When George Raffkind's grandfather came to Amarillo, he couldn't speak English. Three generations later, the Raffkind name rings synonymous with Amarillo retailing. Today, George Raffkind runs the store with sister Glenna Raffkind. Both were trained to run the family stores in Amarillo, through college classes - and with on-the-job, customer-centered guidance from their late father, Morris Raffkind.

Grandfather Eli Raffkind immigrated from Russia and opened the first store on Fourth Avenue. During the early years, the business was known as the "The Monogram" store. From Fourth Avenue, Eli Raffkind moved his store to Taylor Street across from the Potter County Courthouse, then to the 400 block of Polk Street and from there to Fifth and Polk. With hard work and long hours, Eli Raffkind built the business.

George Raffkind's father, Morris Raffkind, took over the business after serving in the Marine Corps during World War II. Traditionally the Raffkind's carried men's clothing, however, the store started carrying ladies shoes and purses in 1985. Now the store is carrying ladies sportswear as well.

In the early 1950s, Raffkind's catered to the Amarillo Air Force Base. The store gave airmen credit. All you had to have was your I.D. card, and you could get a charge account in the store. Western Plaza opened in 1968 and Raffkind’s opened a store there, it proved to be a good move, the business prospered. In 1982 the store opened at Westgate Mall. By then, the downtown store had closed as had many other retailers.

As Amarillo's economy improved in the late 1980s, Raffkind's was positioned to continue to grow with the community it had called home since 1910. Since 1985, the store has not had a year where there has been a decrease in sales. In November 1994, Raffkind’s opened another location in Wolflin on Georgia Street, and closed the Western Plaza store. The Westgate Mall store closed at the end of 2002 and Raffkinds moved into a brand new store in Wolflin Village that opened in March 2003.