Department Stores?

[magneto]

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.
...
.

In England isn't there one still-existing Victorian-era department store that still does this?... (googles) Jackson's in Reading? Any UK Loungers know of this store?

 

[FedoraGent]

In England isn't there one still-existing Victorian-era department store that still does this?... (googles) Jackson's in Reading? Any UK Loungers know of this store?

Harrod's uses it if memory serves right (I remember standing in queue for FC with a friend's son and seeing it.). But if memory serves also, there was one shop by Kings Cross that did too. It will come to me.

Jon

 

[imoldfashioned]

Some photos and a ramble...

There's a nice series of photos of some of the Mpls department stores here: http://www.lileks.com/mpls/donald/index.html and a few more photos here: http://www.mplib.org/history/bi3.asp (including one captioned "Customers line up to purchase the first nylon stockings available for sale after the Second World War, October 1945").

This topic made me wax nostalgic for old downtown Minneapolis. When I was growning up in the 70s and 80s we didn't have a car, so I didn't go to a mall until I was in my late teens. A trip on the city bus downtown was a big deal, and in that way I feel akin to folks who are a generation or two older than I am.

Dayton's, Donaldson's and Powers department stores were all within a block or two of each other and still had remnants of old fashioned charm--crystal chandeliers, wooden display cases, those vacuum tubes that the clerks used to send messages between floors.

If it was the middle of the month my mother and I would go to the cheap cafeteria in Woolworth's and my mother would buy fabric and patterns for my dresses there after the meal. But for special occasions--after sitting on Santa's lap and looking at the decorated windows at Christmas, after going to the doll show at Dayton's (they had the most marvelous doll department--mirrored wooden cabinets full of Madame Alexanders), or a particularly bad dentist appointment in the deco Medical Arts Building--it was Dayton's Oak Room, the Nankin Cafe or Peter's Grill. All three restaurants dated from the 1920s or 1930s and Peter's had a killer deco neon sign.

I had my first job in the bakery in the basement of Dayton's, bought my first hat in the hat department of Donaldson's and wrapped packages over Christmas vacation for extra money at Powers. I met Gloria Swanson during her book tour in the book department of Dayton's, and when I was growing up the epitome of glamour meant buying a dress from Oval Room at that store.

Now Powers and Donaldson's are gone and Dayton's has been renamed. The Nankin Cafe and Peter's Grill have both closed (see brief film clip on Peter's at www.wcco.com type "Peter's Grill" in the search box). Sigh. I miss my proper department stores and downtowns!

 

[magneto]

Harrod's uses it if memory serves right (I remember standing in queue for FC with a friend's son and seeing it.). But if memory serves also, there was one shop by Kings Cross that did too. It will come to me.

Jon

Hi Jon! Wow, I did more searching and found a site listing all UK stores operating these so-called "cash railways" past and present, might interest our English cousins:
http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/locationsES.htm
(the starred listings seem to be the still-active ones)
~Ellie

 

[FedoraGent]

Hi Jon! Wow, I did more searching and found a site listing all UK stores operating these so-called "cash railways" past and present, might interest our English cousins:
http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/locationsES.htm
(the starred listings seem to be the still-active ones)
~Ellie

Not bad Ellie. Not bad. The other one I remembered was in Sussex and it's on your list. I was thinking Googling it too.

Grins,

Jon

 

[Big Man]

I don't know if this is exactly in line with the original question of this thread, but I believe it may be interesting nevertheless.

This photo was taken at the new Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Marion, N.C. sometime between 1929 and 1931. The Piggly Wiggly was (and still is) a "chain store" that began (I believe) in 1919.

On the back of the photo it says "Succeeded 'Conley and Brown' in 1929". One of my great uncles, Elijah S. Brown (second from the right in the photo) and a Mr. Conley owned and operated a grocery store for some time prior to being bought out or sold out to the Piggly Wiggly.

