In 1867, Samuel Aronson opened a new shop at the corner of Bleeker Street and Seventh Avenue, in the heart of the bustling shopping district of Greenwich Village. He stocked his store with window glass, picture frames, and floor cloths, and the business quickly prospered. Sam resisted offers to launch a department store on 14th Street: no one, he believed, would shop that far uptown. But in 1904, he was forced to make his first move: Seventh Avenue was torn apart for the new subway, and Aronson’s was pushed east to Sixth Avenue. The move helped Sam to focus his business. In its new location, Aronson’s no longer peddled glass and picture frames: instead, Sam concentrated on the finest and most innovative floorings and window coverings of the day.

After Sam’s death, his son Dave took the helm at Aronson’s. Under his direction, the company greatly expanded its residential and commercial installations. Aronson’s put linoleum in tenement halls and stairways to help landlords comply with new fireproofing laws. During the Depression, Aronson’s put linoleum and window shades in rental apartments, bringing a little ease and privacy to the lives of ordinary people, as real estate companies sought out stable tenants. In 1933, Sol Cohen and Anne Levine, longtime [?] employees of the company, bought Aronson’s and incorporated it. The company, always in step with history, grew from strength to strength: even in the dark days of World War II, Aronson’s thrived, installing blackout shades and linoleum flooring for defense industries and offices. In fact, the company outgrew its space: Aronson’s finally broke Sam Aronson’s geographical boundary, opening a branch way uptown on 14th Street for commercial accounts.

In 1959, Aronson’s was pared down once again: Sol and Anne shifted the entire business to the 14th Street store, and they got out of the window shade business, deciding instead to focus solely on resilient floorcoverings and carpeting. It was a well-timed move. The art of covering floors was being transformed by the sweeping technological changes of the period. Synthetics in a range of colors, styles and textures appeared on the market; vinyl tiles and rotogravure sheet floors revolutionized commercial flooring; machine-made fibers and a new tufting process transformed carpeting from a high-end luxury to an affordable necessity. Aronson’s brought the latest and the best to the New York market, introducing a range of new products, from studded tile and self-stick tile to no-wax floors.

In 1965, Paul Swedlow, an industry veteran, bought Aronson’s from Sol and Anne. He steered the company towards a new, modern specialization in custom vinyl floors and design patterns for the cutting-edge New York market, at the same time expanding and enhancing Aronson’s broad range of more basic products. In 1975, he moved the company to new, larger quarters on 17th Street. In 1975, Paul’s wife, Soni, joined the Aronson’s team; and in 2000, Paul and Soni’s daughters, Laura and Carol, bought the company from their parents. Under their direction, Sol Aronson’s family business has become a destination retailer for design professionals in search of top-of-the-line, cutting-edge materials and expertise.