Thanks for sharing! I never got to shop in the 'fancy' stores like that. I would have loved to have experienced the service.

When I was growing up there was one or two stores that operated A lot like that. The sales ladies always wore nice dressess, high heels, and looked like they stepped out of a fashion magazine. They helped pick out clothes and were right there to assist in any way they could. Those stores were often more pricey and my mother always waited for sales. They have been gone for many years...sad. If you wanted something special you could find it there.

I remember shopping for stockings with my mother in Macy's in Brooklyn, NY. The saleswoman would take a slender stocking box which contained 3 pair of stockings and would put her hand inside the stocking to show the color. You could buy one, two or all three pair.

One of my husband's aunts worked in Martins, which was an upscale, as compared to Macy's, department store. She worked in the women’s clothing department. The saleswomen were all required to wear either black or navy. One day this aunt added a navy beaded necklace to her outfit and was quietly warned to remove the beads as she should not stand out and dress “fancier” than the customer.

--- (if there's any question, I'm removing my own reply because it was off topic.)

Seniorgal, what a lovely story to read! I used to love to go into NYC as a child and go into the big stores with elevators and escalators - Macy's, Gimbels, B. Altman and then back in NJ where I lived it was for special occasions that my Mom and I would go to Arnold Constable's - oh how I loved that - it was for Easter dresses and prom dresses, etc. I felt like a princess.

Seniorgal....I truly love the way that you tell a story.

Everything is so well thought out with proper spelling and grammar.

I remember going with my Mom to shop at Eatons in Toronto on College.

Only elevators then too,no escalator,and those big doors that went around when you wanted to enter the store.

Mom also bought the nylons in those days with the lines down the back.

She also wore the high heeled dress shoes that would have a fitting person to bring them out and make sure that they fit properly.

I also recall the floorman,altho,not totally clearly.

The elevators,which had a metal closing door,as well as the big wooden door that sealed you right in,also had a man in them that wore the uniform as well..great memories Seniorgal..thank you!

Going to Marshall Fields on State Street in Chicago was an "event" for us. I remember my grandmother dressing up, with white gloves. We had lunch in the lovely dining room, visited the magical toy section, rested in the spacious and luxurious lady's lounge room. And it was a tradition to stroll State Street and view the window displays around Christmas--Fields' was always the best.

As a teenager I worked at Fields in an area called "Better Dresses"! (I think there actually was another area called "Moderate Dresses.") I even remember men coming in to buy dresses for their wives.

Thanks for reminding me of how it was to go shopping in the city about 25 miles away. Didn't get to go often. I guess part of what I remember is everyone being treated with respect, no matter your 'station' in life. One of my favorite memories was as a teenager, I drove my mother and I used the little money I had to buy lunch in a corner drugstore. I had a club sandwich.

Life ended when Macy's bought John Wanamaker's. Sniffle. The store is still there, and thank goodness they didn't mess with "The Eagle" in the main lobby or the pipe organ. But the rest of the store where the museum and post office were located has been closed off, and no more Christmas village. Also, the great restaurant where the "ladies lunched". Sad.

Wow, that brings back memories of going downtown with my grandmother. She had worked for years in a department store, I forget which one now. She worked in millinery, selling hats, before I was born.

I remember the elevator with the attendant. The doors were ornate, and there were two sets. I also remember having lunch in the tea room.

Those memories are almost 50 years old. :)

Bluebird, we also had a Martin's (in Cincinnati) - it was my mother's favorite, but she also shopped at Pogues, Shillito's, and McAlpins, I clearly remember her taking me to Martin's when I was in college because she decided that I needed a good pair of slacks -- I ended up with a lovely gray wool pair. I remember getting chocolate sodas in the snack shop at Pogues, and the beautiful Christmas display in the arcade at Shillito's downtown. I don't recall ever eating at the restaurant there but I am pretty sure that there was one.

I also remember the salesperson suggesting and fetching items and assisting my mother to try things on; the flat boxes of nylons (long after the seam disappeared); being assisted to try on shoes (always having the foot measured first!); and having the purchases boxed up for us. I think elevator operators were nonexistent by then and escalators (which seemed rickety old to me as I recall) were in each store. This would have been in the early 60s, and yes, we dressed nicely to go shopping.

As a child, around the mid 40's I remember going to "downtown" Cleveland with my mother. There were four large department stores; Halle's, Higbee's, Bailey's, and The May Company, which is where my mother preferred to shop, usually visiting the basement, where bargains could be found.

One time I decided to explore, and found my way out the front door, onto the main street. Fortunately a woman saw me leave and followed me, apprehended me, and escorted me back inside. By this time I think I must have been crying, and had no idea where my mother was. The nice lady took me to the elevator, across from which was the candy counter where another nice lady gave me a mint pattie. Then the lady took me up to the playground. Yes, May's had a playground, complete with a merry-go-round. Mothers could leave their children there while they shopped, for a fee I presume. It was not long before my mother found me there. The playground was the "lost and found" for children, I guess.

Some of you may know that the above comment is an excerpt from one of the stories (Life After VJ Day) I have written on my Word Press (blog) page (Reets22.wordpress.com)

OOps, it's back!!! Something odd going on,

A walk down memory lane for sure.

My father's part-time job in college was operating the elevator at Gimbel's. This would have been in the late forties/early fifties. He says his favorite part was when the models were going ... where ever they went.

Thanks, maxmom. I think it might have been Higbee's, where my grandmother worked. Doesn't feel quite right, though. Does anyone remember department stores in NE Ohio in the 50's (specifically, Akron?)

MTA: just googled and found a listing of defunct stores by state. It was O'Neils.

