An Hour In the Boston W.T. Grant Store

Nick DeWolf spent a quality hour doing some great photos of Christmas shoppers in Grant’s back in December 1970. Grant’s had a long history on Washington Street and it was one of the shops my family had been visiting for years as part of a routine shopping trip into Boston.
Grant’s began operating shops of the five and dime variety back in 1906 and carried on all over the US in most cities until 1975 when it failed.
Grant’s in Boston had always done well but by the early 1970’s the effect of suburban shopping malls and the new “BIG” Woolworth’s across the street took a serious toll on business. Grant’s was the first big store of it’s kind to fail in the downtown area during my childhood. Others had closed before my time but this was the first of the newer closings and it seemed rather sad to my 10 year-old mind.
The photos show the typical layout of these type of stores. I am very fond of the shot showing the candy and nut counter. I can still smell the aroma!
Grant’s in Boston had a two floor plan with a staricase and escalator connecting the levels.
After Grant’s was closed and renovated in 1975, Barnes and Noble held the location for nearly 30 years. Note the excellent hair styles and the Bobby Orr record on offer that year with a free wall poster. I had one.....Oh, well:-)

Also there is a great view taken under the Orpheum Theatre door looking towards Grant's. You can just see the base of the wall sign above the main door.

Enjoy......

Charles:-)

A Man Named Nick DeWolf

I was feeling a bit low:

Putting a blog together about Boston department stores of the past is no easy task! The task is extra hard when you consider I do it from England.
My hope of offers of photographs and memories of the once very exciting Boston shopping area have been few and far between. I am still keeping my fingers crossed for some eager folks out there who would enjoy a chance to share their own memories or have a burning desire to visit the BPL and scan some classic adverts from the large newspaper archive to put up on the blog.

A wonderful discovery:

The other day I was thrilled to come across the photographic work of the late Nick DeWolf.
Nick spent a large part of his adult life shooting photos that span a wonderful assortment of subjects.
Nick and his family lived in Boston for many years and the life and times of the city from the late 1950’s to the early 1970’s are captured in his fine photographic work.
Seeing the beautiful archives of Nick’s work gave me new inspiration to carry on with the blog!
I am pleased to have received permission from Nick’s wife to present on my blog some of his brilliant shots taken in 1969-70 in and around Washington Street.
I also wish to thank Steve who is working hard to post all of Nick’s photographic work on Flickr.
Thanks so much! It is a wonderful tribute to Nick.

The photos I include today show various sides of the old Jordan Marsh buildings including a view of the Annex taken from West Street looking up towards Avon Street. These photos are perfect and reflect the feel of the Boston I knew as a little child in the late 60’s. Nick DeWolf had a keen eye for catching the moment and saving it on film for us all to enjoy again and again.

I Remember Woolworth's

A short passage from F.W. Woolworth and the American Five and Dime

“Such were the swelling problems of big-city merchants, but Woolworth officials had not been unduly hesitant to proceed with plans to build it’s largest variety store in a return to downtown Boston and to open the nine-floor, 133, 000 square- foot building on September 11, 1970. Almost twice as many items as were sold in other Woolworth’s would be stocked on the four selling floors of the Boston store, with the four of the five upper floors making a ramp connected parking complex for up to 1,000 cars.”

