When You Wish Upon a Sears

You know, it just wouldn’t be Christmastime around here without stopping in at Sears. So, in keeping with our age-old (ok, three year-old) tradition, here we go! And a welcome sight this is – the brand-new Sears at the Tri-County Shopping Center in Springdale (Cincinnati), Ohio, as it appeared during its first Christmas season in 1967. The store still exists in what is now called Tri-County Mall, just off of Interstate 275.

It doesn’t take much to get people who grew up with the Sears Christmas Wish Book to talk on and on about it. In my family’s case, we would kill several hours over Thanksgiving weekend going through it (or the JCPenney Christmas Catalog, which was also excellent), making a list of things we hoped to find under the tree - in the interest of making it easy on the folks, of course. The list making was almost as much fun as the actual opening of the presents! (Note I said “almost”.)

For those who want to reminisce or were a bit too young to experience the “wish books”, I want to once again point you towards a fantastic website, appropriately enough called the “Wish Book Web”, where you’ll find an amazing collection of Christmas catalogs from the likes of Sears, Penneys, Wards and others, scanned in full. You may want to wait until after Christmas to check it out, though, or you might not get your shopping finished!

The First Woolco Stores

Within a five-month span in 1962, the modern discount store industry was born. In March, S.S. Kresge Co. opened the first Kmart store in Garden City, Michigan. In May, the first Target store was opened in Roseville, Minnesota by the Dayton Company, an old-line Minneapolis department store firm. In June, F.W. Woolworth Co. opened the first of its Woolco discount department stores in Columbus, Ohio. And yes, there was one more – in July, an Arkansas-based Ben Franklin franchisee opened “something called a Wal-Mart”, as he would later put it. Few people outside his home state would hear about that guy for years, though.

In September 1961, Woolworth announced its selection of Columbus, Ohio as the location of the first Woolco store. Woolworth chairman Robert C. Kirkwood explained his rationale to the press: “Columbus, with its tremendous growth potential and long-range plans for continuing industrial development, is an ideal location to make our entry into the low-profit, mass merchandising field". (“Low-profit” was a standard industry term among discounters in those days.)

On June 6, 1962, the first Woolco store, a 106,000 square foot unit, opened at Columbus’ Great Southern Shopping Center. It made for a wild scene, as reported by The New York Times the next day - “4,000 to 5,000 persons crowded inside in the first hour, (and) long lines formed at the eighteen checkout counters.” The center’s 5,000 spot parking lot filled to capacity by noon. Of course (we’re talking 1962 here) there was the element of spectacle that was part and parcel of Grand Openings at the time- the mayor of Columbus presented Woolworth chairman Kirkwood with the key to the city, for one thing. There was also a special display of jewelry, including a necklace valued at $1,000,000, which sported the “80.3 carat Portuguese Diamond… that drew sighs of amazement from housewives pushing shopping carts past the display. Store officials conceded that they did not expect to find a buyer for the necklace”.

Though every other item was well below the million dollar price point, the Woolco format did allow the company to carry much higher-ticket items than their Woolworth’s variety store counterparts, whose lineup generally capped-out at the $100 mark, with only a handful items going for anywhere near that . The NYT article cited a $3,000 necklace (much more reasonable, don’t you think?), a $649.74 refrigerator and a $448 TV/stereo console as examples. The higher priced goods were the result of the much wider product offering the discount store format allowed, owing mainly to the greatly expanded floor space. The previous September, Mr. Kirkwood went so far as to tell the Wall Street Journal that “Less than 5% of Woolco merchandise will be the variety store types”. The Woolco stores would have “appliances, drugs, auto supplies (and service), men’s wear and other departments not in the variety stores”. There would also be expanded lineups of shoes, sporting goods, jewelry and other items. Many of these departments would be handled by outside lessees, as per standard discount store practice at the time. A much greater emphasis would be placed on credit sales, a huge revenue opportunity for the company (and ultimately a huge headache for many a consumer) that fit the “big-ticket discounter” much better than it did the good old “dime store”. And then there was the food – the “Red Grille” cafeterias would be standard features of every Woolco store – not at all surprising, considering Woolworth earned a impressive 10% of its total revenue from in-store restaurant sales.

