Show Us Your Vintage Hat Store

[BobHufford]

NOS Beaver Brand hat from Elmore's Men and Boy's Wear, Houston, Missouri. Mr. Elmore is 91 and still running the store by himself.

View attachment 200665

An update. After Mr. Elmore's passing and the store closing, it is being "restored" and will become a old-fashioned soda-fountain.

 

[Mighty44]

1920s Stetson Excellent Quality bowler / derby from Maurice L. Rothschild.

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Maurice L. Rothschild was born in 1864 in Nordstetten, Germany. At 14, he left to seek his fortune and made his way to Chicago where he worked in a wholesale clothier at a salary of $8 a week. Suffering from poor health, he was persuaded by his relatives to move west. Determined to establish his own retail venture, he filled a covered wagon with goods and traveled to Kansas. A loan from an uncle helped him establish his first retail store in Seneca, Kansas in 1884. When customers initially failed to materialize, he brought an armful of overcoats to the roof of his store and threw them to people below as a publicity stunt. His store began to thrive, and he opened a second in the nearby town of Sabetha.

While his businesses did well, larger ambitions led him to Minneapolis, where his sister Gusta lived. He sold his Kansas concerns, and in 1887 opened his first Minneapolis store The Palace Clothing House at 43-45 Washington Avenue South, the first retail store in Minneapolis’ downtown to feature electric lights. He soon outgrew the small space and in 1891 moved his operation to a larger space in the Rothwell Building at 315 Nicollet Ave. His business thrived and continued to expand. He added a store in St. Paul in 1893 and another in Chicago in 1904.

In 1905, as the business began to outgrow the Minneapolis location, Rothschild purchased the Warner estate corner at 4th and Nicollet for the princely sum of $287,500. Construction of an eight story “skyscraper” named the Palace Building began soon thereafter and was completed in 1907. As might be expected of a farseeing businessman like Rothschild, the building was constructed with expansion in mind. The footings were strong enough to support an additional eight stories. The Maurice L. Rothschild and Company operated out of the first three floors of the building with the remainder leased to various other businesses. The store continued in operation in the Palace Building past Rothschild’s death in 1941, under the leadership of his widow Hulda. In 1949, the Maurice L. Rothschild and Co. merged with Young-Quinlan Co. and moved to new offices on Nicollet and Ninth Street.

The building had a troubled last decade. The floors formerly occupied by Rothschild’s company were vacant for two years before Northwestern Bell Telephone moved in in 1951. In 1952, it was sold for $500,000 to a New York real estate firm who offered to sell it to Hennepin County four years later for $450,000. The County wasn’t interested, and in 1960, the building was purchased for $520,000 by the Minneapolis Housing and Redevelopment Authority, who immediately condemned it (along with most of the rest of the block) to make way for an open plaza recreational center. No doubt Rothschild would have been proud to hear that the building died hard. The contractor tasked with the demolition was 25 days over schedule saying that “they just don’t make buildings like it any more.” - https://hclib.tumblr.com/post/109700671628/archaeology-of-the-ritz-block-part-iv-a


1890: Ad for the Seneca, Kansas location (thanks @DaveProc for the ad image).

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Circa 1890: The Palace Clothing Company in Minneapolis on Nicollet Avenue.

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Circa 1907: After building the Palace Building next door.

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1939:

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The St. Paul location in the late 1930s:

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St. Paul interior in 1945:

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Chicago location (State and Jackson) circa 1905:

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Additions were done in 1910 and 1931.

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Thank you, Bob. I’ve seen several Rothchild’s hats over the years and wondered about the store, assuming it must have been a big one—Chicago makes sense, as well.

 

[BobHufford]

1940s Royal Stetson from Wade's Clothing House (1872 - 1979) in Walla Walla, Washington.

From a 1969 ad about the store remodeling. At this point the store was at 124 E. Main. Note that it was not named "Wade's" until 1913, but they kept that "Established in 1872" claim.

1917: Main and Third location (this is also 101 W. Main ... which was confusing during my search as I was thinking they were two locations until I found an overlap in advertising as to which address was referenced).

1920s:

Sometime between 1935 and 1942 they moved to 17 W. Main (now 17 E. Main ... see, it gets confusing).

1940s:

1953:

Around 1958 this entire block was remodeled (or returned) to a unifying facade as part of the current Barrett Building.

