Norwood Clothing Business To Close After Nearly 50 Years

NORWOOD, MA - A Norwood children's clothing store will be shutting its doors after nearly a half-century of providing school and scout uniforms and formal children's clothing to three generations of area residents.

Brenner's Children's Shop, located at 694 Washington St., has been a community mainstay for the past 49 years and is one of the few long-time businesses that was able to weather the pandemic and remain successful.

What is equally important is the impact the store's owners - Aron and Martha Greenfield - have made on the fabric of the community. Aron, who will turn 96 this week, is a survivor of nine concentration camps during World War II. He was spared from death at Auschwitz because he lied about his age.

Aron, a native of Poland who is Jewish, described his early life of being discriminated against as one of only seven Jewish students in a Polish Catholic school class of about 65 students. His father had been a soldier in World War I during the Austria-Hungary empire and also was a store owner.

As he recounted his life, Aron wove a tapestry of different incidents of violence and hatred because of his religion, beginning in his childhood and later when he was shot as a salesman in Boston. Rather than hardening his spirit, he said his experiences fueled him to tell his story to educate younger generations. He went to St. Catherine of Siena School last month to inspire students there.

Although Aron was a stellar student in Jewish school and learned to speak four languages at an early age, he was bullied by his Catholic peers, eventually dropping out of school after the fifth grade.

"I would make sure I sat near the door so I could run home," he said. "I ran for my life because they would beat me up. The whole class knew I didn't believe in Jesus."

In 1939, the Germans invaded his town. At age 15, his mother told him to lie about his age to avoid going to Auschwitz.

"She told me to say I was 16," he explained. "I was told to step to the right, which meant that I wouldn't be exterminated. I would have been put in the ovens, as they say."

Aron eventually was transferred to nine concentration camps by the war's end, first being used as a laborer to haul bricks up a ladder to build a gymnasium and later to shovel fertilizer.

"I would come back to the work camp, and my skin would be black," he explained. "I also had to load powder into the bullets. I was never given a mask, although the Germans had them."

His surviving sister had saved letters from family members, which were written in code. His other seven siblings and his parents were killed before the war ended. His brothers were killed the day before liberation day.

Aron said he developed survival skills that would later lead to him being a successful businessman.

"I would trade my bread for a cigarette," he explained. "And then I would sell it to some idiot for twice what it was worth."

After the war, Aron moved to Mattapan, which at that time was primarily a Jewish community. He graduated from high school at night, began working in a meat company folding cardboard boxes for $2,000 a year, and saved his money. He learned to speak English from a Black man who was studying to be an actor.

"He would ask me to read lines with him, and he would correct the way I said things," he said.

Aron also had a side hustle of selling watches as a peddler. A friend who worked at a watch company sold them to him at the wholesale rate. But this work nearly cost him his life.

"I was shot in the stomach," he said as he showed the bullet scar. "It was near Ruggles. A group of men attacked me and took my car."

His bad luck forever changed when he met his future wife, Martha, at a dance at a Polish club in Dorchester.

"I didn't know it was a set-up," he said with a smile. "But I have to say that I am a very good dancer."

He stopped selling jewelry and went into business selling dresses door to door, purchasing them 12 at a time from the father of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

"He was selling them for $3.99 but would charge me the wholesale price of $2 because he said I was a nice kid," Aron said. "Then I would sell them for $2.99."

The Greenfields moved to Norwood. A friend told Aron about Brenner's being sold in 1973, and he thought he could go into the clothing business because of his growing customer base.

"I waited until after Christmas when Brenner was trying to get rid of the stuff," he explained. "So I told him I would give him $200 for the store and whatever was left. It was a deal."

Since that time, the Grenfields have sold everything from scout uniforms and badges to school uniforms to formal children's wear. Aron divulged the secret to his success for the last 49 years.

"She's the boss," he joked. "She keeps me in line."

He and his wife plan to retire to Maryland to spend time with their daughter's family and three grandchildren.

George Usevich, the former principal of Norwood High School for 25 years and a lifelong Norwood resident, stopped by the store to wish the Greenfields well, one of many customers who paid their respects over the past few days.

"I just wanted to thank them for being part of the Norwood fabric for all these years," he explained. "He's very inspiring, and we're going to miss him."

Aron said he enjoys sharing his story, particularly with children, so that they will learn not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

"I was talking to the kids at St. Catherine's last month," Aron said, noting how much he enjoys sharing his story with young people. "I had to keep looking around to make sure that they were old enough to understand what I was talking about."

"There is so much to his story," said teacher Christine Falcone, who invited him to speak to her class last month. "It's just heartbreaking, and the parallels to Ukraine are heartbreaking. Some of the kids in my class went to visit him at the store to thank him."

"He really lived his childhood through the customers' little kids," Martha said. "He never had that experience."

The Greenfields will be selling the rest of their inventory over the next couple of months before they close the store's doors and this chapter of their lives.