A cigar smoking fur trader stands outside a butcher shop in the late 1890s. He is carrying some sort of animal or pelt. Could it be a coyote? Fox? Dog?
In a second photo the same man is standing on the far right.
It’s hard to see but there is a “Swifts New England Pressed Ham” sign hanging from the ceiling. I have adjusted the contrast here to make it more legible.
The earliest mention I found of “Swift’s Pressed Ham” was an advertisement from 1895. Included here is also an ad from 1907. As far as I can tell Swift’s was sold throughout the 20th century and might still exist today, at least in name, as Swift Meats.
In a closeup of the second photo you can see various cuts of meat on the counter. A scale stands on the far right. There are six men and two women. One of the women is the same as the one in the doorway of the first photo.
Between the hair, clothing, and type of photo mount used, Sherlock Cohn, The Photo Genealogist dates this photo somewhere between 1897 and 1905, most likely right at the turn of the century. There is some very faint, but as of yet unintelligible, writing on the back.
CHECK OUT THE GROWING GALLERY OF OLD-TIMEY STORES!
A mystery photo identified (perhaps incorrectly) as Isaac Benson Chapman (1888-1952) of Columbus, Ohio some time in the very early 1900s.