 

[Sweet Leilani]

Wanamaker's in Philadelphia still has a lot of it's old-fashioned charm (even though it's now a Lord & Taylor and their future is uncertain ). They still operate a restaurant on the mezzanine and have the world's largest pipe organ, with daily concerts (the organist is a full-time employee). At Christmastime, they have a light show, which originated in the 40s or 50s. The light show diminishes every year, though- L&T claims that "parts break and can't be fixed".

Here are a couple of shots from http://www.robbender.com/gallery/wanamakers?page=2 (To see the photos full size, go to the site.)

 

[Matt Deckard]

You can use the link above to go see the photos, though do not repost the photos on the Lounge... they don't carry well... they leave obcene images in their place.

 

[Sweet Leilani]

Thanks- when I previewed the shots they looked fine....

 

[Atomic Glee]

Well, our newly redeveloped old Montgomery Ward store from the '20s is getting loft condos now to finish out its redevelopment:

"One Montgomery Plaza will have 240 condos ranging from about 1,000 square feet to 4,600 square feet. Marquis will offer 17 floor plans for one to three bedrooms.

Condo prices will begin in the low $200,000s and go to around $700,000, depending on the size and location.

The higher-priced units will be on the upper floors, with the most expensive and largest units on floors seven and eight. The better views will cost more as well.

Parking will be on the second and third floors, and in the basement of the east tower. Each unit will have two parking spaces. The parking garages are connected by a pedestrian bridge and bridge that cars can traverse between buildings.

Nearly $23 million has already gone into renovations, but "considerably more" will be spent on the building, Maya said.

The renovations have included the addition of ramps to the parking areas, and the buildings have been completely outfitted with energy-efficient windows, roofs, and heating, air-conditioning, electrical and plumbing systems.

All this means a new era for the building, which has been a Fort Worth landmark for generations.

At One Montgomery Plaza, most of the condos have 12-foot-high ceilings, but on floors seven and eight, the units will have 16-foot ceilings, and some will have skylights. Every unit has a bank of the large windows that dominate the building's exterior and with interiors designed so that sunlight penetrates, Maya said.

Other amenities will include rooftop dining and swimming pool, and a movie room and fitness area above the second-story parking garage in the northwest corner.

"People are going to think they've walked into Shangri-La," Maya said.

The units will have roomy kitchens, spalike bathrooms and closets, he said.

"We wanted to make these residences a comfortable place," he said."

Teaser site now online - the opening Flash animation has some cool shots of the building's construction back in the '20s:

http://www.montgomeryplaza.com/

Wouldn't it be nifty to live in a late '20s department store?

 

[John in Covina]

I'm sure it'd be fun! Did you know that in the music section of most department stores, they'd have a piano player on hand to play music for customers? =WR=

In the Santa Anita Mall, Nordstroms still has a piano player there sometimes, but no music department.

Played "Don't get around much anymore" for me a couple of years ago.

 

[Barry]

My post is somewhat off topic but this thread makes me wish I had some pictures of my grandparent's old clothing store. Now, it wasn't a big department store but they sold men's clothing and then later on women's clothing. They had a credit system - you put money down on your clothes and then made monthly payments (layaway?). She had little punch cards. I even had my own card - I would run it through the machine when I went to visit her. Aside from getting to visit with my grandmother, that was one of the highlights of my trips to visit her at the store.

It was mostly frequented by African American men. It was a real working man's store that sold "church clothes" and business suits. I'll bet the suits were pretty snazzy in the 1940s. In the 1970s?

It closed in the 1980's. What I wouldn't do to have some of the old fixtures in that store. All I have is one momento and I am fortunate to have that. I have some great memories of that store.

Back in the day there was a "nip joint" next door. The craziest thing is if you type in "nip joint" in Google her town comes up as the first hit. Maybe that was a local name for that type of establishment. Anyway, every so often a "nip joint" patron would be put through the front display window!

Nip Joints:

Nip joints, also known as shot houses, are unlicensed establishments (usually private residences) where alcoholic beverages are sold by the drink for both on-and off-premise consumption. Beverages of all types are sold, including illegally produced moonshine. These establishments range from very small, one-person operations to large, restaurant-style operations complete with bar stools, kitchens and entertainment. The person in charge of the operation is usually referred to as the House Man or House Lady.

