History
Sloan's Antiques opened at 729 William St in Buffalo's East Side in 1955. After outgrowing the small store Sloan's moved across the street into the old Wolff 's Furniture Store building. The store boasts 3 floors of "a little bit of everything!" Come in and check it out!!!
Sol Ber (Shoal Bear) Shlomovitz lived in Romania with his wife and two small children when he was taken to a work camp for the Soviet Union. It was while he was gone that this portrait was taken. Soon after he returned to his family, Hitler's armies reached Romania and they were forced out of their home and to a ghetto and then to Auschwitz where his children were ripped from his arms and taken to be murdered. The screams of them yelling "Daddy, Daddy!!" haunting him to his dying day.
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Sol was moved to several different camps including Dachau and even camps in France where he recalled being able to hear the Allied bombs going off nearby while in a cattle car. He survived by his wits, often telling the story of when he told the Nazis that he was a mechanic (which he wasn't), and when he did not know how to do the work- he told the SS guard that the Germans were more advanced and he did not know this complicated machinery. The guards then taught him how to do the work.
Gertrude Solomon grew up in Cluj Romania. She had just gotten married when the Nazis came and destroyed her world. She had a large family and almost all were murdered. She was at Auschwitz with her sister-in-law who saved her life. Gertrude was so sick with typhus that she almost didn't survive. She was on a death march when she was liberated by the Soviet Union and taken to a hospital. Her sister-in-law did not survive.
After the war, Gertrude and Sol were in the same DP camp (displaced persons camp) and when Gertrude saw Sol, she mistook him for someone else, but Sol remembered Gertrude from Cluj as he had his horse in a stall near her home. They were married and returned to Cluj to see if any of their family survived. They found people living in their homes and the residents yelling at them to leave. "You're not wanted here", Gertrude recalls hearing from people who were her neighbors. They visiting the local photographer who was able to get them family portraits that had been taken there. They left Romania and returned to a dp camp in Germany. It was at the DP camp that their children were born and Sol worked as a police officer as well as selling black market goods.
Sol and Gertrude were sponsored by an aunt and uncle living in Buffalo to come to the United States. Upon arrival in the United States, the person taking their information did not know how to spell Shlomovitz, and their last name became Sloan. They travelled by ship and then train and arrived in Buffalo with two small children and nothing else.
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Sol found a job working at a slaughter house, but he faced a lot of discrimination. As soon as he had saved enough money to buy a truck he quit the job and with his entrepreneurial spirit- ventured off on his own picking up junk and peddling. As soon as they were able to Sol and Gertrude purchased the building at 729 William St. They had a home behind the store, and tenants in the apartment above. The store began as a junk store and had several transformations over the years. Sporting Goods, Antiques and Modern Furniture. After outgrowing the small store at 729, when the large four story building across the street came up for sale, Sol Sloan purchased it. The old Wolff's furniture store quickly became filled with all sorts of antiques and home goods.
Since 1976, Sloan's Antiques has been run by Sol and Gertrude's son Max. Though the neighborhood has changed since 1955, Sloan's Antiques is a stalwart part of Buffalo's East side.
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We welcome you to visit and view the treasures collected over 60 years of being in business. Max and Liz Sloan and their children, Jessica and Josh are there to guide you to what you are looking for. Or browse at the art and antiques and discover treasures untold. There are architectural salvage pieces, antiques- big and small including Victorian, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Mid Century Modern and more designs, lighting, and a host of interesting things that are perfect for you or your next production on stage or screen.
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Wishing you happy antiquing ,
The Sloan Family
Sloan's in the news- 1984
