A handful of scenes from a typical Zayre store, circa 1968. The first shows a couple of well-dressed folks shopping the health and beauty aids department. Just seeing the Listerine display on the end cap brings back the taste of the stuff. (Not necessarily bad in my opinion, just unique. And very strong.) Listerine was one of the heaviest advertised products of the late 60's/early 70's, with a multitude of TV ads featuring their famous medicinal claim tag line - "Kills millions of germs - on contact". Later on, they were forced to trim back the "germ-killing" claim to just those germs that cause bad breath. Oh, well. The second and third photos show the menswear department, with an array of Fiesta Ware colored shirts (second photo, lower left) among other fine clothing items.
Great photos! I have never seen so many people excited about dressing up.
ReplyDeleteNow I want to see inside photos of the broken down, outdated looking Zayre of the 80s.
Actual Zayre stores usually were in more disarray than this. the clothing depeartements looked more endless piperacks of sport shirts and slacks than a department store.
ReplyDeleteDidi - We don't do broken-down here (unless it's all I can find). Just amazingly successful stores, filled with well-dressed, insanely happy people! ;)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous- That's for sure. It almost looks like a more upscale men's store. They put their best foot forward for this one!
It is cool to see pics of real people from the 60's. The common myth is that everyone was a "hippie". Not true at all.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics once again -- thanks!
ReplyDeleteInsanely happy people? I saw ridculously happy people!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tomcat. It's cool to see pics of people from the 60s who weren't hippies but regular everyday people.
Thanks for the super photos! I had forgotten that Zayre carried dress clothes.
ReplyDeleteI bought my first 45 record at Zayre. They had shrink-wrapped it to a piece of cardboard showing the sleeve and the record out of the sleeve.
Tomcat - No question about it. Today we tend to stereotype the 60's as a big "love-in", just like the 50's are stereotyped as a big sock hop. Real life was always more toned down. A walk through any store today will tell you that people dressed better then, though!
ReplyDeleteKendra- You're welcome, and thank you!
Didi- I stand corrected. :)
I think these photos are very true to the times.
Pat - Thanks, and I remember that 45 packaging as well! Hadn't thought about that in years, and now I'm curious as to why they did it that way.