Then in 1959 they moved to 124 E. Main where they remained until closing in 1979. They either had already moved the vertical neon sign from 17 West to the new location or they had stashed it somewhere.

Both the 17 West and 124 East Main location buildings have survived.

 

[BobHufford]

Unbranded 1950s (or older) Panama from The B & M of Peoria, Illinois.

This store has its roots in Iowa City, IA when Moses Blume (1832 - 1893) opened his "One Price Clothing House" in 1858. He eventually handed it over to his nephew Jacques Bloom and his son-in-law Max Mayer in 1884. Max had worked at a store operated by Leon Mayer in Washington, IA. The partnership of Bloom & Mayer opened other large clothing stores in Hastings, Nebraska and Peoria, Illinois. The Peoria one is the only one I can find that was referred to as The B & M.

Not sure when they were first located at the Adams Street address, but they were there by 1898. The 201 - 203 Adams (at Fulton) location was the Bennett Bros. store before B & M moved in.

1903:

1908:

1910: On the left.

1920:

1940: Detail of a postcard. The B & M on the right.

1940s:

Not sure of the exact date of the store closing, but the building was razed and replaced by a W. T. Grant store in 1954.

 

[BobHufford]

@Blare 's Stetson Select Quality from the Busy Big Store in Ludington, Michigan. Started in 1867, the partners of Rye & Washatka owned the store from 1913 until 1928 when they sold out to Montgomery Ward.

The first retail store of any significance in Ludington was the company store of the James Ludington lumbering interests. This two-story frame building, built in 1867, was located at what is today 102 S. Gaylord Ave. In addition to supplying the many items necessary for survival in this new community, the building also served as a meeting place for school, religious and social activities.

The store was known locally as The Big Store. In 1883 manager Herman N. Morse (1851-1896) created the marketing slogan “Verily, merrily, more and more, it pays to trade at the Busy Big Store,” to compete with new stores being opened in the growing City of Ludington. In 1888, when Morse and lumberman Frederick J. Dowland (1837-1909) hired Thomas P. McMaster (1846-1899) to construct a new two-story brick building near the northeast corner of Ludington Avenue and James Street, that newer, larger store acquired the name The Busy Big Store.

The original store was converted to a broom factory and would eventually fall into disrepair. The Oct. 3, 1915 edition of The Ludington Sunday Morning News noted, “The sign ‘For Sale’ on the old Big Store…and the generally forlorn and forsaken appearance of the building today is in sharp contrast to the memory pictures of the place in the minds of those who knew in the days of Ludington’s beginnings.”

The new building now standing at 103 to 107 E. Ludington Ave., however, was one of the more impressive buildings in the city and was to become the first department store in town. The first floor of this building housed the retail operations that were the successor to the original James Ludington Big Store; selling a wide range of merchandise from 10-cent brooms to shoes to carpets. The second floor of the building was for a while the home to many other businesses including a dentist, an insurance agency and a Dr. Russell who advertised “Special attention to nervous diseases” on his window.

Many prominent Ludington merchants owned and operated the Busy Big Store over the four decades of its operation under that name. This succession of owners grew and transformed the store that had become one of the most prominent retail establishments in Ludington.

The Big Store Mercantile Company was formed in 1892 to purchase the store. This organization whose shareholders included McMaster, Morse, Hannibal S. Fuller, George R. Cartier (1869-1934) and James Schick (1869-1936) greatly expanded the store. A photo of the interior of the store, now in the archives of Mason County Historical Society, was taken on the evening of May 1, 1893 and dramatically illustrates the growth of the store.

The store was sold multiple times over the next decade. In 1895, Nels P. Christensen (1850-1897) purchased the store and operated it for only two years until his early untimely death. The ownership of the store then transferred to the firm of Hans P. Hansen, William A. L. Rath (1849-1916) and Antoine E. Cartier (1836-1910) in 1897. The next year ownership changed again with William Loppenthien, Rath and Warren A. Cartier (1866-1934) now taking over; Warren Cartier being the third member of the prominent Cartier family involved in ownership following his brother George and father Antoine.

In 1901 following the early retirement of Loppenthien who had acted as the store manager, The Busy Big Store was purchased by James A. Rye (1863-1935) and George E. Adams (1866-1951) who operated the store for over a decade until 1913.

