Then, besides cleaning the drapery, they began to sell them wholesale to businesses. Omaha businessmen such as Willy Theisen and Tommy Feldman were two prominent customers. In some cases, Rob Walker said, the Drapery Center would sell drapes for whole apartment buildings with “maybe 30 or 40 apartments in each building.”

Throughout the 1960s, Max I. continued his involvement in the company while Robert Sr. ran operations. They made for an interesting team of sometimes seemingly opposites, according to family and employees. Indeed, one of the few traits that everyone agrees they shared was their penchant for dressing as well as their best-dressed customers.

One small example offered by Lovely: “It was when we were still using paper bags. (Max I.) lived up north, and he always brought (his own clothing) into the 30th and Hamilton store. He’d bring all these bags back, and the hangers and everything, and he’d say, ‘Now you can use these over.’ He was just that way.”

In a time long before it was politically correct to do so, the company founder was green-friendly.

“He was a good Scotsman,” Rob Walker said.

“You would wait one half hour from when Max. I came in before he made it to the top” of the stairs, said longtime office employee Bridget Trout.

“He was like a little doll. He walked like he was waltzing. I’ll never forget that.