Stapler's Fabrics, which began on a pushcart, was already a well established business.  Like most of the fabric stores, it was family run, with every member of the family participating.

"The entire family, including all the sisters, were in the business.  There were eight all together, and the whole life revolved around that store.  They lived up above.  My father would say he lived on the roof!  But they ate and slept and drank there.  Everything was done in that store... [My mother] met my father [there].  Her mother took her there to have her clothes made, and that's how they met."
Susan Stapler
 

Because merchants lived above their stores, they often kept long hours.

"We stood open seven days a week, even till eleven, twelve o'clock at night.  We never went to sleep."
Viola Adler