Rye formed a new partnership with Frank Washatka (1864-1930) in 1913 and ran the store for the next 15 years as the City of Ludington grew and retailing in the United States was transformed by large regional and national firms. In 1928 that transformation resulted in The Busy Big Store being taken over by Montgomery Ward & Company, a leading national merchandiser.

The Oct. 24, 1928 edition of the Ludington Daily News reported that Ludington’s new Montgomery Ward store would open on Saturday, Oct. 27, 1928. The article noted the basement would hold “auto accessories, tires, hardware, electrical fixtures, house furnishings, paints and sporting goods.” The main floor would house “jewelry, drugs, cosmetics, musical instruments, radios, men’s furnishings and clothing, shoes, piecegoods, domestics, ladies’ lingerie and hosiery.” The second floor would include “…an infants’ department, furniture, stoves, rugs, washing machines and sewing machines.”

While The Busy Big Store and its successor Montgomery Ward & Co. would close in 1980, the memory of that establishment lived on in the community. Mrs. J. W. Stafford recalled the Busy Big Store from her youth with these words offered to a meeting of the Mason County Historical society, “…the Busy Big Store was a glamorous place to enter. To be sent there by our mothers for a small purchase was a great treat and on the days when every child was invited to get free balloons, candy and on the Fourth of July a free bunch of firecrackers. — Well, that was the biggest thing that ever happened.” -- https://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludi...cle_56685be3-fa81-53cc-9efd-9093a419bace.html

1883: From the City Directory

1893:

1900:

1909:

1915: Note the changes to the facade.

c. 1920:

1930s: Now Montgomery Ward.

Nowadays:

 

[Mighty44]

@Blare 's Stetson Select Quality from the Busy Big Store in Ludington, Michigan. Started in 1867, the partners of Rye & Washatka owned the store from 1913 until 1928 when they sold out to Montgomery Ward.

View attachment 529414

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The first retail store of any significance in Ludington was the company store of the James Ludington lumbering interests. This two-story frame building, built in 1867, was located at what is today 102 S. Gaylord Ave. In addition to supplying the many items necessary for survival in this new community, the building also served as a meeting place for school, religious and social activities.

The store was known locally as The Big Store. In 1883 manager Herman N. Morse (1851-1896) created the marketing slogan “Verily, merrily, more and more, it pays to trade at the Busy Big Store,” to compete with new stores being opened in the growing City of Ludington. In 1888, when Morse and lumberman Frederick J. Dowland (1837-1909) hired Thomas P. McMaster (1846-1899) to construct a new two-story brick building near the northeast corner of Ludington Avenue and James Street, that newer, larger store acquired the name The Busy Big Store.

The original store was converted to a broom factory and would eventually fall into disrepair. The Oct. 3, 1915 edition of The Ludington Sunday Morning News noted, “The sign ‘For Sale’ on the old Big Store…and the generally forlorn and forsaken appearance of the building today is in sharp contrast to the memory pictures of the place in the minds of those who knew in the days of Ludington’s beginnings.”

The new building now standing at 103 to 107 E. Ludington Ave., however, was one of the more impressive buildings in the city and was to become the first department store in town. The first floor of this building housed the retail operations that were the successor to the original James Ludington Big Store; selling a wide range of merchandise from 10-cent brooms to shoes to carpets. The second floor of the building was for a while the home to many other businesses including a dentist, an insurance agency and a Dr. Russell who advertised “Special attention to nervous diseases” on his window.

Many prominent Ludington merchants owned and operated the Busy Big Store over the four decades of its operation under that name. This succession of owners grew and transformed the store that had become one of the most prominent retail establishments in Ludington.

The Big Store Mercantile Company was formed in 1892 to purchase the store. This organization whose shareholders included McMaster, Morse, Hannibal S. Fuller, George R. Cartier (1869-1934) and James Schick (1869-1936) greatly expanded the store. A photo of the interior of the store, now in the archives of Mason County Historical Society, was taken on the evening of May 1, 1893 and dramatically illustrates the growth of the store.

The store was sold multiple times over the next decade. In 1895, Nels P. Christensen (1850-1897) purchased the store and operated it for only two years until his early untimely death. The ownership of the store then transferred to the firm of Hans P. Hansen, William A. L. Rath (1849-1916) and Antoine E. Cartier (1836-1910) in 1897. The next year ownership changed again with William Loppenthien, Rath and Warren A. Cartier (1866-1934) now taking over; Warren Cartier being the third member of the prominent Cartier family involved in ownership following his brother George and father Antoine.