The demolition of Raymond’s Department Store was a big event for me. I watched the process and wondered what would fill the large hole that opened by Christmas of 1967. The work was slow and the shifting over of Franklin Street to meet Bromfield seemed to take a long time.
The building that was finished in 1970 was very modern compared to the ones it replaced that once housed Raymond’s. This new building was to be the largest Woolworth’s that the company had ever built. Woolworth's had other smaller, traditional stores in downtown Boston but all were closed to make way for this new BIG ONE!
I was five when it opened and I don’t recall a grand opening in the Washington Street area like this.
I did not attend the first day festivities but was taken in soon after and was amazed that this place was a Woolworth’s!
We had a two Woolworth’s in Brookline and this was not at all like them. They were kind of small and all on one floor. This was so large and it felt like a real department store.
The main floor was alive with crowds and activity. It was two-stories in height and held many display counters as well as a very large curved lunch counter with some booth seating as well. I recall the wonderful smells in the this area coming from both the restaurant and the deli counter. Towards the rear of the main floor there was a full service deli counter with chickens roasting on a rotisserie. The smells were great!
Most of the standard Woolworth’s items were found on this main floor. Another feature was the “town crier” type of sales attraction in the main area by the front doors. The salesman would use a microphone and show off various items for sale.
The “new” LCD watches were an attraction at this counter that I remember seeing one Saturday on a shopping trip in the early 70’s.
The second floor contained large and small electrical appliances including televisions and stereos. The hardware department, bath shop, pet shop and children’s toys were also on this floor.
The third floor had men’s clothing, children’s clothing and a nice sized sporting goods department with bicycles. Men’s and children’s shoes were held in a corner of this floor, too.
The basement included the women’s clothing and shoe departments as well as baby clothing.
A shoe repair counter and the Harvest House Restaurant were maintained on this lower level.

The loss of Raymond’s to this location was a big change for the Boston shoppers of the late 60’s. Woolworth’s tried to capture some of the sights and sounds of the original Raymond’s by keeping a full range deli and food counter and a modern version of Unkle Eph pitching items to the shoppers but without the hat and costume of long ago.

This Woolworth’s was grand and just that little bit tacky. It was a place you could have a nice sit-down lunch and not spend all your newly acquired allowance. I found myself going in this place on every shopping trip into Boston and it seemed to often have some item I needed for this or that.
The Harvest House was a nice place to eat if you did not feel like the crowd of the upstairs counter area and it had a full menu to suit most tastes.
The Harvest House was the place I ate on shopping trips from the early 70’s to mid-80’s.
It never changed. Woolworth’s hardly changed.
Maybe that’s why it’s gone. 1970 to the mid-90’s was a short run in comparison to its other department store competitors.
Not every Bostonian found it to their taste!
It was not trendy…not really uptown…It was Woolworth’s!
But it was very unique and a Boston original!
Our very own REALLY BIG five and dime.

.......................Charles

Ps....The photos above are all Boston shots except the old 1950 interior of a Woolworth's.
The photos of Raymond's were taken in mid-1967 just before the demolition began.
Feel free to contribute your ideas, photos, store logos, adverts....just write me at:

charles65ofboston@yahoo.com

A Day Out In Boston In 1968... Part 3

Part 3

Before I carry on with a typical shopping day in 1968, I would like to add a little note.
By the time we finished in Jordan Marsh, my mother and nana had boxes in their arms. Most stores still offered cardboard boxes, large handled shopping bags or paper bags all embossed with their logo. A few stores had just begun using a form of plastic carrier bag but they were not very common yet. Some of the more durable shopping bags were offered in coin operated dispensers near most of the outer doors to the big stores.

Jordan Marsh had a wonderful logo at this time. The logo I recall had a pencil style drawing of old Boston with the words Jordan Marsh Company printed bellow. I would be very excited to have some of these old Boston store logos scanned and sent to me for posting.
It would make a super archive to add to over time and view! Have a look in your attic or basements…you may have some logos we need!


Back to 1968:
We would walk down Washington Street back toward Winter Street and look for a place to have lunch. Two nice and not too expensive spots were The Brass Lantern across from Jordan Marsh on Washington Street or The Iron Rail on Winter Street. Both had a clam platter with French fries and cold slaw with a buttered roll that I enjoyed very much. Sometimes we would walk up towards RH Stern’s on Temple Place and have lunch at Thompson’s Spa. All these places had table seating and nice family friendly atmosphere.

**I believe that Thompson’s Spa lasted until about 1976 and sat vacant for a while. With the demise of RH Stern’s around this same time, I think Thompson’s Spa had lost vital shopping traffic. The Brass Lantern and Iron Rail carried on a bit longer but both soon became fast food Chinese restaurants in the early 1980’s.

