Meier returned to Ellerstadt (in today's Rhineland-Palatinate) after his father died, leaving Mariholtz to run the business. During his extended stay in Ellerstadt, Meier married a local woman, Jeanette Hirsch (1843–1925), and returned with her to Portland. Meanwhile, back in Portland the dry goods store had collapsed financially, bringing the partnership to an end. Aaron Meier started a new store with his $14,000 inheritance, in larger quarters of , at 136 Front Street. He hired Emil Frank (1845–1898) in 1870 and Emil's younger brother Sigmund Frank (1850–1910) in 1872. A year later, Emil Frank became Meier's partner, and the store became known as "Meier & Frank". In 1878, the great Portland fire destroyed 20 downtown blocks, including the store, which was immediately rebuilt. Sigmund Frank became a partner in the store in 1884, and a year later married Aaron's only daughter, Fannie Meier (1865–1930). In 1885, Meier & Frank built its own two-story masonry building, , on Taylor Street between 1st and 2nd. Two years later the store held the first "Friday Surprise" sale on April 29. In 1888, Emil Frank left the partnership after years of simmering management differences, and Sigmund Frank became Meier's sole partner just before Meier died in 1889. The name of the store thus remained "Meier & Frank". Sigmund became the president and Aaron Meier's widow, Jeannette Hirsch Meier, ran the store behind the scenes, having brought several half-brothers and nephews from Bavaria to work in the store. In the great flood of 1894, the street level of Meier & Frank was three feet deep in water. Customers were brought into the store in rowboats and stepped onto raised walkways to do their shopping. Meier & Frank emerged as "One of America’s Great Stores" as it moved uptown into its elegant five-story building, , on 5th Street (now 5th Avenue) between Alder and Morrison in 1898. The building had two elevators and many mechanical innovations new to the Pacific Coast. The opening of the building marked the transition from the old "country store" type of operation to a modern department store. The "new look" represented of floor space, 68 times more than when Aaron Meier began 40 years earlier. Meier & Frank pioneered the concept of a "money-back guarantee", until then unheard-of in merchandising. Early 1900s Ten years later, the store erected an adjacent annex of , ten stories above the street, with two basements,