-
The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.
Show Us Your Vintage Hat Store
- Thread starter BobHufford
- Start date
quikrick
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,097
- Location
- Bay Area, California
Dad joke right there!
- Messages
- 11,713
GHT
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 9,793
- Location
- New Forest
You were probably in the right "frame" of mind.I mean I was quite pleased with myself
Rmccamey
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,862
- Location
- Central Texas
About | City of Snook
Snook was originally an all-Czech settlement, roots that can still be seen in our present culture.
www.cityofsnook.com
We have a whole community of Snooks here in Texas
GHT
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 9,793
- Location
- New Forest
That's amazing Randy, great story though. That Snooks hat shop that I posted is in Dorchester and just outside of that town is a delightful small hamlet with just about the most unfortunate name imaginable.
The name, derived from Old English, dates back over a 1000 years, it means ‘farmstead on the stream used as an open sewer.'
The name, derived from Old English, dates back over a 1000 years, it means ‘farmstead on the stream used as an open sewer.'
Rmccamey
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,862
- Location
- Central Texas
Ouch! That would not play well here and would certainly be the butt of every joke (pun intended)!
Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is. This place is about 20 miles south of me. The company has since moved and the sign is down but there are still lots of pictures on the internet. It used to be quite common as a tourist photo op and was often used as a marker stop for car and motorcycle rally's.
Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is. This place is about 20 miles south of me. The company has since moved and the sign is down but there are still lots of pictures on the internet. It used to be quite common as a tourist photo op and was often used as a marker stop for car and motorcycle rally's.
GHT
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 9,793
- Location
- New Forest
Perhaps they have invested in that revolutionary new tractor. It's said to run on cow dung.
But I think it's bullsh*t!
- Messages
- 14,827
1950s Dobbs Fifteen from Lukeman Clothing Co. in Jacksonville, Illinois.
The store opened in 1910 and closed in 1995.
1920s:
1940s: (fifth building on the left)
1947: (on the far right)
1971: (for the Bluffs, Illinois centennial)
1999:
Nowadays: (the building has been replaced or shortened significantly)
The store opened in 1910 and closed in 1995.
1920s:
1940s: (fifth building on the left)
1947: (on the far right)
1971: (for the Bluffs, Illinois centennial)
1999:
Nowadays: (the building has been replaced or shortened significantly)
- Messages
- 14,827
Stetson 3X LD from Mac Nab's in Ukiah, California.
2015: Mac Nab’s Menswear, located in the sweet center of downtown Ukiah, has been around for 75 years now. That’s a long time in retail.
In the case of Mac Nab’s the roots stretch back even further and deeper. It was once called the Toggery, a name bound to ring a bell with locals because anyone who has been around the block (literally) knows the Toggery name remains on exterior walls (north-facing and east-facing) in the 200 block of North State. The faded paint remains, along with advice that Honest Tea is the Best Policy, and encouragement to go ahead and enjoy yourself a nice White Owl cigar.
It was located next to the Forest Club, which explains the black-and-white tile that still reads “Mac Nab’s” in the old store entryway.
Even today you can talk with old timers who remember the Toggery’s narrow, cramped building with sawdust floors and old potbellied, as “cozy” and filled with memories.
Memories? The Toggery was the go-to shopping destination for Christmas shopping by “professional” ladies wishing to bestow favored clients with, inevitably, a necktie as a holiday gift. Store employees thus enjoyed those gifts all year long as they smirked and rolled their eyes when lawyers, doctors and bankers were spotted around town wearing distinctive neckties that could have come only from the Toggery, and only from a select few buyers.
Mac Nab’s first tailor (he doubled as a salesman) was Mort Eilers, a name that sounds even older than 75 years. Mort worked with John Hambly MacNab in the original shop.
At the time, the 1940s were morphing into the 1950s, which is when Mac Nab’s was the sole local outlet for Levi jeans and other Levi products. Those jeans sold big back then and even today 501 shrink-to-fits remain among the store’s best sellers.
