Favourite York City Department Stores

[mtn1584]

They're all gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gimbels, B. Altman, A&S, Orbach's, Stern's, Korvettes, Caldor, Bradlees, Barkers, AMES, Gertz, Hernz, READS, Jordan Marsh and John Wanamaker, are all gone in the New York, New Jersey, Ct, metropolitan area.
All that is left is MACYS-everywhere, JCP,-everywhere, Sears-everywhere, Walmart, and Target, some Kmarts as well, that is it.
All are in their own category with no competion!!!
Macys ate up everything!!
MIKE

 

[tolivac]

Nice dept stores-all eaten up by Wal-Marts and Targets!

 

[ovrphil]

Disappointing

....is a euphemism for what's happened to the retail choices today...so many good stores, gone.

Being from Michigan, I miss Hudsons(as Kevin313 mentioned), especially their Christmas displays and upper floor where the decorations and trees were elablorately decorated to create this wonderland for kids and adults - all the lights, decorations, etc. My mom took my sister and I down there EVERY December to enjoy the lights and displays(so thankful my mom did that for us).

Besides Hudsons - loved Jacobsens, and miss Crowleys, even though towards their end, their store in Birmingham, MI. was "tired" looking.

Here, I miss Parisian and Rich's ...(lucky Michigan has Parisian stores, in a unique situation, that we visit).

Years ago, while visiting my grandmother in St. Petersburg, downtown, we shopped at Maas Brothers(pictured and probably not remembered by too many here). I remember seeing my first surfboard(sunny yellow) at Maas Bros. Good memories here in this Launderess thread.

So many stores are replaced with disappointing Macy's. Federated.

Adulterated.

 

[laundromat]

I loved the downtown area in Baltimore. My mom had the Baltimore Shopping Plate she could use at Hechts,Hochschild Kohns,Hutzlers,Stewarts and Hess Shoes. She was the head teller at First National Bank of Maryland in their main branch just catticornered from the stores.She took me to sit on Santa's lap and their was a display at Hect Company of a realistic/toy FRIGIDAIRE kitchen made by Wolverine.I ran over and prayed that I would get them. I even told Santa he was the real,true one and the rest were fakes! Alas, when Santa came, I got a Varoom bike .That was when my beliefs changed and I hated Santa!

 

[cuffs054]

ovrphil,
Thanks for the memory. When we moved to St.Pete in 57 Maas Bros was THE place to shop. Did you ever visit the William Henry store on 34th ST? It was the flagship of THE WILLIAM HENRY BELK stores, now just Belk's.
Our neighbor who I called aunt and uncle took me to Maas every year to see the Christmas set up on the top floor. In fact Uncle Vince Sklar was the pharmacist at Maas for as long as I could remember.

 

[petek]

I remember the JL Hudson store as well. We always went a few times a year and it was huge. Besides the toy department I probably spent most of my time playing on the escalators and elevators. Never knew where my dad went (probably for a beer somewhere) and mom and sisters were all looking at dresses and boring stuff. Obviously the folks weren't worried about me like most parents would be today letting their kid out of their sight.
We only went to Toronto perhaps once a year if that being much further away but my distinct memory of the Eatons flagship store on College St very early on were the wooden escaltors and the elevators with the woman operators and that crank handle they used to operate it. I was fascinated by that. Eatons was a stunning art deco palace. It's still there but been chopped up in portions into other stores. The magnificent theatre on the top floor is still in operation but I've never been up there since. As well there is still one original wooden escalator hidden in one of the new furniture stores that faces Yonge St. It was a short escaltor about 15 feet to take you from the lower entrance grade up to the main floor at the south end of the store.

 

[petek]

This is the foyer of the top floor theatre and ballroom

 

[ovrphil]

Cuffs054 - you're welcome! No, I never visited the William Henry Store. My grandmother brought us down to the now gone Million Dollar Pier where a lot of retirees danced each weekend...and I think Maas wasn't far from the street that faced the Gulf and Pier. Great memories- there was a store called, I think, Epps or Eppes? It was so long ago, I can't remember, except I do remember the seniors would mow you down with their shopping carts, just gesturing to move out of the way as they entered or especially exited from the store.
Epps? It was near Tampa or somewhere around, not far from Riverside, FL., where we stayed.

Petek - GREAT pictures! I remember Eaton - last there about four decades ago...good memories of Toronto - went with a buddy of mine and when we crossed the US/Canadian border, they thought we were high on something and detained us for a while. 1970. Just kids, you know?

 

[cuffs054]

ovrphil,
You are correct Maas was right down town and near the pier. Did you ever visit "WEBB CITY" with the live mermaid show? You could buy anything at Webb's it was part store part carnival!

 

[cuffs054]

A visit to Webb's

http://www.google.com/search?q=webb...gT0_ID4CA&sqi=2&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=571

 

[joelippard]

Just look in these various pictures how people took time to create and make things that looked so nice.  The buildings, the displays, all well thought out instead of the thrown together crap of the current day.  Look at the ladies how they are dressed in these photos, and look at how they are dressed nowadays.  I was lucky to get in on some of this since I was born in '74 but I have to wonder what has happened?  It's really sad in a way.

 

[ovrphil]

Cuffs054 - That's it - Webb City..I see the St. Petersburg store. It was a real zoo, some of the oldsters really didn't care if they ran you down. That store had everything, but the shoppers were animals.

Joelippard - What happened is NUMBERS, where creativity and associated costs have been slashed or eliminated. Interestingly, Von Maur, out of Davenport, Iowa originally, just established their first flagship store for the South and East, I think, spending millions on renovating and expanding the Northpoint Mall wing, formerly home for Lord and Taylor and Belk(two years ago). The exterior was redone in brick! The interior is nice, but overall - numbers won and the displays are half visible and/or "weak". The ceiling lighting is clunky big old white track lighting spots.

Oh well..New York must still offer great retail and displays.

Phil

Not exactly relevant here, but wanted to mention for those who enjoyed the J.L.Hudson Co. stores, here's a link to J.L. Hudson recipes, served in their restaurants.

http://www.detroitmemories.com/links.html

 

[blackstone]

Not exactly "department" stores, but...

my favorite places to shop in New York has always been Canal St. I haven't been there in quite a while, though.

 

[cuffs054]

ovrphil,
Thank goodness Wally World is keeping the tradition of "animalistic shopper" alive today!

 

[jamiel]

Unfortunately we no longer have Parisian in metro Detroit...BonTon only had rights to the name for 5 years, so they thought using it during the Macys transition would help with people sad about losing Fields and Hudson's. Now we have Carsons like Chicago. BonTon has had a weird nameplate strategy, with 3 nameplates within 75 miles (Younkers in Lansing, elder-Beerman in Monroe, and Parisian/CArsons in detroit.

 

[ovrphil]

Cuffs054 - WallMart will never be like Maas Bros. and personally, I prefer Meijer in Michigan. They do get the animals, I mean - personalities for the animalistic shoppers. No photos please! LOL!

jamiel : OHNO! Parisian is gone and it's now Carsons - so Partridge Creek and the other Mall near Oakland University that had those Parisians are gone? :I used to shop at Elder-Beerman..quite a while ago - my
apologies - got off the thread Launderess started...

 

[retromania]

And

Quality has gone down the drain. All they can do is offer an easy return policy!