KANSAS CITY, Mo. — People walking through the heart of the Garment District in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, might notice three Stars of David in the window sill of the Harry J. Epstein Co. hardware store.
Fourth-generation owner Jori Sackin said they represent solidarity with his Jewish community and pride in his family’s long Kansas City roots.
“I grew up in the store, running around, opening boxes,” Sackin said. “It becomes a big part of your life.”
Sackin’s great-grandfather, Harry J. Epstein, opened the hardware shop in 1933. He invested in high-quality tools leftover from America’s aid to the Allied Nations in World War II.
In the present day, the business sells mostly American-made hand tools to tradesmen — iron workers, carpenters and millwrights.
Whether it is tools or legacy, his family knows what makes things last. In fact, many of Kansas City’s bridges and buildings have a little touch of Harry J. Epstein.
“There’s probably like a metric ton of wrenches in the Missouri River that have been dropped fixing bridges,” Sackin said.
Sackin is proud of his Jewish family’s perseverance on the corner of 8th Street and Central Street, which is why he said the recent rise in antisemitism has been disappointing to witness.
“People who you were close to have a very strange reaction to it; bordering either on the celebration of it to justification,” Sackin said.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, Sackin has placed three Stars of David in the window of his shop.
They were salvaged from the ruins of a Kansas City synagogue that was torn down in the 1990s and were a gift to his father from a family friend who used to sell palletized bricks from the demolition of buildings.
“One of the things that a lot of Jews experience is the lack of public support. And so that was just like a very small thing that I could do," Sackin said.
He noted it has opened up conversations among neighbors.
As the family business breaks ground for another 100 years, Sackin hopes the history of his family can be rooted in joy.
“A lot of the Jewish identity, for me, was wrapped up in the tragedies of the Jewish people,” Sackin said. “And so, while that’s important, I think it’s also important to have something that is more just celebratory.”
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