Then came the 1960s, when high schoolers like Sandy Mac Nab and younger brother Bill started working in their dad’s clothing store. Sandy said it wasn’t exactly his dream come true, but it beat most other options.
“What I always wanted when I was a kid was to be a race car driver,” he said. “In elementary school we had to write down what we wanted to be when we grew up and I put down ‘stock car driver.” The problem was I needed money to buy a car and I didn’t want to work at a gas station.”
Hello, Mac Nab’s Menswear.
Sandy said he started out stocking shelves and trying to make himself useful. One day his dad told him to go out on the floor and do sales work. “But what do I do?” Sandy asked. He remembers being anxious about the assignment.
His dad told him to greet the customers, ask them if there was anything he could help them find, and assist with whatever it was they were looking for. In short, find out what they want and help get them get it.
Pretty basic salesmanship, right? But at Mac Nab’s personal service has always been emphasized, although occasionally the simple concept gets stretched.
Take the time a youngster came into the store and spotted Kris Kristofferson, the famous folk singing rock star, standing near the counter. The starry-eyed kid followed Kris all around the shop, pestering him with questions. Ultimately Kristofferson, who actually bore an even more striking resemblance to MacNab sales clerk Gerry de Treville, gave the little guy an autograph. If asked, Gerry probably would have sung “Me and Bobby McGee” for him. Yes indeed, it’s all about keeping the customer satisfied at Mac Nab’s.
Bill Mac Nab (younger brother of Sandy) joined the store in the 1970s following his college days in Chico. He’s the organization’s buyer, bookkeeper, brains and brawn, say colleagues. Bill gets the “problem” customers, perhaps because of his charming and persuasive manner, or perhaps because of his bear-like physique.
Meanwhile the years continued to roll. It takes some time to run up 75 of them.
Robert MacDougall, who as a kid grew up next door to the Mac Nab family on Cresta Drive, was working in the woods as a logger back in the 1980s. Looking for a little extra cash, Robert hired on to work a Mac Nab’s Summer Sidewalk Sale. The following Christmas season he worked a few weeks at the shop to earn extra holiday cash. Impressed, store owner John Mac Nab offered him a full-time job.
Robert thought long and hard about the joys and rewards of setting chokers, running chainsaws, and staggering up and down timber-strewn mountains around Comptche. After much soul-searching and misgivings, he made his decision, and he’s been standing next to the big brass cash register ever since. Now, deep into his fourth decade at the store, Robert remains the rookie in the Mac Nab lineup.
The store, at 111 North State Street, stands directly across from the courthouse, in a building that is more than a hundred years old (the red brick south wall collapsed in the ’06 earthquake, if that’s any indication of vintage). It doesn’t have sawdust floors and there’s no old stove to warm the winter days, but “cozy” still sounds about right in describing the somewhat cramped and decidedly old-school store. Back then folks said Mac Nab’s enveloped patrons in the comforting smell of leather and pipe tobacco.
Today it’s less evocative of leather and pipe tobacco aromas from yesteryear, but it retains the feel of a bygone era. Racks and stacks of men’s clothing line the walls and crowd the aisles. The cash register is a huge brassy metal contraption built in 1904, fully functional and in use six days a week. It weighs more than your car’s engine; to move it three feet would take three people, a handtruck and maybe a permit from the city.
But the lure of Mac Nab’s is in the clothing. It isn’t the place to look if you are in the market for haphazard piles of cheap t-shirts, white socks wrapped in packs of a dozen, or plaid “shorts” that terminate six inches from the floor. It doesn’t stock much in the way of gangsta-style apparel. No bling.
Not that they’ve never made a mistake in predicting fashions: Mac Nab’s was among the shops in the ‘70s where discerning gentlemen could purchase a leisure suit (powder blue, lime green and turquoise were among the popular flavors) just like Billy Carter wore. You had to hurry to get one though, because after about a year Mac Nab’s discontinued them. At least they never stocked disco outfits or platform shoes.
