Earl Apfelbaum opened his first stamp store on the Tuesday after Labor Day in 1930. Earl had been a part time dealer, and when his first business, in the clothing trade, failed at the beginning of the Great Depression, he and his father Maurice pooled their resources, their philatelic inventory, and their knowledge and opened a 250 square foot retail store at a first floor location on 9th St. in Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market area. At first, Earl had his stamp albums which customers perused and picked out what they needed