Having lunch was an important ritual during these trips and it was chance to practice my newly acquired table manners.
After we ate, the next stop was further up Washington Street past Filene’s…not in!
Nana was a Jordan’s shopper and past employee and Filene’s was just not on her list. Very old fashioned and loyal!
I would not step foot in Filene’s until about 1977 and that was eye opening. More about that another time.
Grant’s 5 and 10 was like Kresge’s with two floors connected by an escalator. I liked Grant’s and I think it still had a soda-lunch counter still on the street floor. We would poke around in Grant’s for bit and then cross Washington to look at the big project. I liked cranes and construction sites since my dad was a builder. In 1968 a major project was going on. Raymond’s Department Store on the corner of Washington and Franklin Streets was being torn down and Franklin Street was being moved over to join up with Bromfield Street. The Raymond’s lot was becoming smaller and the plaza or park on the side of Filene’s was being created. It was a large scale project lasting from mid 1967 to the Autumn of 1970.
I shall write about the new super sized 1970
F. W. Woolworth’s store in its own update.
I would spend time watching the project and asking mother or nana questions about what the men were doing.
We would end our trip with iced teas at Neisner’s wonderful lunch counter located on the Bromfield Street side of the store. If iced tea was not in season, I had a Raspberry Lime Ricky instead. All the sodas back then were made with syrup and tasted great!
Neisner’s was a large Woolworth’s type of store built in an “L” shape with large main doors on both Washington and Bromfield Streets. I loved to look at the toys located in the basement of Neisner’s. Neisner’s was a chain store
like Grants and Kresge’s but I liked it the best of all.

** The mid 1970’s marked the end to most of these 5 and 10 type stores in the downtown area.
Neisner’s held on until about 1977 when Wendy’s Hamburgers took the Washington Street side over.
The Bromfield Street side became Sherman’s
Electrical Supply.
Grant’s went on until about 1976 when it made way for Barnes and Noble.
Kresge’s was part of K-Mart and lasted on Washington Street until about 1985 or so.
It went down hill and became a bit tatty before it closed it’s doors in the 1980’s.

We would walk up Bromfield Street and make our way back to Park Street Station. I can recall the music of the Harri Krishna dancers and drummers that always seemed to be near the subway entrance in those days. The music would fade away as we rode down to the platform to board a streetcar for Beacon Street and home.

It had been a busy and very happy day out for me!

PS.......Please remember to visit The Bostonian Society. The above 1967 sample image of Raymond's demolition is from their vast collection. Worth supporting their fine work!

A Day Out In Boston In 1968... Part 2

Part 2

The Annex of Jordan Marsh held my full attention as young child.
The Main Store buildings seemed full of clothes and my mother would take what seemed like “hours” to walk around looking and sometimes trying things on.
On one of the shopping trips from this time in my life I can recall the selection of a portable record player for my bedroom. The record players were in the music department on the street floor of the Annex. The Annex had elevators with operators and an escalator towards the rear of the street floor opposite the main door. I think I am correct in remembering the Annex having a mezzanine running along the rear wall of the street floor like Filene’s did and the beauty salon was on it with a few other things. I did not spend much time there as a child but I recall seeing it as we rode the escalators.
Before leaving the street floor we would also visit the book department in the far corner of the street floor in it’s own small room with a door out onto Chauncy or Bedford Street I think.
There was also an elevator on one of the walls as you walked in through the archway from the larger Annex shopping floor.
Soon we would ride up to the upper floors and eventually visit the toy department. I loved that part of the trip! The Annex was really Jordan Marsh’s home store with all things home related.
The toys lived on an upper floor and I think that is where I was taken to see the Enchanted Village at Christmas and also where they had a Spring Circus display as well. I believe it was on the fifth floor and in a function room that acted like a gallery or auditorium for the various events Jordan Marsh hosted over the years.
**As a quick note for those interested in what became of this wonderful place, it was demolished in 1978 to make way for the new shopping center and hotel that now sit where it stood for nearly 80 years.
The Annex played a final vital role for Jordan Marsh in the years around 1975- 1977. While 1890 building along Washington Street was being torn down and replaced , Jordan Marsh was desperate for retail space during the process and the Annex came in very handy indeed. The Annex was packed with all sorts of merchandise and crowded with shoppers until the new Main Store building was opened. Once the new Main Store was in full use, the Annex was closed and sat empty for about a year until it was taken down. Jordan Marsh had less space now without the Annex and it cut back on many household items over time and the 1950 addition became packed with all the old departments once held in the Annex.
I recall this vividly because my mother and many others found the new placement of departments confusing and noted the lack of choices due to lack of space. I can still hear my mother saying to our landlady, another Jordan’s shopper, how much the Annex would be missed and Jordan Marsh was just not the same to shop in.

