8/12/2023 0 Comments Lazarus department store![]() įor those buffs who remember the store you may not know how it and the people in it directed the current retail enviroment. It seems that several people still remember the old store. That store was even more interesting, but that's a store for another day. I have to admit, that story still chokes me up when I think of how awful working in retail has become, it's basically soulless slave labor.Īfter I left Shillito's, I moved to Pogues and Ayers. Nothing was ever said, but the Lazarus brothers ran that place like a family. Fred" used to roam the store on Christmas eve and hand out bonuses to employees out of his own pocket who he knew were struggling. At that time, department stores were one of the places that women (mostly single) could get a "respectable" job. I'll close with a story that was handed down to me in the 80's from a co-worker who worked there in the 30's. ![]() It even still had the windows that wrapped around the outside you could even see out of. Display was also on a half floor and wrapped around the 6th (?) floor behind the selling floor. ![]() The advertising agency was also hidden on a "half level" where the "new store" from the 30's wrapped around the old store and the floors didn't line up. Ah yes, turkey with mashed potatoes and green gravy that I spilled on my tie more than once heading back to my desk. They also made all the candy, bakery and specialty items like Christmas candy and cookies, as well as ice cream (not the best, but loved the bakery stuff)īehind the scenes, they had a giant employee cafeteria on 7 and a half where they sold a hot lunch for about $1.50 to $2.50 as an employee benefit, as well as a cold line for salads and deserts, and everyone ate together managers, buyers and floor staff. It was like walking into a big TV where everything and everyone was well-lit and beautiful.Īll the food was indeed prepped for the branch stores (like Charlies )at the old store, including entire turkey dinners you could get at TKGS. To me, as a little kid, we always went down to look at the windows and Santa at Christmas. A snake actually escaped from the pet store and made it all the way up to a dressing room on the balcony before they found it! Dry cleaning, travel agency, toys, luggage, books, coins, watch repair, check cashing, wine, general merch, alterations, Santa Land, and even a pet store. I know this dates me, but does anybody else remember when the interior of the old store was a circular ramp that included a glass roof and skylight on the 7th floor over the china department (before they painted it over)Įverything you could possibly want was in "the big store" as we called it. I also prowled the store in my off time, including the circular shipping tubes that ran from top to bottom. It was also designated as a bomb shelter from the 50s, and a tornado shelter. I was at the big store (001) when a pipe burst on Race street and flooded the place, LOL. I worked at the Tri County store in the early 80,s (Shillito's, Shillito-Rikes) till I got promoted to a buyer (Misses and Women's) for several years, housed in the sub-sub basement, where all the merch was received, tagged and shipped from, before the Distribution Center (DC) opened.Įach store had a number, like Tri-county was TC or 003.
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