And who knows what clothing trends will erupt in the future? MacNab’s will no doubt take a measured approach and hesitate before jumping on a rolling bandwagon.
Pondering the future, Sandy Mac Nab said it won’t be easy. He, Bill, Robert and everyone else knows the city of Ukiah continues to make life difficult for small businesses when it invites big box stores to town. The retail field ain’t level, but the small shops are forced to compete against the megastores as if it is.
MacNab’s has had a proud run in getting to 75 years. How does it look, long-term?
“We’re just hoping to make it to 76,” said Sandy.
https://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/2015/06/05/mac-nabs-at-75/
The Toggery circa 1920: (ignore the arrow)
Toggery building sign nowadays. The Mac Nab's 84th year.
Mac Nab's in the 1950s -- the 111 N. State location (on the right near the Florsheim sign).
A closer look:
2015: Bill and Sandy Mac Nab.
2018: The Toggery building location (200 block of N. State) entrance tiles.
2021:
2015: Mac Nab’s Menswear, located in the sweet center of downtown Ukiah, has been around for 75 years now. That’s a long time in retail.
In the case of Mac Nab’s the roots stretch back even further and deeper. It was once called the Toggery, a name bound to ring a bell with locals because anyone who has been around the block (literally) knows the Toggery name remains on exterior walls (north-facing and east-facing) in the 200 block of North State. The faded paint remains, along with advice that Honest Tea is the Best Policy, and encouragement to go ahead and enjoy yourself a nice White Owl cigar.
It was located next to the Forest Club, which explains the black-and-white tile that still reads “Mac Nab’s” in the old store entryway.
Even today you can talk with old timers who remember the Toggery’s narrow, cramped building with sawdust floors and old potbellied, as “cozy” and filled with memories.
Memories? The Toggery was the go-to shopping destination for Christmas shopping by “professional” ladies wishing to bestow favored clients with, inevitably, a necktie as a holiday gift. Store employees thus enjoyed those gifts all year long as they smirked and rolled their eyes when lawyers, doctors and bankers were spotted around town wearing distinctive neckties that could have come only from the Toggery, and only from a select few buyers.
Mac Nab’s first tailor (he doubled as a salesman) was Mort Eilers, a name that sounds even older than 75 years. Mort worked with John Hambly MacNab in the original shop.
At the time, the 1940s were morphing into the 1950s, which is when Mac Nab’s was the sole local outlet for Levi jeans and other Levi products. Those jeans sold big back then and even today 501 shrink-to-fits remain among the store’s best sellers.
Then came the 1960s, when high schoolers like Sandy Mac Nab and younger brother Bill started working in their dad’s clothing store. Sandy said it wasn’t exactly his dream come true, but it beat most other options.
“What I always wanted when I was a kid was to be a race car driver,” he said. “In elementary school we had to write down what we wanted to be when we grew up and I put down ‘stock car driver.” The problem was I needed money to buy a car and I didn’t want to work at a gas station.”
Hello, Mac Nab’s Menswear.
Sandy said he started out stocking shelves and trying to make himself useful. One day his dad told him to go out on the floor and do sales work. “But what do I do?” Sandy asked. He remembers being anxious about the assignment.
His dad told him to greet the customers, ask them if there was anything he could help them find, and assist with whatever it was they were looking for. In short, find out what they want and help get them get it.
Pretty basic salesmanship, right? But at Mac Nab’s personal service has always been emphasized, although occasionally the simple concept gets stretched.
Take the time a youngster came into the store and spotted Kris Kristofferson, the famous folk singing rock star, standing near the counter. The starry-eyed kid followed Kris all around the shop, pestering him with questions. Ultimately Kristofferson, who actually bore an even more striking resemblance to MacNab sales clerk Gerry de Treville, gave the little guy an autograph. If asked, Gerry probably would have sung “Me and Bobby McGee” for him. Yes indeed, it’s all about keeping the customer satisfied at Mac Nab’s.