Back to 1968: We would leave the Annex via the main door onto Avon Street and walk up to Kresge’s on the corner of Temple Place. Kresge’s became rather cheap with lots of funky wigs in the window as the 1970’s wore on but in my childhood it was just like a Woolworth’s with several floors and a large lunch counter full of local workers on their lunch breaks. The store smelled good and had a nice selection of toys to look at on the second floor.
My grandmother was not keen on going beyond this point on Washington Street back then. I know that the Raymond’s Department Store had a new location further down on Washington Street but it was a “no go” zone for her. Not safe for a lady now in her 70's:-)
I think a lot of folks felt that the Combat Zone was creeping up and was now just beyond the Annex of Jordan Marsh.
So stores like the former RH White’s(failed 1957) and then for short time Citymart(early 60’s failed venture) and the new Raymond’s location(not sure how long it lasted here) were just not getting the shoppers they deserved and vanished. By 1968 I can only recall many vacant and decaying buildings as I looked down towards Chinatown.

More thoughts and memories in my next post.
I shall wrap up my 1968 shopping day with lunch and a few shop visits at the other end of Washington Street.

Ps....The images posted today show a more upmarket Kresge's from 1950.

Several images with views down around RH White Company Store with the theatres all around.

One image is of a typical department store in the early 1940's. This photo reminds me of the the feel and look of the street floor Annex building of Jordan Marsh. I would dearly love more shots of the Annex......can you help???

Let me know.

Charles.................................

charles65ofboston@yahoo.com

A Day Out In Boston In 1968... Part 1

My memories of the downtown Boston I knew so well began in the late 1960’s with shopping trips during the week with my mother and my nana. My grandmother, nana, had worked off and on for the Jordan Marsh Company from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. She took such pride in showing her little grandson all round the shops that made the Washington Street shopping area of Boston so famous. It was not called “Downtown Crossing” then!
Her work at Jordan Marsh had been something she loved and always looked back on with fond feelings. She had worked in many of the departments over the years but her favorite was the baby clothing department which for years had been located in the basement of one of the large buildings that made up the vast Jordan Marsh complex.

At this time, my Aunt Mary still worked at one of the perfume counters on the street floor right by the bank of elevators still operated by men or women in the old main building of Jordan Marsh. Part of our shopping ritual always included a visit to Aunt Mary and have a little chat with her.

Now in order to go “in town” as we called the trip, I had to get dressed up. My Sunday best was needed. Mother and nana also put on their best for this ritual shopping experience.
We lived in Brookline and used to take the streetcar in to Kenmore Square where we would meet my nana on the platform since she came in from another part of Brookline via bus. All together we would ride the rest of the way to Park Street Station and emerge beneath the steeple of Park Street Church to begin the shopping trip.