The name “Woolco”, incidentally, wasn’t new at all. It had served as a Woolworth private brand name since at least the 1920’s, featured on everything from sewing supplies to 78 rpm records to tins of candy. Most often it appeared inside the form of an elongated diamond logo, later adapted and modified for use as an early logo for the discount stores, where it was displayed prominently on interior signage.

Interestingly, out of the seven Woolco stores opened during its founding year, 1962, four of them were located in Canada. In addition to a second Columbus Woolco (pictured above) and one in Richmond, Virginia, the four Canadian stores opened that year were located in Brantford, Sudbury, Hamilton and Windsor, Ontario. The company would continue to open a high percentage of its new Woolco store base in Canada over the next few years.

Woolworth’s initial assessment of the first seven Woolco stores was positive, if a bit low-key – after a year of operation, the stores “had reached or surpassed the goals of public acceptance set for them”. No million-dollar necklace sales needed.

The first two photos shown above are vintage Woolworth publicity shots, showing the distinctive I-beam sign structure and zig-zag awning the chain used during its first couple of years of existence - Corpus Christi, Texas, opened in March 1964 at Greater Parkdale Plaza , and Phoenix, Arizona (Hayden Plaza West), which opened the following month. Note the Woolworth’s store to the left of the new Woolco.

The rest of the photos depict the Woolco store at the Graceland Shopping Center, the second Woolco unit in Columbus, Ohio. This store opened in early October, 1962, some ten miles north of the first Columbus Woolco store. Photos 3 through 7 were taken in 1970, and the last photo was taken in 1966, when the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales were in town. (Does this kind of thing ever happen at shopping centers anymore? I think I know the answer.) A very special thanks goes to George Campbell, Columbus-area native and historian, for the use of these photos. George has an excellent website devoted to the area’s history. There is a special section devoted to the history of the Graceland Shopping Center, including shots of a Big Bear store and a Colonial Stores-era Albers Supermarket, along with a special Woolco section that brings us up to date on the building’s history. Also, check out his Flickr photostream for more great historic photos!

A New Day For Wards

Shown above are some Montgomery Ward stores from the late 1950’s. They are among the first stores the company opened after a 17-year moratorium on new construction. Radically different from the quaint, outdated stores that Wards shoppers (a steadily decreasing cohort through the 50’s) were familiar with, they represent a herculean effort to reintroduce and redefine Montgomery Ward in the eyes of the buying public, and to compete in a retail world that had changed in so many ways.

Sewell Avery, whose leadership had saved the company in the 1930’s, was poorly suited to lead the company during America’s phenomenal economic expansion in the postwar years. Convinced that another depression loomed around the corner, Avery “put Wards in a ‘storm cellar’”, as Ward’s 100th anniversary publication put it. No funds would be allocated to new stores or modernization, and even inventory was skimped on. The anniversary book cites $270 million that the company was forced to refund to catalog customers in 1946 due to out-of-stocks, a horrendous sum in that day (or this one, for that matter). The massive refund payout kept Wards from attaining what would have been its first billion-dollar sales year.

Avery’s pessimistic outlook, and his conviction that government policies were in the works to further penalize Wards led him to focus his efforts on building a large cash reserve for the company. To be sure, that goal was achieved ($327 million in cash by 1955, of which all but $23 million was invested in U.S. Government securities – ironic, don't you think?), but it came at the expense of the company’s retail business – its presumable reason for existence.