In 1901 following the early retirement of Loppenthien who had acted as the store manager, The Busy Big Store was purchased by James A. Rye (1863-1935) and George E. Adams (1866-1951) who operated the store for over a decade until 1913.

Rye formed a new partnership with Frank Washatka (1864-1930) in 1913 and ran the store for the next 15 years as the City of Ludington grew and retailing in the United States was transformed by large regional and national firms. In 1928 that transformation resulted in The Busy Big Store being taken over by Montgomery Ward & Company, a leading national merchandiser.

The Oct. 24, 1928 edition of the Ludington Daily News reported that Ludington’s new Montgomery Ward store would open on Saturday, Oct. 27, 1928. The article noted the basement would hold “auto accessories, tires, hardware, electrical fixtures, house furnishings, paints and sporting goods.” The main floor would house “jewelry, drugs, cosmetics, musical instruments, radios, men’s furnishings and clothing, shoes, piecegoods, domestics, ladies’ lingerie and hosiery.” The second floor would include “…an infants’ department, furniture, stoves, rugs, washing machines and sewing machines.”

While The Busy Big Store and its successor Montgomery Ward & Co. would close in 1980, the memory of that establishment lived on in the community. Mrs. J. W. Stafford recalled the Busy Big Store from her youth with these words offered to a meeting of the Mason County Historical society, “…the Busy Big Store was a glamorous place to enter. To be sent there by our mothers for a small purchase was a great treat and on the days when every child was invited to get free balloons, candy and on the Fourth of July a free bunch of firecrackers. — Well, that was the biggest thing that ever happened.” -- https://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludi...cle_56685be3-fa81-53cc-9efd-9093a419bace.html

1883: From the City Directory

View attachment 529419

1893:

View attachment 529417

1900:

View attachment 529416

1909:

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1915: Note the changes to the facade.

View attachment 529427

c. 1920:

View attachment 529432

1930s: Now Montgomery Ward.

View attachment 529433

Nowadays:

View attachment 529423

Another batch of awesome research!

 

[Blare]

@Blare 's Stetson Select Quality from the Busy Big Store in Ludington, Michigan. Started in 1867, the partners of Rye & Washatka owned the store from 1913 until 1928 when they sold out to Montgomery Ward.

View attachment 529414

View attachment 529415

The first retail store of any significance in Ludington was the company store of the James Ludington lumbering interests. This two-story frame building, built in 1867, was located at what is today 102 S. Gaylord Ave. In addition to supplying the many items necessary for survival in this new community, the building also served as a meeting place for school, religious and social activities.

The store was known locally as The Big Store. In 1883 manager Herman N. Morse (1851-1896) created the marketing slogan “Verily, merrily, more and more, it pays to trade at the Busy Big Store,” to compete with new stores being opened in the growing City of Ludington. In 1888, when Morse and lumberman Frederick J. Dowland (1837-1909) hired Thomas P. McMaster (1846-1899) to construct a new two-story brick building near the northeast corner of Ludington Avenue and James Street, that newer, larger store acquired the name The Busy Big Store.

The original store was converted to a broom factory and would eventually fall into disrepair. The Oct. 3, 1915 edition of The Ludington Sunday Morning News noted, “The sign ‘For Sale’ on the old Big Store…and the generally forlorn and forsaken appearance of the building today is in sharp contrast to the memory pictures of the place in the minds of those who knew in the days of Ludington’s beginnings.”

The new building now standing at 103 to 107 E. Ludington Ave., however, was one of the more impressive buildings in the city and was to become the first department store in town. The first floor of this building housed the retail operations that were the successor to the original James Ludington Big Store; selling a wide range of merchandise from 10-cent brooms to shoes to carpets. The second floor of the building was for a while the home to many other businesses including a dentist, an insurance agency and a Dr. Russell who advertised “Special attention to nervous diseases” on his window.

Many prominent Ludington merchants owned and operated the Busy Big Store over the four decades of its operation under that name. This succession of owners grew and transformed the store that had become one of the most prominent retail establishments in Ludington.

