Frishman's, Ancestor of Bra Smyth, Closes

Frishman's, a purveyor of "intimate ladie's apparel" on White Plains Road in the Bronx, has gone under. The shop was locked tight as a drug this past weekend with signs saying "Everything Must Go" and "Last Two Days" in the window.

The sprawling store was founded in 1932 by Sol Frischman (he left the "c" out of the store's official name, for simplicity's sake, I guess). The place was a local retail anchor for many years. Sol's daughter, Sandi Simon, took up where her pop left off. But the store's lasting legacy lies in the third generation daughter, Becky, who started the chain Bra Smyth, which has stores on Madison Avenue, Broadway and in California and New Jersey. Sister Diana runs the Madison Avenue shop.

It's a sad loss for this stretch of White Plains, which is almost entirely dominated by chain stores at this point.