Back in the Day

[Overbuilders]

How many old time department stores do you remember?

http://www.dshistory.com/stores/

Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, & JC Penney were the big national department stores with multiple locations in Denver when I was a kid. May D&F and Denver Dry Goods were probably the biggest local competitors. The main MW building just south of downtown was a behemoth, eight story retail/warehouse superstore occupying a full city block. It was built in the 30's and imploded for a new development in 1993. Watched it on live TV.

I remember as a kid waiting in the catalog area that resembled any material supply store you might frequent today. Rows of airport style concourse seating. Long, L-shaped counters loaded with catalog stations, staffed by anywhere from two to twenty cashiers patiently waiting for customers to locate their purchase in one of those several hundred page catalogs. Some knew where to find what they wanted, most didn't.

Take a number. Great - we're #74 and they're helping #29. Bo-ring. Orders were written and placed into the appropriate vacuum tube that zoomed to the correct (hopefully!) floor. Within minutes or what seemed like hours, Dad's purchase arrived via conveyor belt. Several times it was wrong. Obviously agitated, Mom had to find ways to keep us quiet and in our seats so Dad wouldn't pop a cork. As kids we couldn't wait to go to Wards, and later we could hardly wait to go home.

As an aside, my Grandad was a laborer on the original construction of the Monkey Wards. Ironically, I was the superintendent on a new Payless Shoe Source at the site in '93. Yeah, quite the step back...

[philthegreek]

Add MACY'S and Gimbles to the list for this area. I remember going to Montomery Wards as a kid. It was about 3 miles away, but it seemed like the other side of the world. Funny thing, kids perceptions.


phil

[David Meiland]

Sears, Penney, and Wards all had big stores in my hometown. We always had the Sears catalog in the house, it was several inches thick and had an awesome array of goods. I shop at the Sears store up here once in a while... Levis, Craftsman tools, a few odd items.

[carpenter]

Besides Sears, Pennys and Wards we had the grand daddy of all, F.W. Woolworths right across from them was J.J. Newberry's. The old soda fountain is still stored in the basement of the original Woolworth building. Building is empty now.The current owner says between problems with the heat plant and roof it's no longer worthwhile so they vacated the building on short notice.

Many stores of the day would give out S&H Green Stamps with purchases. You could collect them and trade full books for merchandise at the Green Stamp Store.

Good Luck
Dave

[m beezo]

our local store was Katz. A bit smaller of a department store but it had a soda fountain area and for me the best place was the animal section. They sold hamster, guiena pigs, white mice all kinds of fish, canaries and paraketes. Maybe a few other animals but the only other one I recall was the small turtles. I am not sure to this day why my folks let us buy the turtles and fish. Seemed like if we got a season out of them before loosing interest in them would have been a long time. The hamsters and white mice we kept around for quite a while. Mostly because you could actually handle them and I do not know how many times we scared my sister with them.

The other area I remember was the candy area. You could go and buy 10 cents worth of candy corn, carmels, jawbreakers. The chocolate was a huge solid hunk that they would break off a piece of and sell it to you by weight. I remember having to borrow 2 cents from my brother to get mine that cost 12 cents. He still asks for his money back.

Not as big but we also had Ben Franklins. Don't recall clothes but maybe so.

[whiskytangofoxtrot]

Zayre's and TG&Y five and dime (Toys, games, and yo-yos) are two more I remember. There was also Roses but I'm not sure if they weren't just strictly in Fla.

The Woolworths in Pine Hills where I grew up had a real soda jerk, first chocolate malted I ever had. There was also Woolco but I'm not sure if they weren't somehow related to Woolworths. Kresge is another that comes to mind.

Couple more I barely remember, lol.

Gold Triangle

Mervyns

Gold Circle

[tomthetoolman40]

Sears, Pennys and Wards.

Besides these I remember Kress dime store, which later became Pay-N-Save.

[BOC Contracting]

SPAGS in Worcester, MA was wicked awesome. Tiny aisles stacked to the ceiling with everything you could imagine. It was the kind of store that you really had to know in order to find anything. And you had to bring your own bags. It was sweet. I miss it.

--Ben

[Andrew R.]

Montgomery Wards was cool, I won a living room, bedroom and tv in a drawing there.

[Happy Home]

Western Auto
Back in the day hardly anyone had a new bicycle. Hand me downs, bought from the older kids. This is before 10 speeds. We'd get our headlights, generators, tubes, tires, brake cables and did all our own work usually with the help of the older kids.

Next door was the electronic shop. Bell wire and other stuff. We made intercoms with wires hanging out the windows around the house. Put antenna wire along the soffit to get far away stations at night on a crystal set. Took all the tubes out of the TV just to test them there.

JC Penny was my place. I was told to start buying my own clothes at about 13 yrs old. Got just enough for the basics but not the name brands. I always had odd jobs - seems like I had more money in the bank relatively then than I have now.......

[Overbuilders]

our local store was Katz.

Beez, you didn't mention the May Company. It was headquartered in St Louis and was the large corporate parent of many department stores across the country. May also bought Denver Dry Goods (The Denver) in 1986.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_May...Stores_Company

Here locally May D&F was absorbed into Foley's in 1993 then became Macy's a couple of years ago when Federated bought May.

[Top Notch]

How about Bambergers, Alexanders or Sterns...The jersey guys can appreciate the old outdoor GSP with giant Santa Claus at x-mas

[tjbnwi]

Some of the above and E.J. Korvets.

Tom

[Overbuilders]

Fashion Bar was acquired by Stage in '92, and exited Colorado in 2000.

[Dick Seibert]

Richie:

The Hell with department stores, let's move to Texas, I read today that they have Beer Barns, apparently you just drive through and get your beer without getting out of you car, in California the cops sit outside of bars pulling everyone over that gets into a car after coming out of a bar, apparently in Texas they still take "roadies" home with them to drink while they drive. And here I thought Allan stayed in Texas for the strip clubs when it was drive through beer barns after all.