By 1955, as Fortune magazine later put it, “Montgomery Ward was a very sick cat”, with a “mountainous pile of cash and the company’s reputation for quality and service, but that was about all…”. Probably the most powerful indicator of Ward’s standing in the public eye came when contrasted with Sears. From the mid-1920’s through the early 40’s, as their companies gradually approached the billion dollar mark, Wards and Sears’ annual sales closely tracked each other, with Sears leading throughout the period by a fairly small gap. By the end of the 40’s, the “gap” had turned into a delta, with Sears at $2 billion and Wards at only one. Ten years later the “delta” had become the Grand Canyon, with Sears tallying over $4 billion and Wards still stuck at just over a billion dollars. Sears had taken the completely opposite approach to Wards when it came to expansion, snapping up choice suburban shopping center locations on which they would build huge, sprawling stores. While Wards languished in the past, Sears became the store of choice for postwar America, supplying all manner of goods –clothes, appliances, furniture, lawn mowers, you name it – to help usher in a new era of affordable luxury and leisure-time pursuits for the middle class. In the process, Sears came to symbolize America itself in the eyes of many.

By the mid 1950’s, pressure was building on Montgomery Ward to end Sewell Avery’s autocratic reign and archaic policies. In August 1954, Louis E. Wolfson, described in the anniversary book as a “youthful industrialist and promoter” came on the scene, announcing his intention to bid for control of Montgomery Ward. Wolfson, a forerunner to the corporate “takeover specialists” of the 1980’s, had reportedly gained control over corporate assets worth over $200 million by that time, according to author James Grant in his book “Money of the Mind”. Wolfson proclaimed that he saw a huge opportunity to restore Wards to greatness, putting the large cash reserve to use in expansion. Wolfson, while maintaining a modicum of personal respect for Avery, pointed out (as quoted in the Grant book) that “Ward’s management had blindly and obstinately hitched the company’s future to a depression”. The 81-year old Avery, for his part, batted back fiercely. In the company’s annual report to stockholders for 1954, Avery used the usually placid, non-controversial format of the annual report to outline his defense against Wolfson, a seven-point description of various investigations, alleged conflicts of interest and accusations of self-dealing on Wolfson’s part. Avery closed with: “In contrast, the character of your management has been reflected in the accomplishments of the last 24 years, during which the assets have been built up to $721,000,000 including cash of $327,000,000”.

In April 1955, one of the most famous proxy fights in the history of American business took place at Montgomery Ward’s annual meeting in Chicago. A confused and feeble appearing Sewell Avery took the microphone and attempted to lay out his case, with pitiful results. The whole proceeding was documented by Life Magazine's photographer, as can be seen here. Because of the structure of Ward’s board, only three new directors could be appointed per year, so while Wolfson failed to gain control of the company, his efforts were sufficient to oust Avery from the chairmanship. Wolfson and two associates were seated on the board. Sewell Avery resigned as chairman but would remain on the board for another four years, passing away in 1960. Wards vice president John Barr, a longtime company veteran who had been loyal to Avery but saw the need to expand and modernize, took over as chairman. Wolfson and his two associates, confident that Barr and the new team would revive the company and enhance his investment, resigned from the board early in 1956. Wolfson would later pursue a number of diverse ventures, including helping to finance Mel Brooks’ first film, “The Producers”.

Barr set two main goals – to rebuild Ward’s decimated management structure, and to expand and revamp the store base. The store program started slowly, with only $8 million spent on store remodels in 1956. More importantly, however, plans were being drawn for Wards stores with a completely new image – new styles, merchandising, color schemes, logos, and just about everything else. In late 1957, a new store opened in Portsmouth, Ohio. Shopping center stores, the company’s new main focus, were first opened in Denver, Colorado and Gary, Indiana in 1958, along with a new downtown store in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. By 1959, $150 million had been spent on new store development, with plans announced for another $500 million to be spent over the next five years.

Montgomery Ward, retail’s “Rip van Winkle”, had finally awoken.