Bill Mac Nab (younger brother of Sandy) joined the store in the 1970s following his college days in Chico. He’s the organization’s buyer, bookkeeper, brains and brawn, say colleagues. Bill gets the “problem” customers, perhaps because of his charming and persuasive manner, or perhaps because of his bear-like physique.
Meanwhile the years continued to roll. It takes some time to run up 75 of them.
Robert MacDougall, who as a kid grew up next door to the Mac Nab family on Cresta Drive, was working in the woods as a logger back in the 1980s. Looking for a little extra cash, Robert hired on to work a Mac Nab’s Summer Sidewalk Sale. The following Christmas season he worked a few weeks at the shop to earn extra holiday cash. Impressed, store owner John Mac Nab offered him a full-time job.
Robert thought long and hard about the joys and rewards of setting chokers, running chainsaws, and staggering up and down timber-strewn mountains around Comptche. After much soul-searching and misgivings, he made his decision, and he’s been standing next to the big brass cash register ever since. Now, deep into his fourth decade at the store, Robert remains the rookie in the Mac Nab lineup.
The store, at 111 North State Street, stands directly across from the courthouse, in a building that is more than a hundred years old (the red brick south wall collapsed in the ’06 earthquake, if that’s any indication of vintage). It doesn’t have sawdust floors and there’s no old stove to warm the winter days, but “cozy” still sounds about right in describing the somewhat cramped and decidedly old-school store. Back then folks said Mac Nab’s enveloped patrons in the comforting smell of leather and pipe tobacco.
Today it’s less evocative of leather and pipe tobacco aromas from yesteryear, but it retains the feel of a bygone era. Racks and stacks of men’s clothing line the walls and crowd the aisles. The cash register is a huge brassy metal contraption built in 1904, fully functional and in use six days a week. It weighs more than your car’s engine; to move it three feet would take three people, a handtruck and maybe a permit from the city.
But the lure of Mac Nab’s is in the clothing. It isn’t the place to look if you are in the market for haphazard piles of cheap t-shirts, white socks wrapped in packs of a dozen, or plaid “shorts” that terminate six inches from the floor. It doesn’t stock much in the way of gangsta-style apparel. No bling.
Not that they’ve never made a mistake in predicting fashions: Mac Nab’s was among the shops in the ‘70s where discerning gentlemen could purchase a leisure suit (powder blue, lime green and turquoise were among the popular flavors) just like Billy Carter wore. You had to hurry to get one though, because after about a year Mac Nab’s discontinued them. At least they never stocked disco outfits or platform shoes.
And who knows what clothing trends will erupt in the future? MacNab’s will no doubt take a measured approach and hesitate before jumping on a rolling bandwagon.
Pondering the future, Sandy Mac Nab said it won’t be easy. He, Bill, Robert and everyone else knows the city of Ukiah continues to make life difficult for small businesses when it invites big box stores to town. The retail field ain’t level, but the small shops are forced to compete against the megastores as if it is.
MacNab’s has had a proud run in getting to 75 years. How does it look, long-term?
“We’re just hoping to make it to 76,” said Sandy.
https://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/2015/06/05/mac-nabs-at-75/
The Toggery circa 1920: (ignore the arrow)
Toggery building sign nowadays. The Mac Nab's 84th year.
Mac Nab's in the 1950s -- the 111 N. State location (on the right near the Florsheim sign).
A closer look:
2015: Bill and Sandy Mac Nab.
2018: The Toggery building location (200 block of N. State) entrance tiles.
2021:
- Messages
- 14,827
The Mallory Ten from Markman's Department Store in New London, Wisconsin.
Some of these are harder than others to research. From what I gather Markman's started in 1952 so this hat could be from the first couple of years for this store.