This thread is making me smile.

aok,

We lived in NE Ohio for 42 years. We shopped at May Company, Higbees, Chapel Hill Mall, Summit Mall, Midway Mall, Great Lakes Mall, Richmond, Halle Brothers, Fazio's Grocery, Dillard's, Elder-Beerman, and many more.

It's not just the stores that have changed. The customers have too. I'm appalled when I see how after trying on clothes, some women not only don't put it on the "don't want rack", they heap it on the floor. Boston Store used to be a classy place to shop. I'm not surprised that they are going out of business. :(

Brushworks, Summit Mall was our go-to. I wonder if it's even still there. I haven't been back in several years, and I'm not sure I was in Fairlawn then.

Time for a road trip!

Aok, Higbee's was a part of the Terminal Tower building. The tower was the tallest buiding in Cleveland. It formed a corner of the Public Square. This was prominent in the movie A Christmas Story, when Ralphie's family goes to view the Christmas windows and The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is shown. It was one of the four corners of the center square. The Hotel Cleveland was also in the large buiding complex of the terminal, and I worked at the hotel shortly after graduating from high shool.

Brushworks, I remember shopping at Fazio's. The Summit was after I moved to Michign.

OMG about the Cleveland stores. I grew up in Cleveland suburbs in the 50's and 60's and would go on a bus with my Grandmother to Downtown, until I was 13 or so and would go alone. Something you all may have forgotten (but left an impression on me as a young kid) was that the stores (probably Mays and Higbees} had pay toilets. 10 cents! There was one free toilet out of the dozen that had a long line waiting, so someone who'd paid for the pay toilet would hold the door open for the next person. And that would continue until no one else was waiting.

Anyone in Chicago remember Wieboldts?

Yes, as I mentioned on the other thread on department stores you started, Scott, I worked at Wiebolt's on State Street. It was in the 1970s. The big "3" on that strip were Wiebolt's, Carson's, and Fields. To my mind, at least, Wiebolt's was the lowest in quality. I was a teenager and college student, working in the summers and over breaks, and I worked at all three at different times.

Sears was also useful for tools, appliances, etc. In my suburb, however, Wards ruled.

Anyone who's a fan of movies from the 30s and 40s have seen many scenes of the gals who worked in the department store helping the clueless husband/boyfriend select a perfume or lingerie, with every counter staffed and everything behind the glass cases.

As a young child, I remember it was a big deal to go 'downtown' to the department store. It had revolving doors which I loved and I do remember an elevator operator on a seat no bigger than a table tennis paddle and operating the cage door.

I also remember that it was only open thursday nights so if you went it was then or on saturday...stores were closed on sundays.

It was a big deal for us to go to Lord & Taylor to the birdcage restaurant for lunch too. Oh, us girls felt so grown up!

When I was very young, the big Chicago department stores were as

Emory mentioned: Carson's, Fields, and Wieboldts. Our family's budget was tight, and Christmas shopping and gifts came from Sears and Wards And later Penneys. The stores and most often their catalogs. I do remember my grandmother putting on a hat and gloves to shop downtown. She even did that to go shopping at some of the stores in Cicero and Berwyn. Suburbs of Chicago. I remember her taking me to Kresge and McCrory and Woolworths. Each neighborhood had its own local family owned department store as well.

Drewsmaga., how funny that your memory includes the pay toilets and the line. Brought back a memory for me, also.

Ah yes, pay toilets!

What, you people from NE Ohio don't remember the Sterling-Linder tree? Sterling-Linder tree

So, nostalgia aside, do y'all prefer the shopping experience of yesteryear or, instead, how it's done today?

Me, I'd never want to go back to the days of pre-internet shopping. It took too long and required far more time than I had/have or would want to spend.

I remember Sterling-Linder, but not the tree. I left in 1964.

I grew up in the Midwest. We were a one car family in the '40s and '50s. I remember getting dressed up to go downtown with Mom and my sisters on the bus. We wore our Sunday dresses with petticoats, white gloves, and Mary Janes and carried our tiny "patent leather" purses. Usually these were trips for school dresses, Easter dresses or shoes.

I remember Sunday lunches at Weibolt's in Evanston with my grandmother. I did not know what to order, and she suggested we might like the chicken pot pies, which were a real treat. I had never had one before. This was years before Swanson developed the frozen pot pies we all know.

Do you remember the x-ray machine at the shoe store? Mom would take all of us for new shoes, and while one was being fitted, we would look at our feet through the viewing scope on the x-ray machine.

I -- and I think many here -- enjoyed the TV series, "Mr. Selfridge" and "The Paradise", about entrepreneurs who created shopping as a diversion and fashion parade.

I predate most shopping malls. My mother and I took coal-burning trains into Chicago from a suburb to visit Michigan Boulevard and State Street stores. (Our pristine white gloves would have gathered some coal dust by the time we reached the station.)

These were all-day 'journeys'. Marshall Field's had at least seven different restaurants to sustain the weary shopper. I (vaguely) remember being deposited in the Children's Playroom to free my mother to shop. When I was older, my mother used this enormous store to teach me how to orient myself. ; I'd be left in 'Toys' and have to find my way to 'The Walnut Room' by 11:30 a.m. (I'm still pretty good at finding my way around and map-reading.)

I don't remember when stores ceased having a salesperson escort you to a dressing room and bring you a selection of clothes to try on. I remember waiting for selections to be delivered to our home by the big green Field's trucks, and my mother reminding me to be careful until she'd OK'd a purchase, "Are your hands clean? That dress belongs to Marshall Field's. You are just trying it on now."

Mom was a careful shopper. She'd been private secretary to the head of the personnel department at Sheppard's, a major department store in Providence, RI before she married my father. (Field's is gone, and so is Sheppard's.)