Pictured above, from top to bottom: The opening (to-day) festivities of the new Wards store in Gary, Indiana, complete with a rostrum full of dignitaries, the Eau Claire, Wisconsin store (with dignitaries but no rostrum), The new store at Kansas City’s Blue Ridge Shopping Center, with cool looking trellises above the entrances, a wide shot of the Gary store, and a busy scene at the new Wheaton (MD) Plaza location from 1959. For those who prefer black-and-white, below are the 1957 Portsmouth, Ohio, store, another shot of the Kansas City Blue Ridge store, and finally the new Wonderland Shopping Center store, opened in Livonia, Michigan in 1959.

The Kroger Superstores!

In the early 1970’s, Kroger was at the proverbial crossroads. The closing years of the sixties and early years of the seventies had brought about many changes in American life - the most obvious, of course, being political and social in nature. Far less obvious, but sweeping nonetheless, were the changes in the retail business environment. The supermarket industry, in particular, was reeling. There were many factors behind this – inflation, wage and price controls, consumer advocacy (for the first time, a real public focus on nutrition and health), food shortages, strikes and a number of other concerns. On top of this, the age-old battle for marketing and competitive supremacy was becoming more heated than ever.

Throughout 1970 and 1971, Kroger conducted an arduous, in-depth review of every aspect of its operation – company structure, management, manufacturing, merchandising, store locations and design, personnel training, you name it. At the same time, they conducted the most in-depth review to date of their competition in every market – an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses and how Kroger was stacking up against them. Since this was the seventies, you might call it an “I’m OK, You’re OK”-type analysis, referring to a famous pop-psychology book that half of the country seemed to be into at the time. (My mom had the book. Of course, I never read it, but I vaguely remember a parody - in Mad Magazine or somewhere else - called “I’m OK, You’re Nuts!”).

Some results of the study were reassuring – Kroger’s balance sheet was strong, and their distribution centers and manufacturing/private label operations were going great guns, as it were. Most importantly, though, the study revealed Kroger’s problem areas –the things that had to be addressed to ensure Kroger’s survival in what would prove to be a very challenging decade for the industry. They could see clearly now –the rain was gone. They could see all obstacles in their way…

And there were two main obstacles to be dealt with. First, it became clear that Kroger would be better off withdrawing from unprofitable markets that showed little potential for a turnaround, those areas in which Kroger was a clear also-ran. These markets were Chicago (most remaining stores sold to Fisher Foods’ Dominick’s division in 1971), Wisconsin (55 stores statewide - including the remaining 19 Milwaukee units, some of which went to Jewel, in 1971), Minneapolis (most stores sold to Quality Foods, also in ‘71) and Birmingham, which Kroger left in 1972. Also, the number of retail divisions, known as “Kroger Marketing Areas”, was consolidated to 13 from the previous 23.

The other major problem was the state of the stores themselves. Averaging only 16,000 square feet in store size, Kroger found itself falling behind industry standards. The number of food items had proliferated wildly in the 15 years or so that Kroger ‘s stores had been that size, and just as significantly, the smaller stores placed severe limitations on the amount of (very profitable) general merchandise items that could be stocked. As a couple of folks have noted in their comments on this site, Kroger’s produce and service departments (deli, bakery, etc.) left something to be desired. Another issue was the relative blandness of the stores. What may have been “state of the art” or at least above par in the late 50’s was by this time sorely dated. Above all, Kroger's stores were in dire need of a distinctive new image.

They really went for it. Out of this painful process came the “Superstore”, a new concept in every way for Kroger, one which made an immediate and fairly long-lasting impact on the chain’s fortunes. Fondly remembered by many today, the superstores easily ranked among the most attractive stores of the era.

