In January, 2011, we will launch our blog which will show the history of retailing in downtown North America. We will employ our collection of over 10,000 postcards of these famous stores. Our purpose is to bring to life these Grand Dames that existed in major metropolitan areas as well as in small town America. We also want to make this interactive so customers and associates of these retailers can memorialize their thoughts in the Comments Section for the Blog.
Our first series will be about the stores in Southern California. We will feature Los Angeles stores such as Goodman’s Department Stores, Coulter’s, Hamburger’s, May Company, Broadway, Bullock’s, Bullock’s Wilshire, I Magnin & Co, Desmond’s, Mullen & Bluett, and others. San Diego stores will be Marsten’s and Walker-Scott. Harris Stores in San Bernardino is another.
The second series will cover Northern California. This will include San Francisco Bay Area stores such as: City of Paris, White House, Gump’s, Emporium, Capwell’s, Kahn’s, Rhodes, Hale Stores and more. The Sacramento store, Weinstock-Lubin, and the Fresno’s Gottschalk’s will be included.
During the year we will continue to post blogs on other states and provinces in North America.
Collecting the postcards for these Grand Dames has been enormously satisfying. I don’t want this important part of retail history to be forgotten. I hope you will have as much fun reviewing this collection and adding your comments and memories of these institutions in the Comments/Leave A Reply section below. If you have postcards of any of these stores which are different from my collection I would be honored to have the opportunity to post your card on the Blog.
Elmira, New York
Note: Elmira, New York, like most small towns has variety (five & dime) stores next to local department stores. Sometimes they also had a chain department store such as J.C. Penney, Sears, and/or Montgomery Ward. The variety stores always had excellent real estate in the busiest part of downtown. The local department store catered to both value-oriented and upscale customers with their good, better, and best merchandising program. The rest of the stores included a local drug store, a millinery store, a gift store, a hardware store, an automotive tire & battery store, a cinema/theatre, a candy/soda fountain, a cigar/tobacco/news store, a feed/farm store, a cafeteria, auto dealerships, a barber shop, and a restaurant or two. Of course, there was always a grocery store.
Downtown areas in major metropolitain areas were different as the stores were bigger. Department stores were what we today would call a shopping center. They were large and catered to different customers (budget, moderate, and luxury).
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I hope all of you will feel free to note your memories of your favorite department stores and other downtown stores.
I grew up in Modesto, California. We had a J.C. Penney, a Montgomery Wards, and a Sears in downtown. When our first shopping center was built, we got a J. Magnin and a Dunlap’s Department Store (Texas based). By 1980, a Mervyn’s opened. Soon afterwards, Wards closed. We had Kress, JJ Newberry, and Woolworths downtown. Until the 60′s all the car dealerships, tire stores, and most specialty stores were downtown. In the 70′s they moved to McHenry Village and later to a new mall in nearby Ripon.
When I was young, our family made trips to Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to shop at the big department stores.
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It will be interesting to see your history of New York/ New Jersey area stores. It is a shame that so many of these companies are no longer in existence.
Our collection consists of over 10,000 postcards of these retailers. I will be soon putting together the blogs on the NY area stores. I just started with Hahne’s because they were at my fingertips. I have having some of my collegues help me put together the information on the NY stores. Keep watching.
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Thank you Mr. Plummer for you posting about commerce, dept. stores in Modesto, Ca. I was born at McPheeters Hospital where mother worked as a Nursing Asst. Dad worked at the County Mental Hospital. Later, he owned Seat Cover Kings at two locations, both on ‘H’ St. I grew up at Gene Winfield and dad’s knees. Gene, 85, Mojave, Ca. and I are still close. Looking forward to more of your postings about Modesto. Husband Steve collects in particular PCs of country and Western Swing music venues, events and artists/bands in/around Modesto and Greater Central Valley during 1920s-1970s. Thank you kindly, again. Althea, Ceres Union HS 1968 aka DJ VidaLee, Hercules, CA.