It's back to school time, What store did you get your clothing and shoes at, that are no longer around. Mine were

[debm55]

Gimbels for clothing and Kenney"s for shoes. How about you?

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Sears and Montgomery Wards

[debm55]

2. Thank you very much, sinkingfeeling. Yes, they were both great places to buy back to school clothing. By to both.

[FalloutShelter]

29. Gosh... when we were kids we called it Monkey Ward.

[debm55]

51. HAHAHHAHAHAHHA, That is funny. I remember that.

[OldBaldy1701E]

64. Same.

There was also a Roses in a nearby town that we would go to on occasion.

[debm55]

66. Thank you very much, OldBaldy1701E.

[anciano]

3. Sears

[debm55]

5. Thank you very much, anciano. At one time Sears was the go to store for everyone. It's a shame what happened to it.

[Americanme]

4. Sears and Kmart

[debm55]

7. Thank you Americanme---we always went to K-Mart for school supples. Sears was for holiday dresses. Shame they are are

past.

[debm55]

10. Thank you Midnight Writer. My cousins-one older and one younger, would pass the clothing down. I made some of my

clothing, We always got an outfit for the first day of school and a new pair of shoes that lasted the whole school year.

[Dave in VA]

8. Sears and Roebuck

and Kenney's for shoes.

Two new shirts and two new pairs of pants. One new pair of shoes from Kenney's. There were three school age boys to buy for.

[debm55]

12. Thank you Dave in VA. We had three kids in our house also. Just a couple of dresses and the shoes at Kenney;s. Our play

shoes were either passed down or bought at the thrirt shop.

[SamKnause]

9. K-Mart or Twin Fair

[debm55]

39. Thank you SamKnause. We had K-Mart, but I don't remember Twin Fair.

[LogDog75]

11. Sears and the Navy Exchange

My father was in the Navy so we bought at the Navy Exchange. In my early teens, he was the Navy liaison with Sikorsky Aircraft in Connecticut in the early 60s. No nearby bases so we bought our clothes at Sears.

[debm55]

40. Thank you very much LogDog75, Sears was good for kids clothing.

[Ritabert]

13. Montgomery Ward for anything our mother couldn't sew.

[debm55]

41. Thank you very much Ritabert. I have found that boys clothing is especially harder to sew.

[Beatlelvr]

14. The Broadway and Nash's in Pasadena

May Company, Robinsons-May. I miss them!

[debm55]

42. Me too, Beatlelver. May Company was a mainstay as a child and even after I got married.

[BuddhaGirl]

84. Do you remember Bullocks?

Macy's bought the chain out and ruined them...the Bullocks in Pasadena was so nice

May Co, Robinson's, Broadway...seems so long ago!

[rsdsharp]

15. Sears and Penny's, with Brown's Shoe Fit (the only shoe store in town) for shoes.👞

[debm55]

43. Thank you very much rsdsharp. As I teen I did my school shopping at K-Mart. For some special occassions , I switched

over to Penneys.

[Aristus]

16. When I was in elementary school, there was a local children's clothing store called Small Fry.

IIRC, the owner's name was Fry. We got our new clothes from there. One year, I got a baby-blue turtle-neck sweater there that I wore for my school photo. I have the photo around somewhere. (The turtle-neck is obviously long gone...)

[debm55]

28. Thank you very much. Aristus, It;s amazing you remember that. The sweater sounds very nice.

[Bmoboy]

17. Robert Hall

In the "husky" section.

[debm55]

26. We did shopping at Robert Hall in our town.. It was the first clothing clothing store in McKeesport to close, I remember

it wasn't very big.

[FirstLight]

18. Mervyn's & Montgomery Wards...

sometimes Capwell's downtown if the had a good basement bargain going... They had a nice little soda fountain dwnstairs and if I was good, I'd get a sundae!

[debm55]

23. Me too, I hated trying on dresses, Pants for girls were not allowed until 10th grade.

[Fiendish Thingy]

19. Mervyn's and Gallenkamp's or Kinney's. Nt

[debm55]

21. Thank you very much, Fiendish Thingy. I think Kinney's shoes was very popular back then, I am still very concerned with

trying my shoes on before I buy, Not a lot of places to that anymore,

[FuzzyRabbit]

20. We got my clothes at JC Penny.

Mom made my sister's clothes.