Bursting at the seams with pride in their new stores, Kroger described a typical exterior in 1972 as follows – “The new look starts when you’re several blocks away. A graceful white column topped by a room-sized cube bearing Kroger’s name towers 30 feet high to identify the store.” (If you’ve ever stood at the base of one these signs, as I do when I buy gas at a Kroger near us, you’ll notice it definitely is “room-sized”. Surprisingly so. Many of these signs still exist, long after the age of the superstores has passed.)“As you enter the parking lot, the store comes into view. Bigger. Longer. Often with a SupeRx store as an integrated neighbor. A sharply clean, crisp look. Soaring white arches with almost a Moorish look, silhouetted against smoke brick and blue sky.” (I’m assuming the “sky” part varied, but I was pretty young in 1972!)

Inside were the real delights – “Look around. The first impression is spaciousness and cleanliness. Then a warmer, more friendly look. Then it hits you. The colors. Pulsing and alive, accented with wooden beams. Even the cases have lost their pale pastel tones. Now they’re richly-hued green and gold and bittersweet (I always thought that was a kind of memory, not a color), sparked with walnut-vinyl trim. Bold colors transmit a sense of shopping excitement.”

Then there were the service departments – “The Village Bakery is like a transplant from an English Tudor village with its beams and cross-hatched windows. And if the Viennese tortes, gesundheit kuchens (I’d probably love ‘em if I knew what they were!) and buttery dinner rolls look particularly good, there’s a reason. They’re made especially for the Village Bakery in local custom bakeries … and in a growing number of areas, in Kroger’s own handcraft bakeries.” “Next door in the delicatessen, a pleasant-faced clerk proffers a sample of salami and calls attention to the delicatessen’s freshly-barbecued ribs, basted with a tangy sauce and broiled to a tantalizing brownness. She stands under a wood-shingle roof, accented with the golden glow of lighted panels. Her stock in trade is prepared foods ready to carry home…”

There’s not a lot I can add to these great descriptions or to what you can see for yourself in the photos, but I would like to point out the great, classic 70’s lighting fixtures – globe lights with red, yellow or smoke-colored plastic domes, and the wood and textured amber glass-framed globes above the checkstands. The textured amber “glass”’ is probably fiberglass-reinforced plastic, a very popular decorative material of the time.

The size range of the superstores, with some exceptions (see the comments on the previous post), was 25,000 to 42,000 square feet. By the end of 1974, with three years of intense superstore construction under its belt, Kroger had opened 300 new stores and converted 250 existing ones into superstores, with an average square footage per unit of 29,000 as opposed to the 1970 average of 16,000. The “converted” stores, as mentioned, were completely redeveloped existing Kroger stores, expanded and refitted with the superstore interior package. The company tended to go with larger stores in booming new suburban shopping areas, such as the 35,616 square foot superstore opened in late 1971 in Goodlettsville (Nashville), Tennessee, located on Two Mile Pike (later renamed Rivergate Parkway after the adjacent mall of the same name), or in upscale areas, such as the Hyde Park section of Cincinnati, where a 42,000 square foot unit opened in 1974.

Kroger’s aggressive approach for the superstore program was fortuitous. Had Kroger delayed the superstore rollout by even a year, the cost would have been far higher, given the unprecedented inflation of the 1973-75 period.

Just as a side note, as if all of this weren’t exciting enough, Kroger decided to enter the amusement business. As trading stamps fell victim to the price wars of the early 70’s, Kroger needed a means to bolster its Top Value Enterprises subsidiary. In May 1972, Top Value entered into a joint venture with Taft Broadcasting, a Cincinnati-based media empire, to form Family Leisure Centers, Inc. Taft was just about to open Kings Island, a theme park located northwest of Cincinnati off of I-71. The first project of the new joint venture was Kings Dominion, a new theme park to be built in Richmond, Virginia. The first phase of the project, Lion Country Safari, “where the people are caged and the animals roam free”, opened in 1973 with the rest of the park following a bit later. In early 1975, Family Leisure Centers purchased a second theme park, Carowinds, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, from an investor group headed by Duke Power. When Kroger sold Top Value in 1978, it retained its interest in Family Leisure for another couple of years, eventually dissolving the partnership with Taft. Kroger did retain majority ownership in Kings Dominion for a period of time after that.

