Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Back in the day, the stores had their own credit cards


Grandma always used to say that Costigan's was expensive, and that unlike Macy's, their sheets seemed to wear out quickly.  Well, it was built into their name "New sheets?  Thats the second set you've bought this year, Maude.  There's that cost, again."  They did carry the better items, like Herculon impregnated wallpaper, the latest fashions from far away places like St. Louis and Pierre (South Dakota) and they had a grand court with a skylight up above.  Women, dressed in the finest new fashions would spritz you with cologne, and each clerk knew to ask "How may I be of service."  Two days after shopping a lengthy thank you arrived.  How nice it was.  Then things changed and Sears came to town.  Costagain's held out longer than their sister stores, imbroglio's, Podunks of Cresent City, and Fishkills.  They had a discount chain as well, Cluster's, but shoppers found it confusing as the departments and rows were moved every night to provide a new shopping experience every day.  But their all gone now  Last I had heard, the grand downtown Costagain's location that once housed a six-story Christmas tree, delightful cafe's and it's own subway stop, had become a Pizzeria Uno, but my sister informs me that it is now the home of Mother Waddles' Mission of Perpetual Healing and Nail Salon.  



Kornhieser's customers always aspired to shop at Costagain's, but the monthly checks from child support always seemed to show up late, if they showed up at all. And even then, all the checks from all the father's had to show up just to afford a cup of tea in Costigan's Plaid Room. Still, their boys "Korn Husky" section was tops in the tri-county area.  Who could have imagined that blue jeans can in so many shades of dark blue?  And while their Petunia Porcine line of clothing for chubby girls tried every it could to herd them in, its was their meat department that packed them in.




Even though its been fifty years, I can still smell the stale popcorn roasting under a heat lamp. Shopping at MacSwartz's meant being organized.  When dad needed a pair of white socks to wear with his grey work pants and black oxfords, Mom would load us up in the car and off to MacSwartz's to rummage through their loose sox section.  When my sister hit "that age" and stopped wearing Carter's, she'd wander off to the mismatch cup bra bin to find something to make her feel grown up.  "It's Nifty! It's Thirty! To shop at MacSwartz's" was their jingle that crackled over the speaker.  Woe to anyone who tried to make a return - Mrs. MacSwartz, who was born in Glasglow's Jewish neighborhood was good for sizing up those who didn't know the store policies, and those who were her family members.   Eventually, MacSwartz's closed and was replaced by an indoor Yahtzee arena. 




Mother would make us dress in our finest if shopping to Mufferaw and Crewl was on the list of errands to run.  We were greeted by valet parking, and doormen. Inside, the dark paneled walls stretched from marble floors to ceilings two and three stories high.  Men in cutaway coats bowed to us as we made our way to the Buckingham Room for a hearty meal of cucumber sandwiches and weak tea.  They had the largest selection of walking sticks, silk ascots and elephant guns in the area.  They had to expand to Swale Plaza during the post war boom - this meant that instead of familiar pneumatic tubes that carried the sales receipt up the cashiers, that actual cash registers were installed - a first in its 100 year history. Mother said their downfall was the store at Black Dahlia Mall.  The silks seemed less diaphanous, the furs seemed less lush and dyed. School girls cutting through the store on their way to shop at places like Merry Go-Round, a misnomer if ever there was one. From there it was literally a downhill skid to Hamburglaton and finally the miasma prone Lerghey Heights store with its shockingly modern revolving door.  When the announcement came that the stores were shuttering, management did not say that they would close, but "we will no longer receiving customers at our locations."  Dignified until the end, the main store downtown is a Korean "health spa".

12 comments:

  1. We too had the upscale department stores local to Harrisburg. Cregos, Doneckners and Mary Sahs. All gone. The only store in my opinion that offer renowned service left is Bergdorf Goodman. The floor walkers still wear a flower upon their lapel.

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  2. we had john wanamaker, strawbridge & clothier, lit brothers, snellenburg's, gimbel brothers. all gone now; wanamaker's is a macy's currently. my grandmother took me to all these stores in downtown philly in the early 60s.

    for the upscale shopper, there was lord & taylor, nan duskin, bonwit teller, i.magnin. we never went there.

    cheap stores were woolworth, kresge (k-mart), korvette; THESE were more my mother's speed.

    AND my mother's credit cards ALWAYS said "mrs. (husband's first name) (last name)"; AS IF my mother didn't have a name of her own! sexist bastards!

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  3. It would be churlish to compare such delights as those lost emporia with London, where Harrods, Selfridges, John Lewis, Debenhams, House of Fraser and - just about - Marks & Spencer still hold sway. However back in Cardiff, the massive David Morgan department store closed ten years ago - but the more up-market Howells (famous for its fifth floor "cottage", from where half a dozen or so queens were unceremoniously hauled with their trousers still round their ankles by the police, to the bemusement of the Saturday shoppers - or so I heard) apparently struggles on. With or without queens, or cottaging. Jx

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  4. The great catastrophe of American Department Stores is Macy's. It used to be that Macy's was a New York thing. It was the flagship of Federated Stores. Then the bean counters got a hold of Federated following its bankruptcy back in the 1990s. This mna named Questron decided tat it would save everyone so much money if all of the Federated chains, Lazarus, Shillitos, Burdines, etc. ALL became Macy Stores. Whta that did was kill off tourist shoppers. I haven't set foot in a Macy's since.

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    1. I agree cookie. I won't step foot in one. So messy, loud and very claustrophobic. Anne Marie was right about John Wanamakers! the Philly store was a marvel onto itself. While the opulent architecture and grand organ is still there, Macy certainly "dumpified" it. When I go to concerts there, it almost brings a tear to the eye to see what they did. You may have inspired me to do a post on my memories of old stores.

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  5. my personal first store credit card was penney's. I still have an account there, but I rarely go shopping.

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  6. I still remember the day my mother decried, "Whatever happened to customer service?"

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  7. What is a Yahtzee arena? I know that Yahtzee is a game so I'm assuming it's like a Bingo Hall?

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  8. robert x. custard is not happy that his account number is here for all to see.

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  9. Great parody, and so true to life--I practically remember these stores!

    The stores that survived the mergers and takeovers I tend to call by their original names. I still refer to Higbee's and Revco. The classiest smaller stores didn't even give you a card. At Bunce Brothers, I just told them to put it on my account.
    --Jim
    PS: Higbee's, Revco and Bunce all failed the spell checker. Sic transit, etc.

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    1. Gawd! Bunce Brothers! I haven't thought about them in years. My father bought his suits there. He was part of a team of lawyers that argued a case before the Supreme Court, and the suit came from Bunce Brothers. He also shopped at Rougoff's.

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