Julia’s Dress Shop

Type of Business: Women’s Clothing

Years of Operation: 1932 – 1993

Location: 152-160 Laurens St SW, Weeks Building (currently Nandina)

Family: Wolf (Julia, Ida & Anne)

Julia Kamenoff Wolf (1884-1959) opened Julia’s Dress Shop on Laurens St in 1932, after raising seven children. The store sold high end women’s fashions bought each season in New York. The clientele included members of the Winter Colony including the von Stade, Goodyear, Bostwick & Grace families. The store was described as “Park Avenue has come to Aiken”. Word spread and people came to shop there from all over the Southeast, including Atlanta, Charleston & Charlotte . As demand grew the shop expanded twice until it spanned all three retail spaces now occupied by Nandina. Long time Aiken residents still talk about this store and recount being told as children they were not allowed to go inside unless accompanied by a parent and dressed in their Sunday best. After Julia passed away in 1959, management of the store passed to her daughters Ida Wolf & Anne Wolf Berger – who continued to run the store until its’ closing in the early 1990s.