One other area the company dabbled in at this time was that of convenience stores. “Happy Food Stores” was what they were dubbed, complete with a clown mascot, and an experienced executive from Lil’ General stores to head up the venture. Let’s just say that they didn’t exactly live up to their name.

But the real story for Kroger in the seventies was of course, the superstores, and they certainly did live up to their name. Customers responded positively to Kroger’s new stores, as evidenced by record sales increases from 1972 through 1976. Kroger’s competitive position in their midwest and central markets was strengthened, and huge inroads were made in the newer, booming southern markets.

So, for Kroger and their customers, it was a bright, bright, sunshiny day!

The photos, all Kroger annual report publicity shots, from the top: (1) A photo montage from the Cincinnati Hyde Park location, opened in January 1974 (2) an exterior from 1975, location unknown, (3) the checkout from the Mooresville (south suburban Indianapolis), Indiana store, a 1961 store expanded from 16,000 to 29,000 square feet in 1973 (4) and (5) interiors from 1975, unknown location (6) the produce section, big on celery, Mooresville (7) poultry case, Mooresville (8) a family in front of another poultry case, 1976 (Remember those huge gallon milk cartons? I was sure glad when they started putting handles on those things!) (9) meats, unknown, 1976 (10) the “Village Cheese Shop”, Hyde Park (11) Delicatessen, 1976, unknown (12) a more elaborate cheese/wine section, 1976 (13) a pleasant-faced clerk in the bakery area, 1976 (14) bread section, unknown, 1974 (15) greeting card and gift section, including a line of “famous brands” cards that I actually remember, 1976.

A Very Fashionable Kroger, 1966

These photos, taken in 1966, show the Kroger location at Dover Center and Oviatt Road in Bay Village, Ohio, an affluent suburb of Cleveland. The store had just reopened after a brief closure for remodeling. First is a color shot of the store’s façade, followed by alternating black-and-white and color photos that provide a “before and after” look at the various departments.

The story of Kroger Bay Village involves one of the earlier attempts by a major supermarket chain at molding the “look and feel” of an entire store to fit the preferences of a specific demographic, as opposed to mere promotional displays. The remodeling came about as a result of a joint effort between Kroger, Progressive Grocer magazine, and the Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation, a company best known as a major publisher of Bell System telephone directories. Progressive Grocer was in the midst of its landmark “Consumer Dynamics” study, the main purpose of which was to help supermarkets identify and respond to demographic characteristics of their shoppers. Ultimately a series of categories, based on age, marital status, income levels and ethnicity was arrived at. To make (an extremely) long story short, it was concluded that supermarket chains would be wise to maintain a complete selection across all demographics, yet to tailor each individual location with the predominant local demographic in mind. To borrow an example from another study, while all Kroger stores might maintain a minimum inventory of a particular exotic vegetable on an upper shelf, higher income area stores would carry it in quantity, displaying it more prominently.

Participating in the study, Kroger decided to offer their Cleveland division as a guinea pig, with the intent of deploying the Consumer Dynamics Study recommendations in select stores identified as serving a predominant demographic group. An exhaustive study based on census data and the Donnelley firm’s market research was carried out, and the Cleveland area was segmented into the above-mentioned categories. A high income area store, the Bay Village Kroger, was chosen first.

Ironically, the Bay Village store was not even two years old, having opened in August 1964 (the décor package was essentially the same as the previously featured Dallas NorthPark Kroger). The study research revealed that while Kroger enjoyed a good reputation in the area, residents assumed (correctly) that the local store was typical in every way, with nothing to distinguish it from the average relatively new Kroger. The upshot of this (not stated in the PG article), as nice as the store may have been, was that Kroger was potentially vulnerable in the event an upscale competitor moved into the area.

