Willy Cohn was born in 1865 in West Prussia and established himself as a merchant in Halberstadt at the end of the 19th century. He opened the “Bazaar” in Schmiedestrasse No. 31, right next to the Holzmarkt, where there were already several retail stores selling textiles run by Jewish residents of Halberstadt.A few years later, Willy Cohn established the first department store in Halberstadt at this central location. The Hanover architect Rudolf Friederichs designed the contemporary building, which dominated the cityscape. The department store in Halberstdt belonged to a network of several stores, which made it possible to provide a wide variety of goods at reasonable prices. The network included the Cohn department store in Bernburg and Brummer + Benjamin in Halle. The network connected not only business interests, but also families. For example, the Halberstadt management included Louis Neumann, the brother of Willy Cohn’s wife Helene. Louis Neumann’s wife Erna was a member of the Benjamin department store family in Halle.The wide selection of high-quality goods as well as their elaborate, imaginative presentation were considered spectacular, particularly the model train in the toy section. Above all, however, it was the kindness and generosity of Willy Cohn and his wife Helene that people in Halberstadt still remember.