Joseph Caplan
Joe’s Variety Shop

32 Witherspoon Street
Closed in the 1930s

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Smalley’s Stagecoach sits in front of Joe’s Variety Shop on Witherspoon Street. Historical Society of Princeton.

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Advertisement, Joe’s Variety Shop on Witherspoon Street. Princeton Directory, 1927

In 1912, Joseph and Ruth Caplan opened a clothing store on Witherspoon Street. Like many other Jewish businesses in town, the family’s in-laws, Joseph and Stella, lived in the second-floor apartment. The business evolved into a second-hand clothing store, and into a clothing-variety store, carrying notions (sewing tools), hats, and caps by 1926. The Variety Shop closed its doors during the Great Depression.