Barry

 

[Rafter]

It seems that every major mall in every major city has a Macy*s!
What happened to all the great regional department stores?

Whenever I traveled to different cities across this country I would visit the local department stores. These stores no longer exist. So who's the culprit?
Macy*s and it's parent company, Federated Department Stores.

It all started in 1988 and came to a screeching halt in the fall of 2006.
Do you have any fond memories of these defunct regional shopping venues?

Here are the local victims.....
1)Bullock's based in Los Angeles, California, with stores in Arizona and Nevada.
2)The more upscale Bullocks Wilshire in parts of Southern California with it's art deco flagship store at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
3)I. Magnin a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona,
Oregon, and Washington.
4)Abraham & Straus (or A&S), a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn, New York.
5)Jordan Marsh a Boston-based department store.
6)Woodward & Lothrop an iconic department store chain headquartered in Washington, DC. Woodies, as it was often nicknamed, maintained stores in the Mid-Atlantic United States.
7)Wanamaker's department store, the first department store in Philadelphia.
8)The Broadway a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles.
9)The Emporium a mid-to-high end department store chain headquartered in San Francisco, California.
10)Weinstock's a Sacramento-based department store chain.,
11)Stern's a regional department store chain serving the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
12)Liberty House, headquartered in Honolulu, a department and specialty store chain with locations throughout the Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Oregon and Washington.
13)Davison's a legendary Atlanta shopping institution.
14)Rich's the other major department store retail chain, headquartered in Atlanta.
15)Burdines a leading department store chain in Florida.
16)Goldsmith's a department store founded in Memphis.
17)Lazarus a regional department store retail chain primarily in the U.S. Midwest, based in Columbus, Ohio.
18)The Bon Marché, roughly translated as "the good market", a department store launched in Seattle.
19)Famous-Barr, St. Louis, Missouri.
20)Filene's a Boston-based chain.
21)Foley’s a chain of department stores headquartered in Houston.
22)Hecht's a large chain of department stores located mainly in the mid-Atlantic.
23)The Jones Store Company a chain of department stores located in the Kansas City.
24)Kaufmann's a department store that originated in Pittsburgh.
25)L.S. Ayres & Company an Indianapolis department store.
26)Meier & Frank a Portland, Oregon based department store.
27)Robinsons-May a chain of department stores operating in Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas with headquarters in North Hollywood.
28)Strawbridge's (formerly Strawbridge & Clothier) a department store found in the northeastern United States with stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
29)Marshall Field's the iconic Chicago, department store whose
flagship store was on State Street in The Loop of downtown Chicago.

All these historic regional stores are gone and have been replaced with the Macy*s or the more upscale Bloomingdale's name.

 

[Tomasso]

So who's the culprit?

Walmart, KMart, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Filene's Basement, The Mills Corp, etc, etc, etc.........The Discounters.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Losing Filenes and Jordan Marsh was painful for we New Englanders -- but I think what hurt even more was losing the old-line *local* department stores. When I was a little girl, the big deal was to go to Freese's in downtown Bangor, the biggest store in Eastern Maine -- six floors patrolled by floorwalkers, elevators with uniformed attendants, a lunch counter, a beauty shop, and the best toy department ever. It was a grand old place, but even then, in the '60s, it was dying a slow death due to the arrival of Zayre's and the Mammoth Mart -- discount stores operating in the newly-built "shopping centers" outside town. It finally went out of business in the mid-70s, and shopping's never been the same.

Here in Rockland, we kept our local downtown store longer than most -- Senter-Crane's, with four floors of merchandise and a hand-operated cage elevator, stayed in business until the mid-1990s. The shopping centers and malls eventually killed it off, just like they did all the others.

 

[RetroMom]

When I was a kid, there was a store in Trumbull Ct., called Reads. I assume it was a chain, but what I remember most was the ladies room was called the "Ladies Lounge" and actually had a very pretty area where those who literally "shopped till they dropped" could relax in comfy chairs amidst soft music. I also remember a very nice restaurant in the store.

