I also went to Gimbels in Philly with my mom and my aunt. I can't remember whether it was Gimbels or Lit Brothers that had the restaurant in the basement. We would eat lunch there and if I was a good boy and didn't pester to go home after we ate, my aunt would let me pick out a Matchbox car before we boarded the bus back to Jersey. It was excruciating to walk around while my mom and aunt went clothes shopping. I acquired quite a Matchbox collection that way.
The animated Christmas window displays of nearly all the department stores in New York City were something to excite and the light children and adults alike. The imagination and creative a T of the store window dressers for something incredible.
Grew up in a neighborhood that was built on an old Gimbel’s estate in NJ. The builder kept the mansion for his family & built 25 homes around it in a horseshoe. I acre min. Only one hour & 20 to the city. Lots of woods & places to explore as a kid
I remember Gimbels well. At 7:02 is the downtown Milwaukee location with the 97th anniversary sign. I recall shopping there and at the Southridge store.
It is during CHRISTMAS that I remember GIMBELS the most. This was a store that knew how to run a sale, and the CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS were wonderful. The MILWAUKEE, WI store once had a 7 story pipe organ on the side of the building facing the river. They used the stone columns as the "pipes'" On the Wisconsin Avenue façade, for many years there was an electrified CHRISTMAS TREE in panels that could be seen up and down the street for blocks.
I am old enough to remember shopping in Gimbels in NYC in the 1950's and 60's I did not know about sack's connection to Gimbels. I was aware of the competition.. probably because of that famous line in the movie and the Lucy show.
For many years...I think until SaksFifthAvenue's Main Store at 611 Fifth Avenue was recently renovated there was a plaque near the Walnut Faced Elevators commemorating Horrace Saks and Adam Gimbel. I lived in Manhattan for Five years (1988-1994) and remember frequently seeing it. It's hard to believe that next year the Original Fifth Avenue Store opposite Saint Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center will celebrate 100 Years at that location. Magnificent. SaksFifthAvenue, macy*s Herald Square and The Landmark TIFFANY & CO. have all been renovated in recent years and have all lost their "Simple Elegance" they all once had. Too much flashy look and white which is hard on the eyes. Too Bad!!!
Gimbals , Manhattan had the best Santa. They had live reindeer in cages that you could feed and pet while you waited in line to see Santa. They even had signs with their names. Alll the other stores just had Santa. That’s how I knew that he was the real Santa and the others were fake.
There was a Gimbels that anchored the Eastland Mall in North Versailles, PA near where I grew up. And local radio station KDKA raised money for Pittsburgh Children's Hospital by being in the store front of Gimbels, Kaufmmans and Hornes the three weeks leading up to Christmas. It was a big deal in the 70's and 80's.
Milwaukee Downtown....Marshall Field & Company....Manhattan Greeley Square.....Abraham & Struas (A&S Plaza)....later Stern Brothers. Philadelphia Center City...Stern Brothers. ALL eventually closed!!!
Sterns in Philadelphia and its suburban stores, I worked in the Center City Philly Store until December 1986 as manager of the Electronics Dept. When I started to work there the "old timers" ladies who worked there for 20 to 40 years, were the nicest and so helpful. They had wonderful stories to tell. Management was great, very supportive and encouraged good, sound and creative merchandising and sales ideas. The customers were wonderful, eager to buy the quality and back then mostly "made in American merchandise and clothing! Gimbels was great!
Loved hearing the acquisitions. I knew was something fishy .... Sak died the irony then they thrived more but then died out too because of corporate greed I'm sure. Macys run a lot. They I'm sure didn't want gimbles around they want no competition. Macys purchase Bloomingdales "brothers " years later same story different decades.
