SEMINOLE â Worn out sofas â and their owners â throughout town may be grieving after the proprietors of one of Seminoleâs longest-running upholstery shops closed after nearly 50 years in business.
When brothers John and Jim Schramek opened Seminole Upholstery while still in their 20s, they had already served long apprenticeships in the trade. Their father, Joseph, got into the business in the late 1930s and made sure his eight children helped out.
âWe all grew up in it as soon as we could push a broom,â recalls John Schramek. While attending Dixie Hollins High School, he delivered furniture for his dad and âtore things apart.â After graduation, he went to work with brother David, who had an upholstery shop on 49th Street in St. Petersburg. He worked there until 1972, when he noticed an upholstery business was for sale. The late owner had run it for about 25 years, and John and Jim bought it from the widow. Four years later, in 1976, they purc