[debm55]

22. Thank you FuzzyRabbit,---from a fellow sewer.

[malthaussen]

24. Horne's when we lived in Pittsburgh, Sears when we lived in Philly. n/t

[debm55]

25. Hi Mal, I remember Hornes downtown, Thank you for the memories.

[Walleye]

27. We had a store in Dover named Emmanuel's. They had the quality stuff in town my grandmother used to work there

And we got our essential name brand loafers. Weejuns

[debm55]

67. Thank you very much ,Walleye.for sharing with us

[FalloutShelter]

30. Bambergers...(pre Macys)

Big flagship store in Newark, NJ.

[debm55]

73. Oh wow, that sounds great. Thank you for sharing. I love those big multi floor stores . In Pittsburgh we had Kaufmann;s.

[LeftInTX]

31. In HS, I sewed alot of my clothes because I was so small.

We shopped where ever....
Dad was in the AF. We got some stuff on base and at discount stores. We got some stuff at department stores, which were local to where he was stationed.

[debm55]

74. Thank you very much, LeftInTX. My husband did the same as his dad was in the service.

[3catwoman3]

32. When I was in high school (class of 1969), sears had really stylish and well made...

...clothes. I'd spend hours poring over their catalog, picking out my ensembles. I still remember what some of the looked like. My dad worked for Allstate, which was part of the Sears family (or vice versa, I've forgotten which) so we got a 10% employee discount on everything. My depression-era born mother was very upset when Sears discontinued that discount many years later when the company's decline began.

Also, some purchases from local department stores in the greater Rochester (NY) area - E. W. Edwards, Sibleys, McCurdy's and Forman's. All really nice stores, on a par with Marshall Field, and all long gone.

Don't remember much about shoes, other than having trouble finding ones that fit well because of high arches.

I used to get hand-me-downs from my 2 older cousins, which was a treat as their mom had good taste. The older of the two topped out at 5'0'', and her sister at 5'4", so that came to a halt when I passed up both of them at 5'8".

[debm55]

54. Great post, 3catwoman3, Shoes have always been a problem for me too. Thank you for sharing.

[Jilly_in_VA]

33. Montgomery Ward

Sears, and a local outfit called Hills. My mom sewed some of my clothes, and when I was in HS I made a lot of mine too.

[debm55]

56. Thank you, Jilly_in _VA, We had a Hills stores here in Western PA. too. I remember when my girlfriends and I went to

see David Bowie, they all had satin pant suits--all store bought. I made mine and like my velvet bridesmaid gown, would never sew those materials again.

[TommieMommy]

34. Sears, Howlands or the Stratford Town Fair Store.

[debm55]

57. Thank you very much TommieMommy. Sears seems like a favorite of a lot of families. It is a shame they went downhill.

[oberle]

35. Woodward & Lothrop

in downtown DC. They had the best lunch room with wonderful malted milkshakes and tuna fish sandwiches.

[debm55]

58. Thank you very much, oberle. I ,too, liked the stores with lunch rooms. We made a day of it.

[beaglelover]

36. Bambergers (bought by Macy's).

[debm55]

60. Thank you very much beaglelover. I shopped at Macy's after I got my first job. Liked their clothing.

[JMCKUSICK]

37. Kmart

[debm55]

52. thank you John for sharing, We wenh to Kmart too

[Mad_Dem_X]

38. Sears, K Mart, Grant's

Grant's was a local store in my hometown (Pennsville, NJ). Not sure if they had stores in other locations.

[debm55]

50. Thank you very much, Mad_Dem_X, We had a Grant's here in our Western PA , town.

[Solly Mack]

44. Rich's, downtown Atlanta.

[debm55]

49. Thank you very much , SollyMack.

[Eugene]

45. Just looked up the old shoe store and was surprised they still exist.

I haven't seen Hanlon in the Boston area since the 1970s.

For clothing, my family shopped a local non-chain stores, including a place called The Bargain Center in Quincy, MA.

[debm55]

48. Oh wow, that is neat that they are still around, Eugene. Thank you very much for your post.

[catbyte]

46. Sears or we'd drive 180 miles south to Wurzburg's Department Store in Grand Rapids, MI.

Going to the "Big City" was always an occasion, lol.

[debm55]

47. Thank you catbyte. That is a long journey.

[pdxflyboy]

53. Greenberg's Men and Boys Shop,

Wall Street, Norwalk, CT

[debm55]

69. Thank you pdxflyboy. Yes, I remember the stores that sold just men's and boy's clothing. All gone. But many memories.