Sadly everything has given way to malls with food courts

 

[Rafter]

Steeped in the glamour of another era's rich and famous, the Bullocks Wilshire building is a masterly crafted 1929 Art Deco treasure that occupies a special place in Los Angeles history. Designed by Los Angeles architects John and Donald Parkinson, the building is noted for its 241-foot (73 m) tower whose top is sheathed in copper, tarnished green.

In its heyday, Bullocks Wilshire patrons included Mae West, John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable. While struggling to become an actress, Angela Lansbury worked here as a clerk and it was at the store's Custom Salon that Irene Lentz began designing costumes for stars to wear that led to a career in costume design with MGM.

The Bullocks Wilshire building, had a penthouse Tea Room that regularly drew the Hollywood elite as well as residents of the wealthy surrounding communities of Hancock Park, Windsor Square and Fremont Place. This gilded clientele helped the store survive the Great Depression, which began a month after its opening.

The Wilshire Boulevard store closed in 1993 with legal battles ensuing as Macy's stripped the store of its historic artifacts, furnishings and fixtures.
In 1994, the building was acquired by Southwestern Law School - its long-time neighbor. The school restored the building to it original 1929 state.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I was just in Philadelphia the other day admiring the old Strawbridge & Clothier building on Market Street. It was gorgeous. I loved the HUGE "1928" cornerstone and wish I had had my camera to take pics. I imagined a busy store with shoes in the windows and flappers in stylish cloche hats walking out all excited about their purchases. The reality was much more depressing.

Next to it is another gorgeous former department store called Lit Brothers. This one is much older -- I couldn't find a cornerstone, but I read on the Internet that it was built in 1899 and then expanded to the ginormous size it is today in 1918. Famous for their huge hat selection and free hat trimming, "Hats Trimmed While You Wait" was engraved several times on the corners of the building. I was in awe.

 

[Rafter]

When I was a kid, there was a store in Trumbull Ct., called Reads. I assume it was a chain, but what I remember most was the ladies room was called the "Ladies Lounge" and actually had a very pretty area where those who literally "shopped till they dropped" could relax in comfy chairs amidst soft music. I also remember a very nice restaurant in the store.
Sadly everything has given way to malls with food courts

Read's Department Stores was the name of a Bridgeport, Connecticut-based retail chain founded in 1856 by D.M. Read. Known for its classy, upscale merchandise, it was once hailed as New England's largest department store. Its flagship store at Broad and John Streets in downtown Bridgeport had over 100,000 square feet of selling area on five floors.

RetroMom, The former Read's Trumbull location that you remember was abandoned in 2006, when Macy's relocated into the former Filene's store in the Westfield Trumbull Shopping Center.

 

[Rafter]

I was just in Philadelphia the other day admiring the old Strawbridge & Clothier building on Market Street. It was gorgeous. I loved the HUGE "1928" cornerstone and wish I had had my camera to take pics. I imagined a busy store with shoes in the windows and flappers in stylish cloche hats walking out all excited about their purchases. The reality was much more depressing.

Next to it is another gorgeous former department store called Lit Brothers. This one is much older -- I couldn't find a cornerstone, but I read on the Internet that it was built in 1899 and then expanded to the ginormous size it is today in 1918. Famous for their huge hat selection and free hat trimming, "Hats Trimmed While You Wait" was engraved several times on the corners of the building. I was in awe.

Here's a postcard showing the "Strawbridge & Clothier" building on Market Street in it's earlier years.

As for the historic "Lit Brothers Department Store", it was restored and converted into a retail center on three levels and a massive banking operations center for Mellon Bank on the upper levels. The structure was vacant for 10 years so it had to be stabilized, a new basement-level retail space was created by lowering the floor three feet, and the entire project had to be coordinated with the rehabilitation of a subway station that connected at the basement level.
Total cost for the renovations, $95 million!