Markman's could have an earlier history, but I cannot locate any info on it.
In 1952 Markman's moved into the former location of Vandree's Dry Goods at 225 W. North Water St (a building built in 1893) and Vandree's moved to 207 W. North Water St.
This is the only photo I can find of Markman's. This is the 225 location in the early 1960s.
In 1994 the Wolf River Theatrical Troupe purchased the building at 225 and Markman's moved to 207 W. North Water St. -- again replacing what was then called Vandree's Department Store.
The 225 location was demolished in 2015.
Photos of the 207 location (built in 1881) seem to have a gap of over 100 years -- at least in my searches. This is the building that Vandree's moved into in 1952 after remodeling the store front from three units to one. It had been a single store front in the past as well. This photo is from 1910 - 1918 (the years that Archibald and Zillmer occupied the building).
This photo (with the building on the right) is from the same era. Hart, Schaffner & Marx Clothing incorporated in 1911.
Gary Markman sold the 207 location to Jeff and Kelly Rickert in January of 2014. I'm not sure if Markman's as a business ended that year or if it may have been earlier.
The building is still standing.
Some of these are harder than others to research. From what I gather Markman's started in 1952 so this hat could be from the first couple of years for this store.
Markman's could have an earlier history, but I cannot locate any info on it.
In 1952 Markman's moved into the former location of Vandree's Dry Goods at 225 W. North Water St (a building built in 1893) and Vandree's moved to 207 W. North Water St.
This is the only photo I can find of Markman's. This is the 225 location in the early 1960s.
In 1994 the Wolf River Theatrical Troupe purchased the building at 225 and Markman's moved to 207 W. North Water St. -- again replacing what was then called Vandree's Department Store.
The 225 location was demolished in 2015.
Photos of the 207 location (built in 1881) seem to have a gap of over 100 years -- at least in my searches. This is the building that Vandree's moved into in 1952 after remodeling the store front from three units to one. It had been a single store front in the past as well. This photo is from 1910 - 1918 (the years that Archibald and Zillmer occupied the building).
This photo (with the building on the right) is from the same era. Hart, Schaffner & Marx Clothing incorporated in 1911.
Gary Markman sold the 207 location to Jeff and Kelly Rickert in January of 2014. I'm not sure if Markman's as a business ended that year or if it may have been earlier.
The building is still standing.
DiamondJimLA
New in Town
- Messages
- 40
- Location
- SoCal
I intended to put this in the thread with general vintage photos but couldn't find it, but this still seems appropriate as it is a hat store! This is the original location of a local SoCal chain of restaurants, famous for their hot pastrami sandwiches (which they may claim they invented). Pic from 1951, this location is still there (I've eaten there, although yesterday I had lunch at another location).
I see one guy wearing a hat, but more importantly, the restaurant is called "The Hat". Recommended!
I see one guy wearing a hat, but more importantly, the restaurant is called "The Hat". Recommended!
- Messages
- 14,827
1920s Stetson Select Quality from The Hirschheimer Bros. Co. in Canton, Ohio.
1874 - 1928
Louis and Isaac Hirschheimer arrived in Canton, Ohio from Germany in 1867 and soon started a business that would remain at the same location from 1874 until 1928. Isaac passed in June of 1926 and Louis in January of 1927. Isaac's son Milton was president of the company at the end of the run.
The address was changed in 1896 with a renumbering starting at 100 (going from No. 8 - 10, to No. 106 to 110).
1878:
1907
1910s: To the right of the bank.
1915: (on left with the flag)
The font used on the sweatband was used in advertising from mid-1915 (after a fire and total remodelling) until mid-1922.
1922:
1927
1928. Sold to Walkers.
The location is an empty lot now.
1874 - 1928
Louis and Isaac Hirschheimer arrived in Canton, Ohio from Germany in 1867 and soon started a business that would remain at the same location from 1874 until 1928. Isaac passed in June of 1926 and Louis in January of 1927. Isaac's son Milton was president of the company at the end of the run.