We always went down Winter Street and I can still recall the smell of brewing coffee in the “Choc Full O Nuts” coffee shop. Mother liked to go into Miles. Miles was a book, gift and card shop along Winter Street. The Bell Shops was being torn down in my early memories of these days and the Provident Bank building took it’s place over time.
Conrad and Chandler’s still was busy with women shoppers and the windows always got a look in by mother and nana. We would go in sometimes and I can remember the old wooden floors and the black telephones that were at each counter.
We had to go in to Gilchrist’s and visit the bakery along the Winter Street side. I always had a almond macaroon in a little paper sleeve and they were The Best!!
We would walk through the street floor of Gilchrist’s and leave by the main corner door to cross over to Jordan Marsh.

We would enter Jordan Marsh on the main street floor and visit Aunt Mary if she was at work that day. I can recall the elevators with glass French style doors opening and closing with a globe above the floor display needles that lit up to show the elevator was there. The elevators in all the older parts of the store had operators. The 1950 addition of the store had automatic elevators since it was the newest part at this time. We spent most of our shopping trip in Jordan Marsh.
It was our shop and my nana knew every inch by heart.

I can recall crossing over to the Annex Building in a variety of ways. Sometimes by the sky bridge over Avon Street which connected the 1950 addition to the main Annex Building from about the third floor to the sixth. The under Avon Street tunnel was another neat way to go from Main Basement Store to Annex Basement Store. On nice days we often just crossed Avon Street and went in on the street floor of the Annex.
I loved the Annex. It always smelled good.
I think it must have been roasting nuts or the bakery but it always smelled so warm and comforting.
The Annex seemed to be always very busy. It was also the place in Jordan Marsh that had a street floor with a nice high ceiling and that great feeling of space and that there was lots to see.
The music and record department was on the street floor of the Annex. Music always played and it added nice touch to the visit. The street corner of Avon and Washington Streets held the appliances. I had a thing for vacuum cleaners and loved to see the ones on display. Salesmen always seemed to showing off what the latest model vacuums could do for the eager customers.
We were only half done with our day out! Lots more to do and lunch to be had!

I shall write more about a typical shopping trip in my next post.

All the Best, Charles................

PS........The two photos are sample images from the Bostonian Society and these images link directly back to them. Please visit their site and support them in their fine work!

They have so much to offer!

PPS......The photos show the 1890 Jordan Marsh Main Store building that ran along Washington Street from Summer Street to Avon Street until it was torn down in 1975-6 to make way for the low modern building that sits there today. Thanks to Jan Whitaker for locating this great 1940's advert for Jordan Marsh. Please keep sharing! Write me if you want to place your own memories on this blog:-)

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!
This blog is the result of many years of wondering what to do with all my fond memories of the Boston I knew and loved growing up in. I had just retired from over 20 years of teaching when I found Jan Whitaker’s wonderful site on the history of American department stores. Her site and amazing book along with her dear friendship led me down the path of creating this blog.
Jan recently did a lecture at the Boston Public Library about the Boston department stores of the past and I spent some time gathering my own memories for Jan so that she could get a personal sense of what the Boston stores of yesterday meant to those of us who recalled them vividly.
I have been searching the internet and looking for all the materials I can find to present on this blog and help us take a stroll back in time to the Boston we all loved so much.
Many thanks to Jan for sending me so many super items for this new blog!
Please drop in and visit her at: http://www.departmentstorehistory.net/
I am very aware that not all Boston folk feel nostalgic about the stores of old and are glad to see the end of that classic era in our retail history.
During my research I have read many Boston Globe articles relating to the various stores and the closures of each. Most people who wrote in to the Globe shared a sense of loss and felt that Boston was becoming less distinctive with each store death BUT there were some who thought we were old silly fools to have feelings for those decaying icons to the Boston consumer culture of days gone by.
My mission here is to present my memories and any others that people would like to offer up for the readers. This blog may also be a great place for those who did not know the Boston that they see and read about here and want to ask questions to find out more!
Please write and share! Let’s make this blog a fun place to explore.
Thanks for visiting!
Charles…………………

charles65ofboston@yahoo.com