It was decided that the Bay Village Kroger undergo remodeling, to provide a more upscale, individual look, while maintaining the store’s basic identity as a Kroger. Greenery on the sidewalks, special lighting, carpeting in select areas, an expansion of the dairy, meat and bakery areas and the pièce de résistance – a new International Foods department, were implemented. “Carryout boys” were added, outfitted in sharp light blue blazers with brass buttons and bowties. Additionally, the store was given a distinct identity – it was referred to henceforth in all advertising as “Kroger of Bay Village”.

It worked. Sales were up in all departments, with a 35% overall increase in the first four weeks versus the previous year’s figures. Employees were fired up about the changes – “After being with Kroger for 15 years, I’ve never seen a remodeling that made such an impact on customers. Even the employees seem more cheerful”. Customers approved as well – “Items seem better arranged. Related things are now in the same sections. The International Foods are wonderful, but I doubt I can trust my husband. He’ll leave his whole paycheck there.” (Um, okay...)

Long term, it’s conceivable that this store influenced Kroger on its journey from generally conservative store design to the much more stylish Superstores of the early 70’s. Sadly, Kroger folded its tent in the Northeast Ohio area in 1984, a move still lamented by many.

Top to bottom, the photos show (1) the store exterior, (2, 3) the entrance/checkout area, sporting a new beamed ceiling with recessed lighting and blue/green carpeting (wonder how that stood up to Cleveland area winters?), and the toiletries area in the background with new elegant little lights, (4,5) the bakery area, with frozen bakery items now added (remember, they just taste expensive), (6,7) meats, expanded to add more cold cuts and a very heavy beamed canopy, suspended by chains (King Arthur would have felt at home in this department), and (8,9) produce (more new elegant little lights). Then, of course, is the true Cinderella story - where the nondescript pumpkin of a picnic goods section was transformed into a gleaming coach – the International Foods area (10,11), with a great, outrageous wall treatment, more blue/green carpeting and a chandelier that I find myself seriously digging. Gosh, I could spend my whole paycheck there!

Below are a few additional views – close-ups of the toiletries department, canned goods and baby items areas. Lastly is the “new items” area, a new feature introduced in the remodeling (with a mannequin, no less!). Featured that week were products from Minneapolis-based arch competitors Pillsbury and Betty Crocker, trademarks now long since owned by the same company, General Mills.

A&P's Christmas in Toledo, 1926

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so I thought I’d shift gears for a while with some holiday related posts.

The photos above show the winners of A&P’s Christmas Display Window Contest, Toledo (Ohio) Division, from 1926. Up until the 1950’s, grocery stores generally featured a “window display” not dissimilar in concept to a fashion window in a department store. They usually consisted of artistically arranged food, cardboard display stand-ups and the like, oftentimes with an element of humor incorporated. For sure, the holidays brought out a burst of creativity in many grocery store staffs.

One of the things I love about these photos is that all four stores feature the same exact decorations, leading me to believe they must have all come from division headquarters. The placement varies, of course, as do the window configurations themselves. At this time A&P was near the peak of its store count, with nearly 15,000 units. Most of there were small “Economy Stores” (an A&P term) featuring dry groceries only, including their top-selling coffee brands. The first three stores feature Quality Meats signs, indicating that they were “combination stores”, among the first A&P’s to feature a meat department.

It is commonplace today to hear of the late 1920’s as a flush, prosperous time, and in comparison with the decade that followed it certainly was. The fact remained, however, that many Americans lived very simple lives at that time, with few luxuries. Many families purchased only staple items - flour, sugar, etc., and occasional meats, to supplement what they could grow or raise in their backyards or on their land. For those families, Christmastime was probably the lone exception to their regular buying habits.

For the record, the standings and store locations from the top: First Prize, 3376 Monroe Street, Second Prize, 305 South Detroit Street, and tied for Third Prize, 2208 Monroe Street and 1305 Collingwood Street.