huge Sale" on Thursday, with discounts on all merchandise.
"No returns. No exchanges. No refunds. No layaways," a sign on the front door stated. "All sales final."
The sale marks the end of an era for Hackensack's Main Street. In recent years, the business strip has seen high-profile stores such as Woolworth's, Lowits clothing store, and Womrath's bookstore either close for good or depart for elsewhere in Bergen County.
Prozys -- with its extensive array of products, from gas masks and insulated workmen's suits to steel-toed boots and jeans -- is the last remaining sizable anchor store at the southern end of Main Street.
Milton Prosnitz, 88, and his son, Ted, 51, said that although business had been strong lately, the real estate deal was too lucrative to pass up. "It's the old story of being offered a situation you can't refuse," said Milton Prosnitz.
Although the company has been a "multimillion-dollar business for years," the family nevertheless chose not to open another store elsewhere, Ted Prosnitz added.
This year, the company closed its other Prozys store, on Route 46 in Clifton, after the lease on that property expired and the landlord sought to raise the rent, Milton Prosnitz said.
Prozys will continue to sell uniforms from another location, said Ted Prosnitz, who declined to give specifics. Aside from that, he said, he will leave the retail business entirely and focus on training to be a cantor, which he already has started.
The family would not say what will happen to the company's 16 employees, but several said they expect to become jobless.
"It's bittersweet," Ted Prosnitz said, noting that the store had served some families for decades. "My heart brought me here and I get to work with my dad every day. How great can that be? And I work with the customers every day. How great can that be?"
Employees said some customers were extremely emotional when they heard about the impending closure. Ted Prosnitz said one customer yelled at him in anger.
Salesman Bob Scelzo said some customers wept.
"It's too bad," said Ellen McLeish, 81, heading out of Prozys with a bag of woolen long johns and other warm clothes for her son, a mechanic. She said that after shopping at Prozys for 30 years, she will now have to go to Garden State Plaza to buy working clothes for the men in her family.
Neighboring stores said the loss of Prozys would worsen an already difficult business environment. Athough Target opened at the other end of Main Street in 2001, and other stores have come in nearby, the southern end of Main Street still needs a boost, merchants said.
"I don't like the idea of more stores closing," said Randa Malki, co-owner of Expression Jeans, noting that she and Prozys compete on some products. "It's competition, but competition is good. The more stores you have, the more people are interested in coming to this area."
Milton's father, Jules, opened Prozys in 1925, when trolleys rattled up and down the cobblestone Main Street and the thoroughfare was dotted with department stores. Jules Prosnitz began with a $45,000 loan and a determination to offer good-quality workingmen's clothes at value prices.
Over the years, numerous family members have worked in the business -- among them Milton's brothers, Henry and Sanford, and Ted's children, Jared, 21, and Reyna, 19. At one point, the company had six stores, including locations in Elmwood Park, North Arlington, West New York and Lake Success, N.Y.
Milton Prosnitz said that after more than seven decades at the store, he still works six days a week and, until recently, had no desire to give it up.
"This has been like my baby," he said.
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