Observation about "What Do You Miss?"

[frigilux]

dalangdon----Wow, I also miss Frederick & Nelson, and I agree completely with your assessment of the new Nordstrom. Seattle is my favorite city, hands down. I love the weather, the progressive attitude, the Market, the U District, Ivors, Taste of Seattle, Bumbershoot... I have friends who live just up the hill from the Fremont shopping district (sadly, more franchised/commercialized than it used to be) and I spend a few weeks in the Emerald City each summer and at Christmas.

 

[Washinsheen]

My dad, the world's worst critic, didn't like Sears very much, I think because his brother-in-law liked it (ha!) We bought all our appliances at The Good Housekeeping Shop (Frigidaire). But he did like to buy his tools at Sears, and occasionally would buy clothes for my mom for Christmas. I recall seeing Winnie the Pooh at Sears. He was some guy in a big Pooh suit, with a honey pot on his head. He was kind of mean about not letting us kids touch his honey pot, and he'd push our arms away when we'd try. So, I didn't like Pooh for a long time after that. One other thing I recall about Sears, pre-mall days, was that "ding" sound that you'd hear over the intercom, kind of like a door bell, signifying some kind of code.

 

[tomturbomatic]

What about the vacuum pipes for taking money to the credit office with the hand written sales slip in that little twist to open cylinder with felt or velvet at the end so that it would seal into the walls of the pipe and when it came back, it landed with a soft clunk. I would always get threatening looks from my mom when I would try to sneak a pull on the little cap to hear the rush of air. Years later, a friend lived in an apartment building with a central vac system. Instead of knocking at his door, I would open the little valve in the hall outside his apartment and the sound of the vacuum starting always brought him to his door to let me in.

 

[Washinsheen]

Very amusing, Tomturbomatic!! I don't remember far back enough when our Sears had the vacuum tubes, but our JCPenney's and Levine's had them. Now, they didn't fascinate me as much as cash registers did.

 

[spiralactivator]

Does anyone here remember Hess's department store? Their big flagship was in Allentown, PA. When I was a kid there was a Hess's in our local mall (which opened in 1980). I remember it as a huge, barnlike department store, with a '50s electric range used as a cookware display. We never actually shopped there, stretching our dollars at the McCrory five and dime and (pre-Martha) Kmart. The Hess's chain went under some time in the '90s.

 

[parunner58]

Yes I remember Hess's well worked in the store in the Palmer Park mall in Easton one christmas season. Spent way more money than I made. Luckily it was a second job to my full time one. I loved the main store in Allentown, They always had some kind of special event going on. If you ate in the Patio it was an adventure in itself. Mountains of food a piece of strawberry pie that was 6 inches tall by 5 inches wide, enough to feed a small third world country in one serving.

They had a great appliance department. I remember we needed a fridge and we went with my mom and saw the brand new Ge Americana series with the ice and water. She would not by it. We wound up with a Frigidaire Gemini200 side by side in avacado green then later she bought a Roper over and under two oven gas range and GE potscubber DW all in avacado. The store had a great floor of small appliances also. It was too bad they got out of selling major appliances and then sold themselves to "The Bon Ton" in the 90's

Do you also remember Zollingers amd Orr's, Clover getting really way back there was Two Guys, Pomeroys, Grants, Almart, Woolworth, All the great stores now members of the past all crushed by the big boxers. I am sure all of us could name the favorite shopping places of yesteryear before the malls took over the world. I use to love going Christmas shopping ino ur downtown at night but now there are no stores down there to go to, everything is moved out to the suburbs to the mall.