The Big Store Mercantile Company was formed in 1892 to purchase the store. This organization whose shareholders included McMaster, Morse, Hannibal S. Fuller, George R. Cartier (1869-1934) and James Schick (1869-1936) greatly expanded the store. A photo of the interior of the store, now in the archives of Mason County Historical Society, was taken on the evening of May 1, 1893 and dramatically illustrates the growth of the store.

The store was sold multiple times over the next decade. In 1895, Nels P. Christensen (1850-1897) purchased the store and operated it for only two years until his early untimely death. The ownership of the store then transferred to the firm of Hans P. Hansen, William A. L. Rath (1849-1916) and Antoine E. Cartier (1836-1910) in 1897. The next year ownership changed again with William Loppenthien, Rath and Warren A. Cartier (1866-1934) now taking over; Warren Cartier being the third member of the prominent Cartier family involved in ownership following his brother George and father Antoine.

In 1901 following the early retirement of Loppenthien who had acted as the store manager, The Busy Big Store was purchased by James A. Rye (1863-1935) and George E. Adams (1866-1951) who operated the store for over a decade until 1913.

Rye formed a new partnership with Frank Washatka (1864-1930) in 1913 and ran the store for the next 15 years as the City of Ludington grew and retailing in the United States was transformed by large regional and national firms. In 1928 that transformation resulted in The Busy Big Store being taken over by Montgomery Ward & Company, a leading national merchandiser.

The Oct. 24, 1928 edition of the Ludington Daily News reported that Ludington’s new Montgomery Ward store would open on Saturday, Oct. 27, 1928. The article noted the basement would hold “auto accessories, tires, hardware, electrical fixtures, house furnishings, paints and sporting goods.” The main floor would house “jewelry, drugs, cosmetics, musical instruments, radios, men’s furnishings and clothing, shoes, piecegoods, domestics, ladies’ lingerie and hosiery.” The second floor would include “…an infants’ department, furniture, stoves, rugs, washing machines and sewing machines.”

While The Busy Big Store and its successor Montgomery Ward & Co. would close in 1980, the memory of that establishment lived on in the community. Mrs. J. W. Stafford recalled the Busy Big Store from her youth with these words offered to a meeting of the Mason County Historical society, “…the Busy Big Store was a glamorous place to enter. To be sent there by our mothers for a small purchase was a great treat and on the days when every child was invited to get free balloons, candy and on the Fourth of July a free bunch of firecrackers. — Well, that was the biggest thing that ever happened.” -- https://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludi...cle_56685be3-fa81-53cc-9efd-9093a419bace.html

1883: From the City Directory

View attachment 529419

1893:

View attachment 529417

1900:

View attachment 529416

1909:

View attachment 529418

1915: Note the changes to the facade.

View attachment 529427

c. 1920:

View attachment 529432

1930s: Now Montgomery Ward.

View attachment 529433

Nowadays:

View attachment 529423

What great info Bob. Cool history

 

[BobHufford]

Another batch of awesome research!

What great info Bob. Cool history

Thanks guys.

 

[RossRYoung]

Late to the party but thanks as well from me, Bob! I should be back up there on the 4th, I’ll see if I can snag a better shot of the building or maybe some interior details.

 

[BobHufford]

Late to the party but thanks as well from me, Bob! I should be back up there on the 4th, I’ll see if I can snag a better shot of the building or maybe some interior details.

That would be great Ross!

 

[RossRYoung]

Late to the party but thanks as well from me, Bob! I should be back up there on the 4th, I’ll see if I can snag a better shot of the building or maybe some interior details.

Well getting to the upstairs was a bust… but I’m going to email the shop owners and try that way, because the youngsters working the counters of the two businesses just gave me a blank stair when I asked about it. But here’s a couple from today, with a Stetson 100 being donned.

 

[BobHufford]

Well getting to the upstairs was a bust… but I’m going to email the shop owners and try that way, because the youngsters working the counters of the two businesses just gave me a blank stair when I asked about it. But here’s a couple from today, with a Stetson 100 being donned.

View attachment 533016 View attachment 533015

Thanks for the follow-up Ross!

 

[Blare]

Well getting to the upstairs was a bust… but I’m going to email the shop owners and try that way, because the youngsters working the counters of the two businesses just gave me a blank stair when I asked about it. But here’s a couple from today, with a Stetson 100 being donned.