The address was changed in 1896 with a renumbering starting at 100 (going from No. 8 - 10, to No. 106 to 110).
1878:
1907
1910s: To the right of the bank.
1915: (on left with the flag)
The font used on the sweatband was used in advertising from mid-1915 (after a fire and total remodelling) until mid-1922.
1922:
1927
1928. Sold to Walkers.
The location is an empty lot now.
Mighty44
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,008
Thank you again, Bob! As always, such enjoyable research and images. Almost always leaves me wishing there could be some way to revitalize downtown areas across the country and preserve the old architecture but those days are gone. More hat stores?
Cheers,
David
Featured products
-
Alden 403 Moc Toe Boot - Brown Chromexcel - $680 The classic "Indy" style Alden Boot in the classic Horween brown Chromexcel. -
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - #395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. -
Himel Bros. - The Ross Mk. 1 Leather Jacket Classic D-pocket motorcycle/aviator style jacket.
- Messages
- 14,827
Thank you again, Bob! As always, such enjoyable research and images. Almost always leaves me wishing there could be some way to revitalize downtown areas across the country and preserve the old architecture but those days are gone. More hat stores?
Cheers,
David
Thanks David! I wish there was a hat store in every downtown — or anywhere in town.
M Hatman
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,545
YES.....YES...there used to be (and renovators too).
And even in Chicago, they are no more...........
- Messages
- 14,827
1940s Royal Stetson DeLuxe from Joe Lynch in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
From FindAGrave.com:
When Joe Lynch opened a men's clothing store in Milwaukee in 1925, the entire city knew it.
The dapper Irishman ran a full page teaser campaign in The Milwaukee Journal for four successive days prior to the store's grand opening.
The progressive headlines read:
"Who's Joe Lynch.",
"What's Joe Lynch",
"Where's Joe Lynch", and
"Here's Joe Lynch!!!"
Known for introducing the Hart Schaffner & Marx label to Milwaukee, Lynch maintained high fashion men's clothing stores for 38 years at various locations on Wisconsin Avenue.
Residence: 5122 W. Washington Blvd, Milwaukee
Joe and his brother, Wilbur, owned Lynch Brothers men's clothing store in Milwaukee.
1940: (right edge of the photo)
1941:
1945: (VE Day)
Color!
Nowadays:
From FindAGrave.com:
When Joe Lynch opened a men's clothing store in Milwaukee in 1925, the entire city knew it.
The dapper Irishman ran a full page teaser campaign in The Milwaukee Journal for four successive days prior to the store's grand opening.
The progressive headlines read:
"Who's Joe Lynch.",
"What's Joe Lynch",
"Where's Joe Lynch", and
"Here's Joe Lynch!!!"
Known for introducing the Hart Schaffner & Marx label to Milwaukee, Lynch maintained high fashion men's clothing stores for 38 years at various locations on Wisconsin Avenue.
Residence: 5122 W. Washington Blvd, Milwaukee
Joe and his brother, Wilbur, owned Lynch Brothers men's clothing store in Milwaukee.
1940: (right edge of the photo)
1941:
1945: (VE Day)
Color!
Nowadays:
Last edited:
CRH
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,272
- Location
- West Branch, IA
Felted edge Dobbs. The Keto Kitchen is the old Bremers place. I went to Bremers to buy a nice shirt after I got hired to tend bar at George's Buffet back in the 80s. Likely be taking some pictures at George's. Lol
Attachments
Last edited:
CRH
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,272
- Location
- West Branch, IA
Nothing like a tropic weight while you're waiting for your Panama to arrive.Circa 1929 Stetson "Tropic Weight". I think this store may have been in the same location as Nafziger (above) in Nampa, Idaho. There was a grocery store with the same name located there at some point.
View attachment 147239
