Department Stores?

[jake_fink]

Here's another reason to hate Wal-Mart, and Budget Rent-a-Car too.

In the mid 90s Walmart bought up all the old Woolworth and Woolco locations and properties in Canada. Some Wal-Mart suit looked at the list of properties and decided to liquidate a few. One of them went to Budget for a song, and budget tore down the building they'd aquired and put up, yes, a parkinglot. Sadly, the building was Woolworth's Canadian corporate headquarters and had been since the 40s. It was a beautiful art deco masterpiece just verging on what became known as the International Style. It still had gorgeous detail inside and out, including the mahogany offices of the board of directors. Now Budget has sold the property at a tremendous profit and it will host Donald Trump's Toronto Ritz, an 80 story travesty in the glass filing cabinet style. Yuk.

 

[Wild Root]

Here's another reason to hate Wal-Mart, and Budget Rent-a-Car too.

In the mid 90s Walmart bought up all the old Woolworth and Woolco locations and properties in Canada. Some Wal-Mart suit looked at the list of properties and decided to liquidate a few. One of them went to Budget for a song, and budget tore down the building they'd aquired and put up, yes, a parkinglot. Sadly, the building was Woolworth's Canadian corporate headquarters and had been sinc ethe 30s. It was a beautiful art dec masterpiece just verging on what became known as the International Style. It still had gorgeous detail inside and out, including the mahogany offices of the board of directors. Now Budget has sold hte property at a tremendous profit and it will host Donald Trump's Toronto Ritz, an 80 story travesty in the glass filing cabinet style. Yuk.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: Oh the humanity!!! Why? Oh WHY?! Now, it’s personal! They’re playing dirty… Them Dirt Mongers!

=WR=

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I think that department stores were at their best when their founders (or at least the folks who were trained by the founders) were still in charge. These people saw the stores as extensions of themselves, and as such their personal reputations (and, dare it say it, honor) were put on the line every day, every salesquarter, every year.

Service was everything ... and yet good treatment of employees was everything, too. Somehow, many of these department stores did an excellent job of serving customers and caring about employees and their families. This is a lost art.


.

 

[Wild Root]

I think that department stores were at their best when their founders (or at least the folks who were trained by the founders) were still in charge. These people saw the stores as extensions of themselves, and as such their personal reputations (and, dare it say it, honor) were put on the line every day, every salesquarter, every year.

Service was everything ... and yet good treatment of employees was everything, too. Somehow, many of these department stores did an excellent job of serving customers and caring about employees and their families. This is a lost art.


.

Yes, it is a lost art... I totaly agree.:eusa_clap

It is sad,

=WR=

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Well, I tried my best when I worked at "The Broadway".

The only thing I did "wrong" was to wear vintage '30s and '40s attire while at work. Strictly speaking, I should have worn clothing from the store itself, to inspire potential customers to do the same ...

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[Atomic Glee]

Wal*Mart...:rage: They be cancer of the earth... yep, cancer that's it! Ask Matt how they're building a new Super Wal*Mart just a block away from his house... it's in a residential area... makes no sense!!!

=WR=

If commercial buildings were still designed in classic, traditional ways, it would be a *good* thing to mix land uses between residential and commercial, as in traditional neighborhoods - human-scaled, two or three story, built to the street with hidden parking and beautiful, warm architecture. The good-old neighborhood store. Slapping a concrete tilt-wall Wal-Mart into a residential area behind a massive ocean of parking is just nasty. At least, that's the way I see it.

 

[jake_fink]

I think that department stores were at their best when their founders (or at least the folks who were trained by the founders) were still in charge. These people saw the stores as extensions of themselves, and as such their personal reputations (and, dare it say it, honor) were put on the line every day, every salesquarter, every year.

Possibly, but the venerable Eatons department stores in Canada were run into the ground by the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of the man, Timothy E., himself. I had the -ahem- pleasure of working for one of his offspring, John, and he was truly one of the worst managers and worst people I've ever met, nevermind worked for. We use to call him FOS, because he had a Face Of Slaps. lol

 

[Wild Root]

Eaton’s!!! I had a light brown double breasted suit from the 40's that had an Eaton's label... I sold it to Dean Mora the band leader... I also have a pocket watch from Eaton's... it's from the 20's or 30's... works perfect!