View attachment 533016 View attachment 533015

Cool… thanks Ross

 

[steur]

Picked up this Panizza this week (pictures soon to follow). First time I've seen a hat from a retailer in Curacao. Likely brought along by someone moving from Willemstad to The Netherlands, which happens regularly as the economic prospects are better over here and Curacao is part of the Dutch kingdom. Anyway. The hat was sold by A.M. Prince or El Ideal. Not much I could find out about the shop other that that the owners name was Tony Prince. The shop was however located in the Heerenstraat in Willemstad, which is the main shopping street there. So it can be seen on several postcards and other pictures.
First the hat.

The first picture I was able to find was this one from 1936 in which several of the shops that can be seen in later shots are already there. In the upper right we can see part of a Stetson hat advertising board, so maybe there was already a haberdashery there.

1950's

1940's/1950's (note the Panizza sign)

1960's (beneath the La Moda sign on the left)

1960's (likely) View from the other side.

1980's/1990's

 

[Mighty44]

Picked up this Panizza this week (pictures soon to follow). First time I've seen a hat from a retailer in Curacao. Likely brought along by someone moving from Willemstad to The Netherlands, which happens regularly as the economic prospects are better over here and Curacao is part of the Dutch kingdom. Anyway. The hat was sold by A.M. Prince or El Ideal. Not much I could find out about the shop other that that the owners name was Tony Prince. The shop was however located in the Heerenstraat in Willemstad, which is the main shopping street there. So it can be seen on several postcards and other pictures.
First the hat.

View attachment 534265 View attachment 534264 View attachment 534263

The first picture I was able to find was this one from 1936 in which several of the shops that can be seen in later shots are already there. In the upper right we can see part of a Stetson hat advertising board, so maybe there was already a haberdashery there.

View attachment 534269

1950's
View attachment 534267

1940's/1950's (note the Panizza sign)

View attachment 534273

View attachment 534278

1960's (beneath the La Moda sign on the left)
View attachment 534276

1960's (likely) View from the other side.

View attachment 534272

1980's/1990's
View attachment 534274

Beautiful photos—amazing how little it changed over the decades. And NICE hat!

 

[steur]

Beautiful photos—amazing how little it changed over the decades. And NICE hat!

Thanks, David. I always try to look for the retailers of the hats I buy, but it is rare to find this amount of information (if only visual) about one.

 

[BobHufford]

1940s Dobbs Game Bird from Magee's in Lincoln, Nebraska.

I've not pinned down the beginning and ending dates of Magee's, but it was sometime just prior to 1900 and went to at least 1976. At one point they had four stores in the region.

Part of a 1919 article in "Merchants Record and Show Window" magazine. The hat department is in the background of the interior photo.

1920s:

1930s:

1949:

1967 (during the centennial celebration for Lincoln):

More recently:

 

[BobHufford]

Late 1940s / early 1950s Resistol San Antonio from Krier's Store for Men in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Opened by Ambrose Edward Krier (1910 - 1990) in the 1940s -- I think. It was in three different locations over time.

Originally at 101 East Main Street. This photo from 1957:

1960:

In 1962 they moved to 113 East Main Street. This photo is from 1976:

In 1980 Ambrose sold the store to his daughter and her husband (Kate and Dick Peterson). In 1986 the store moved to 107 East Main.

The Petersons opened another location of Krier's in Winona, Wisconsin in 1992.

I'm not sure about the Winona location, but the Watertown Krier's store was replaced by a pool hall in 1998.

101 East Main nowadays:

The 113 E Main location currently:

And 107 E Main today:

 

[RBH]

METZGERS- Prichard and Mobile Alabama

 

[BobHufford]

Supernatural Milan from Samter's of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Samter's was around from 1872 until the early 1980s.

The history as of 1914:

1880s: 217-219 Lackawanna Avenue (Valley House Block).

1900:

"Samuel's sons Samuel, Benjamin and Isaac razed this building to build a new store in 1923. Samter's continued to expand until it was known as "Scranton's largest apparel store," providing clothing, outerwear, and accessories for men, women and children. At Christmas, the store window displays were designed to rival those in larger department stores in New York, and Santa always took up residence inside the store."

1949: Penn and Lackawanna Avenues

1950s:

The Penn and Lackawanna location closed in 1978 and Samter's had a smaller location in a mall until the early 1980s.

Nowadays: