...and a Very Merry Christmas to You!

This past Thanksgiving I did something for the first time in
many years. Most years I catch maybe 20 or 30 minutes of the Macy’s Thanksgiving
Day Parade, and many years have skipped it altogether. This year, my family and
I watched darn near the entire thing.



I thought it was great this year, especially the music acts
that stopped and performed on the “main stage” area of 34th Street,
in

It's Christmastiiiiime in Ford City!

It was the one indoor marching band event of my high school
career. Early one Saturday morning each December, we’d pile into the buses for
the 20 minute drive south, passing through towns such as Argo (Always brought
to mind a box of corn starch. Still does.) and Summit to Ford City Mall for
their annual indoor Christmas parade. There we’d join with other school bands,
animal acts,

Christmas in Herald Square, 1974

When people think of New York City’s famed Herald Square,
one name in particular comes immediately to mind – Macy’s, of course. Its 110-year
old flagship, billed almost from the start as “The World’s Largest Store”, has
been a revered local fixture and a worldwide tourist draw for generations.


Pictured here, in a photo dating from the 1974 Christmas
season, are Macy’s next door neighbors

A 1950's Christmas in Martinsburg

It’s always amazed me how Kodachrome film can make an over 50-year
old scene look like it took place last night. That’s certainly the case here in
this beautiful night shot of a Christmas shopping crowd at a Peoples Drug store
in Martinsburg, West Virginia, from an original slide I bought some time back.



But this was well over fifty years ago, probably closer to
sixty, an infinitely

Bring Back the San Fernando Penney's!

You know, there must be some people who read this site
regularly and wonder – “Dave, you’re a blogger. Why don’t you ever take a stand
on anything? You never weigh in on the big issues of our time. You’re always on
the fence. Asleep at the wheel. Out to lunch. AWOL!”



Well, friends, I want you to know that I hear you, and today
I’m answering the call! And the issue I herewith weigh in

"The Beat Goes On" at Dillard's

Here’s a set of vintage snapshot photos I purchased several
months back. Taken in Austin, Texas in April 1967, they depict famed pop stars Sonny
and Cher on a bandstand in front of a Dillard’s department store. The photos
are a bit overlit and fuzzy (not unusual for outdoor shots from an inexpensive
Kodak 126 Instamatic – like millions of others in those days, most of my
childhood

Our Lucky Winners!

Well, friends, the results are in, and pictured above are the
winning “ballots” for our Randhurst Book contest, in the order in which they were drawn!
Congratulations to Don Fields, Mel (of Ephemeraology fame), Pseudo3D,
Mygypsynature and Anna Banana!



If each of you would email me your address at pleasantfamilyshopping(at)hotmail(dot)com,
I’ll get your book packaged up and on its way to you!

Randhurst is 50!

Today marks another in a series of retail golden
anniversaries in a year already full of them. While less renowned than the
others we’ve talked about here in recent months, it’s the one closest to my
heart. Fifty years ago today, Randhurst Center, the “pinwheel on the prairie”
to cite one nickname from its early days, opened in Mount Prospect, Illinois, about
20 miles northwest of

Happy July 4th, Plus One!

Yes, my friends, it’s that time again! The day after America’s
birthday comes Pleasant Family Shopping’s birthday, number 5 this year. It’s
the day I go scrambling through my files for a nice summer scene and try to
come up with something clever to say about it.



The scene is certainly nice enough  - a good old Piggly Wiggly, in this case a
Texas location operated by Shop Rite Foods of Texas

July 2, 1962 - The First Walmart Opens

Ben Franklin could’ve had it made. I’m not referring to the “founding
father”, of course – the one Americans will honor tomorrow, he of the long hair
and granny glasses, kites, keys and lightning bolts, Almanacks and The Saturday
Evening Post. I mean the famous variety store chain that borrowed its name from
ol’ Ben, the “Ben Franklin 5 and 10 cent stores” that dotted communities
nationwide

J.C. Penney, King of the Soft Goods

Reaching its silver anniversary in 1927, the J.C. Penney
Company found many reasons to celebrate. The amount of Penney stores had more
than doubled since 1920 to more than 750 locations “in practically every State
in the Union” according to the New York Times (close to it - 45 of the then 48 states),
and annual sales of nearly $116 million.  





By this time the founder himself, James Cash

A Farewell to Mr. Paperback

   





Today I'm honored to present to you the
first ever guest post on Pleasant Family Shopping! It’s written by Kendra Bird,
a native of Bangor, Maine, anthropology student, avid retail history fan and a friend
of this site from almost the very beginning.  For those from or familiar with Maine (especially the Bangor area),
this will be of particular

May 1, 1962 - The First Target Opens

Once again, another legendary retailer celebrates their
golden anniversary. It’s none other than Target, “the upscale discounter”,
which officially launched 50 years ago today yesterday. Pictured above is the very first
Target store, located in Roseville, Minnesota, a suburb just north of the Twin
Cities. From this humble beginning came one of today’s most successful and
influential

Publix and the Wings of Time

A couple of years back we featured a series on the history of Publix, the Florida-based supermarket chain. As mentioned throughout those posts, Publix is a company that has inspired a highly unusual degree of loyalty among its customers, a fact that’s no surprise to most folks who live in their market areas. They have a “mystique”, if you will, acquired over the years - something most retailers

March 1, 1962 - The First Kmart Opens

Today marks a key milestone in retailing history – the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first Kmart store, in Garden City, Michigan, pictured above shortly after its opening in a photo from “The S.S. Kresge Story”, a 1979 book by the company founder’s son, Stanley S. Kresge. This store still exists, albeit in extensively remodeled form.By any measure, 1962 was the Year of the Discount Store

Reflections on Dixie Square Mall

There was a time when you could when you could walk around the Dixie Square Mall without placing yourself in the path of bulldozers or wrecking balls. And there was a time when you could explore the place and even take pictures without fear of the floor falling out from under or on top of you, or being attacked by wild dogs or persons with bad intent. And yes, there was actually a time when you

Shopping in Los Angeles - The 1950's

There’s a ritual I never fail to observe when traveling to Los Angeles on business. I’ve done it for years now. Once I land, usually at LAX, grab my rental car and hit the road, I call home to let everyone know I arrived safely (transcontinental flight, you know), and at some point in the conversation I exclaim “I love L.A.!” in my best, most frazzled Randy Newman voice. It’s the title line from

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012, and welcome to the start of a new year of Pleasant Family Shopping, where we revisit those great everyday places from our past – the supermarket, the discount store, the shopping center and more. Think about it – they’ve changed more than a little through the years, haven’t they?And to start the year off right, we’ve adopted a special theme. I like to call it “ring out the old, ring