Rabbi Kraft of The Mitzvah Store Talks Business in a Pandemic

For Jewish entrepreneurs such as Rabbi Shimon Kraft, last year’s timing of the onset of the pandemic—three weeks ahead of the heavy-selling holiday of Passover—was a gut punch.

Not that there ever is a good time for a pandemic, but this one especially stung the owner of The Mitzvah Store, Too, known for its huge volume of religious books and all things Jewish.

“We couldn’t keep our front door open since there was a lockdown,” Rabbi Kraft said recently in his Beverly Boulevard store.

“And so we got mostly stuck with last year’s Pesach merchandise. Economically, it was very hard on us. Painful. You invest in a season and you are not able to sell it.”

The good news this year, said the Kansas City-born rabbi who opened the original Mitzvah Store on Pico Boulevard in 1991, is that he has recovered by selling the leftover Passover merchandise this year. Passover 2021 “was pretty normal,” said Kraft.

“Those were tough times last year, through Pesach and the summer. Lean times. By fall, though, with the High Holidays, it already started picking up.”

One sunny dimension to the pandemic, said Rabbi Kraft, was that “people were doing a lot of reading. As things got better, we were selling even more books than before. People bought many sefarim [Jewish religious books], and they were busy doing a lot of mezuzah-checking. When the Plague hits, you know, people start checking their tefillin and mezuzahs, making sure everything is okay.”

Trained as a sofer (one who evaluates the validity of tefillin and mezuzahs among other duties), “I kept very busy doing that during the pandemic.”

Given that some positive things have happened during an otherwise trying time, the question is whether the pandemic can be seen as beneficial in some ways.

“Uhhhhhhh, no,” Rabbi Kraft said, with a laugh. “Not really. It just changed people, how, when and where they shopped. It just shifted things.”

Adaptation was crucial to keeping The Mitzvah Store, Too, breathing through the pandemic. While the lockdown was decidedly damaging, the store went to its customers instead of the reverse. “People would call or email, and we did a lot of special deliveries,” the rabbi said. “I hired young guys to do the deliveries. Just drivers, Jewish guys who needed a job. They were happy to drive.

Adaptation was crucial to keeping The Mitzvah Store, Too, breathing through the pandemic. While the lockdown was decidedly damaging, the store went to its customers instead of the reverse.

“We did hundreds and hundreds of home deliveries, to Pico, to Westwood, to all over. Seforim, Judaica, tzitzis, yarmulkes, whatever people needed.  That was very helpful. Without that, we really would have been in trouble.”

These days the store does weekly deliveries only. “I am not set up to do it any oftener,” said Rabbi Kraft. “Besides, it’s not like it was during the height of the pandemic. People want to get out again and come into stores.”

With Rosh Hashanah beckoning on Labor Day, its earliest arrival in 27 years, Rabbi Kraft is primed for a successful business season.

“We are [back to] normal,” he happily declared. Almost. “There are mask issues. Some people want to wear a mask, some don’t. Enforcing masks is a problem.”

Like a good American, the rabbi tries “to follow the science. The New England Journal of Medicine says stopping Corona with a mask is like stopping mosquitos with a chain-link fence. I am not a big mask fan. Social distancing, though, does a lot of good regarding infectious diseases. Vaccination does a lot, too.”

When asked if Jews’ learning and reading habits have been altered much in the last year and a half, Rabbi Kraft was more tentative.

“Well, they went to Zoom, and they are doing a lot of home learning,” he said. “Shuls are not the same. I daven at Rabbi Bess’s Shul, where we would have a much more robust learning session at nights. That has not come back yet to the full degree. People have gotten used to staying home in the evenings. Eventually, I think it will come back.

“Kiddushes are back. Simchas are back. Pretty much back to normal.”

Regarding the national debate raging over vaccinations, Rabbi Kraft, a father of five, estimates “a good percentage of the frum [observant] community is vaccinated. They are really good about that.

“I think this is because they are very health-conscious. They have a lot of kids. All the kids are vaccinated for everything right and left. So why shouldn’t they be? People aren’t afraid of vaccinations. They aren’t anti-vaxxers.”

The Mitzvah Store, Too, is approaching its 10th anniversary in the La Brea neighborhood after 25 years in Pico-Robertson.

Rabbi Kraft identified the internet as the most impactful business earthquake he has faced in the last three decades. “It really took a bite out of my business for a long time,” he said. “But …

“The ‘but’ is that we are very service-oriented. About people. About the experience. That is the secret.

“People go online when they want a good deal. But they cannot match that store experience. People love coming in here. We love them. We love to be with people. We love explaining. We love taking time with them. And people appreciate it.

“There is no room for businesses like this unless you are service-oriented. Without the service, nobody will come. They will shop online.”

The businessman-rabbi has learned that “the customer rather than stock is your primary concern. Of course, you want to have the right stock, too. Sometimes I feel like a shadchan [matchmaker]. A person comes in looking for a book or the right things for their wedding, whatever they need. I try to put them together. I help them out, try to guide them.”

Rabbi Kraft said that “we do a lot of kiruv [outreach]. We try to inspire and invite people for Shabbos. We invite tons of customers for Shabbos [meals]. And we have a great time.”

The Mitzvah Store, Too, 7227 Beverly Blvd. (323) 930-1081. Hours: Monday through Thursday, 12-6 p.m. Friday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.