=WR=

 

[jake_fink]

Eaton’s!!! I had a light brown double breasted suit from the 40's that had an Eaton's label... I sold it to Dean Mora the band leader... I also have a pocket watch from Eaton's... it's from the 20's or 30's... works perfect!

Once upon a time Eatons was the last word in Canadian retail.... and don't even get me started on Simpsons. :eusa_doh:

 

[flat-top]

Boscov's, the store I work for, is the largest family owned department store in the country. Albert Boscov, the son of the founder only just retired this year. He was certainly a hands on kinda guy.His family still runs and operates the company, so there are no apparent changes.
It's a pretty decent place to work...some of our co-workers have been with the company for 40+ years!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Possibly, but the venerable Eatons department stores in Canada were run into the ground by the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of the man, Timothy E., himself.

That's typical. The founders were great; the kids could be awful.


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[Zach R.]

Anyone have any more pics?

 

[jake_fink]

Woolworths in Toronto...

...selling bunting and flags for the visit of George V in (I think) 1935.

 

[DancingSweetie]

Haversack, I remember that Weinstocks in downtown Sacramento. When I was very young (in the 70's) after going to mass at the Cathedral we would go to Weinstocks and eat at the luncheonette they had in the basement. Even then it was still pretty much kept in the old style of department stores. I think now it is one of the government office buildings.

 

[Mojave Jack]

Zach, if it's just ideas you need, why not watch some of the old movies set in department stores? Miracle on 34th Street pops to mind, but I'm sure plenty of other movies feature them. If you need pics, maybe some good screen grabs would work. That might give you more of a dimensional feel to them, too.

 

[Lincsong]

That's typical. The founders were great; the kids could be awful.


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All too often the grandchildren become too "socially conscious" or "embarrassed" by the wealth they've inherited and start running a social program rather than a business.[huh] Those who continue to run it like a business; Wrigley Gum, do fine others who go the other route end up with the "Closed" sign.

 

[Lincsong]

I remember the old Montgomery Ward store in Oakland, CA. It looked just like the one in Ft. Worth. However, Oakland rapidly declined along with Ward's fortunes and the store was closed in the 1970's. I remember going there right before it closed. It was huge. The building sat empty for 20 years, finally being bulldozed for a school. The auto department still stands; A Goodwill Store.

 

[JustJen]

There was a time, at least in the better deparment stores, when a salesperson really had to know his/her stuff, dress with expertise, and have a good understanding of psychology.

Salespeople built up solid reputations and relationships with their customers, based on trust and sometimes spanning decades.

The commission system really helped, and so did profit-sharing. Alas, all of that is long gone.


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Don't fret.....it's alive and well with some of the larger department stores. My husband only goes to one salesman to buy his suits-won't deal with anyone else. And the guy knows his stuff.....

 

[Tomasso]

The second largest department store in the world(Macy's is the largest)

The famous clock.

The man who services the clock

The Walnut Room at Christmastime.

The Atrium ceiling by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

 

[Jack Armstrong]

In San Luis Obispo, Sinsheimers was the main department store. It still had the centralized cashier's office which was connected to several salesclerks' tables by an overhead trolley system. The clerk would write up a sales slip, and put it and your money in the wire basket, pull a cord, and the basket would fly on the overhead cable to the cashier's office. Change would be made there, and it and the receipt would come flying back. Makes a big impression on a 4-year-old boy.

J.C. Penny's used to use that trolley system, too. When I was a young kid in central Pennsylvania during the early Fifties, I was fascinated by that rig of whizzing belts and pulleys.

Our local store scrapped the pulleys in the late Fifties, but when we temporarily moved to Starkville, Mississippi in the early Sixties while my father got his Master's degree from the University, I found that one of the local department stores was still using them. I can't remember any more what store it was -- did Penny's have stores in the South?

I lived in Toronto for a while during the Seventies, and both the Simpson's and Eaton's stores were wonderful time capsules of the golden age of department stores. Then came the Eaton Center (a vast, block-long indoor mall), and the classical Eaton's bit the dust. The Simpson's store was still intact when I left Canada; I'm afraid to ask what it looks like today.