[Freddie]

55. Mailman's in York PA

Long-gone department store. Loved their clothes, Mom and Dad loved their prices.

[debm55]

62. That's a great post Freddie. Thank you for sharing.

[Coolgoober]

59. G Fox & Company

My grandma worked there. It was in Hartford CT. My grandma worked there. It was something like 8 or 9 stories of retail. Each floor being it's own department, maybe two. The elevators and escalators were a blast to play on. Me and my brothers were always super polite and thoughtful and would even push the buttons for whatever floor the customers would want. I miss those times and those kinds of stores. I'd have to look it up but, I think a family owned it, maybe two, but not traded on exchange.

[debm55]

65. Yes, I loved those multilevel old stores. Each floor had its own theme---children;s, men's women;s etc. The escalators

were made of wood at the time. I loved going to the Bridal Floor and looking the all the gowns,

[Cloudhopper]

77. My mom worked there, too. I posted below. We would skip school

and take the bus into Hartford and play on the elevators, too. We weren't that polite though... kids.

It was originally owned by the Fox family, and eventually daughter Beatrice Fox Auerbach took over. Mrs. A had a full apartment on the top floor I got to see once.

[BigMin28]

61. Montgomery Wards

and Sanger Harris for clothes. Kenneys for shoes too. Although before my mother went to work, she made most of my clothes. I was the only girl of four. Great memories of going to the Hancocks Fabric store to pick out patterns and material. In no time she would have it made. Her mother retired as a seamstress from the first Neiman Marcus store in Dallas. Sadly, I did not inherit that talent.

[debm55]

63. Thank you for sharing with us, BigMin28. I bought some of my fabric at Hancocks Fabric. There were three to pick from.

You may not have their talent for sewing , but you have the love you both gave each other.

[AllaN01Bear]

68. pennys . may co. west covina.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_May_Department_Stores_Company

[debm55]

70. Thank you very much AllaN01Bear, We had the May Co and Pennys here too. It was always a delight to visit at Christmas

with the store decorations and the fancy clothing.

[AllaN01Bear]

72. i was fawscinated with sking . loved to visitt that section.

[debm55]

83. Thank you, Bear

[Cloudhopper]

71. Kmart, Zayres, Bradlees, Thom McAn

But mom had a bookkeeping job at G.Fox & Co., a large department store in Hartford, CT, and when employees got special extra discount on top of the normal discount, combined with a back-to-school sale, we made out pretty good,

That store was eventually taken over by Filene's and now Macy's.

[debm55]

82. Thank you Cloudhopper, My husband is from Boston and when we would visit, we would visit Filene's basement and get

really good buys.

[boonecreek]

75. For clothes, probably Wieboldts or Goldblatts.

These were Chicago area stores. We got our shoes at a store on
North Ave. on the cusp of the Logan Square Humboldt park neighborhoods.
They sold the Red Goose brand of shoes. When you got a pair, they had this big
red goose on the counter and when you pulled its neck down, it would "lay" a
a golden egg which had a bag of M&Ms inside. This was far enough back that
the store had one of those Xray machines in the back, unplugged of course.

[debm55]

81. Thank you very much, boonecreek. We went to a different shoe store one year that had the xray machine to measure your

feet, I remember it was crowded as everyone wanted to use it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

76. The State Street Mill bargain center.

Mid to late 50s and early 60s. Utica New York.

There were six of us kids, no money, and looking back I'm amazed and impressed that Mom took care of all of us.

[debm55]

78. Thank you very much, PoindexterOglethorpe. Yes, your mom was amazing.

[Emile]

79. Meis Brothers department store.

[debm55]

80. Thank you very much, Emile. I always liked getting back to school clothes and especially new shoes.

[ProfessorGAC]

85. Local Shoe Store

And a fine fashion store a called Baskin's. Got a new suit or sportcoat, and they were the store for our school uniform stuff. (Black pants, white shirt, red tie, black or red sweater.)
Baskin's had a second floor for women, but no girls' stuff. The girls went to Fehrenbacher's. They had the market cornered on girls' uniforms for all the catholic schools, including the high schools.
My wife got new outfits there every year. Plus, her best friend's mom was a seamstress. Made wonderful clothes for both girls.