Founded in Ulm in 1879, the company moved into a new factory building in Schützenstraße in 1899. The owners of the company were Ludwig Bernheim and his son Max. In August 1900, Ludwig Bernheim's son-in-law Theodor Wolff joined the company as a further partner.

The founder of the department store K. M. Fechheimer & Co. was the merchant Koppel Mayer Fechheimer (1799-1885) from Mitwitz (district of Kronach). His son Samuel Fechheimer (1841-1890) moved the company to Coburg, where it was entered in the commercial register on January 12, 1876. In 1893, the company acquired the property at Spitalstraße 12.

The department store's product range included manufactured and fashion goods, women's and children's clothing and lingerie. As a supplier to the Coburg ducal court, the company enjoyed an excellent reputation in Coburg.

Julius Auspitzer was born in Vienna on November 20, 1853. His parents were Samson Salomon Auspitzer, born on December 3, 1816 in Nikolsburg (M hren) and Jeanette Goldberger de Buda, born on March 24, 1821  in Alt-Ofen, (Hungary). Julius Auspitzer was married to Helene Auspitzer, née Heller, born on June 25, 1863 in Bratislava (Preßburg). Her parents were Moritz Heller, born on June 24, 1836 and Friederike Heller, née Rosenberg, born in 1844.

The Jewish merchant and trained master tailor Simon (called Sally) Lennhoff (1871–1943) was posthumously honored on October 22, 1987. A 32-metre-long pedestrian passageway from Marktstrasse 8 to the parking lot of the Soltau City Service Centre has borne his name ever since - the Sally Lennhoff Walkway.

Sally Lennhoff and his family were victims of National Socialist persecution. His business was destroyed during the Kristallnacht in November 1938. He was later deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where he died on November 26 or 27, 1943 as a result of mistreatment.

The Jewish cattle farmer Simon Aron (1839-1926) worked for 43 years as an elected honorary overseer of the poor and district leader for the town of Soltau. He was also a co-founder of the Soltau Liedertafel in 1887. He bequeathed his estate to the town for the preservation and maintenance of the Jewish cemetery on Böningweg. This was significant, as cemeteries belonging to Jewish communities were historically often endangered. In 1936, the funds left behind, which were to be used for specific purposes, were confiscated by the then mayor Willy Klapproth.

From 1883, Jacob Waitzfelder (1844–1903), a merchant from Mönchsdeggingen, ran a leather business together with Sigmund Oettinger under the name „Jacob Waitzfelder & Cie.“. Prior to this, Waitzfelder had already been running a leather business at the same location for twelve years. In 1903, Jacob Waitzfelder's son Bernhard (born in Augsburg in 1875) joined the company as a partner. After Jacob Waitzfelder s death in the same year, his widow Deborah, née Oettinger, (1854–1927) also became a partner.

Since the 1980s, local politicians in Soltau have been grappling with questions of an appropriate and historically responsible culture of remembrance of the Shoah.