What was the name of that clothing store your mom always took you to?
You HATED to go there! Was it time for school clothes? Was it a time when you wished you could drive yourself? What did she always make you wear and you had no control or say? What store was that? What didn’t you like about it? Was it the smell? The saleslady? The background sounds or noises?
My mother used to take us to “Gately’s—the People’s Store.” It smelled funny and old shoe salesmen who weezed through their nostrils would size our feet with this odd slide-rule shaped like a foot.
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Clothing Conspiracy! Dog has to remember that place! I loved it though. They had Dittos, Luv-n-Stuff and Chemin de Fer!
The place I hated was the fabric store where Mom would pick out a couple of patterns and a bunch of fabric to sew all my school clothes. I was horrified by some of those clothes but looking back, I really wish I had more of what she sewed.
kinneys shoes and thom McCann shoes
JC Penneys and Woolworths.
Clothes shopping was boring.
Kresge’s, but I didn’t hate it. We poor, poor after my dad died so it was a treat.
Cox’s Dept. Store. The clerks there were at least 90, all wore the same perfume (White Linen) and the clothes were for old ladies, even in the children’s department.
But when I was in grade school, my mom made all my clothes, mostly jumpers and I wanted “store bought” clothes so bad. Beware what you wish for.
Montgomery Ward. Small town so everyone shopped there and knew where you got your clothes.
@faye Oh. My. God! i remember that store! only thing i liked about woolworths and kreskge was the lunch counter. does anybody remember sandwiches at a department store?
The Sears Roebuck catalog. My mom hated the crowded stores more than I did.
My first job was at Woolworth’s! $1.50 an hour, and somedays I worked at the lunch counter! I loved Kresge’s chicken salad sandwich!
The 5 and dime store for school supplies. It was always full with pushy people and the stairs leading to the basement was extremely steep and I felt nervous against so many pushy people. I always thought I was going to fall down the steps. Plus the basement what where all the really cheap prices where and I didn’t want anyone from school to see me there and know we were poor. Of course I never considered that if they were there they were probably as broke as we were.
But little kids don’t think everything through. Plus I just hated shopping for anything that didn’t involve me.
Aside from all of the department stores my mom used to take us to membership stores like Gemco. There was also this store called Zody’s (maybe Zodie’s) that brings back horrible memories of 70’s puke green.
Edit:: State is CA.
i remember montgomery ward, goldblatt’s and JCpenney. all the cool kids went to marshall field’s or carson pirie scott.
Back in the stone age we went to Modell’s Shoppers World.
Monnig’s in Fort Worth. Long gone now.
Thrift stores like Value Village lol. All the kids at school always used to make fun of me, they’d go, so since they can’t afford mannequins over there, what do they use to display clothing, dead bodies lol.
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That’s going back a long time. Smith & Welton, and Fines on Granby Street in Norfolk, VA.. I can’t recall how many decades ago they went kaput, but they were a respected local retailer in the 1950s, and boasted a wonderful tearoom for lunch as well.
@ETpro that’s the answer: food and coffee within the store and not at a food court.
in St Paul, MN she would take us to Donald’s for school uniforms which also sold Buster Brown shoes.
I recall the smell of the little Chinese Takeout place that it was next to. I always hid in the clothing racks to be last amoungst my sibs. Amazingly, I think that store is still there.
Zayers, Woolworth’s and Bradley’s.
First grade. Blue overalls with chickens all over them. ‘Nuff said.
@cprevite aw man i remember zayre and venture! the pre walmart years!
I really disliked clothing shopping as a kid. There was this one store that I used to call “The Smell Place.” I can’t remember what its actual name was. I think that it is now out of business, but people in my family still refer to it by that moniker.
We would go to Value Village/Goodwill as well. Both of these stores just have a terrible atmosphere, and I could never find clothes that fit, so I’d go to school in really baggy outfits that made me look like a little boy.
Sometimes we’d go to Wal-Mart; some of the clothes there are worse than used clothing from the 80’s at second hand stores. I have this school picture of me in the second grade wearing this stripey shirt with overalls (which we bought from Wal-Mart) and my hair in pigtails. My sister was a grade younger and wore the same thing. It was awful, and I still wince when I look at my old yearbook and see that picture.
@blueiiznh I think I’ve actually been there. I live north of the cities.
We’ve always shopped at thrift stores. I didn’t have much to say about it. But I’ve found pretty good clothes, so I’m good with it. Thrift stores have come a long way from @etignotasanimum is remembering them. Since we’re homeschooled, we go shopping whenever we need clothes (it’s amazing how often that was when I was younger!), and there was no “back to school” shopping. The one I really remember was right in town. It was a blue building and it was called Neighbors helping Neighbors. It had the “thrift store” smell (which I’ve come to love), and the only other thing about it that I remember about it is that I loved it there! I remember specifically saying once, “Are we going to Neighbors Helping Neighbors?!” :D :D The building is still there, but they probably closed 8 or more years ago. It’s a shame.
i had this cranberry turtleneck and sweater combo that mama got me from sears. it was for picture day. i look at the pictures now and i look like a stuffed sausage.
@ChocolateReigns I don’t mind thrift stores now, but I was really uncomfortable with them when I was younger. I was embarrassed about going there when everyone else had designer labels or new clothes. I’ve gotten over that now and have nothing against shopping at thrift stores—I have even come to enjoy it. :)
Montgomery Ward or Goodwill.
Montgomery Wards. I used to hate clothes shopping at Monkey Wards, until my dad started buy my brother and I clothes, seriously, out of the trunk of some guys car. This guy would drive by my dads work every month. You never saw so many striped pants and shirts.
We wore uniforms which we hated! The worst part was those geeky blouses with the Peter Pan collars (that’s really what those rounded collars are called, I’m not making it up) and short sleeves. God, how I hated the short sleeves that allowed my bony arms to show, and even if I had not had bony arms, everybody knows that white cotton blouses with short sleeves are total geek attire. Then for shoes we always went to Lynch’s shoe store in Syracuse. It had the best made shoes but very limited selection. They had what are called “corrective shoes”. If your feet turned in or you walked on the sides of your feet they would put little wedges and stuff in them to rebalance your feet. Since your bones were still growing it would correct your feet. Of course they had that weird gadget that you speak about charliecompany34. The one that measures your feet with the sliders. These guys were pros. You would get measured, they would watch you walk to see if you needed any “corrections” in your shoes. The shoes were expensive so we would only get one pair a year and we had to take care of it. They were our School shoes only!! By the way, that device is called the Brannock device and was invented by a man from none other than Syracuse, NY. It is still used today. I saw one in a shoe store at Carousel Mall in Syracuse just last month, funny. I found a little history of it with a pic if anyone is interested. It’s kind of a cool little inventor story. Sigh
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=6757
Levy Brothers, a local department store in Burlingame and San Mateo CA, for school clothes. when we lived in Westchester (New York) I wore a uniform to school, but we went to Alexanders in White Plains for regular clothes.
When I needed really nice clothes, though, I, like most boys in San Francisco, went to Young Man’s Fancy on California Street at Laurel.
K-Mart
If ever she was flush, we’d hit the basement at Gimbel’s.
JC Pennys
I did get some super neato shoes when I was 11. Marcia Brady I was. lol
They were multi-colored patchwork suede and I wore them with a purple mini-skirt and a purple turtleneck, I was sooo cool. Almost as cool as when I got Go Go boots. haha
Ha, I had gogo boots! White ones- not comfortable but so cool.
@faye
Yes, white go-go boots, and to be extra cool you had to leave the zippers down a bit. haha
JC Penny’s, but I loved clothes shopping with my mom. She always bought me the coolest stuff.
Grandma, on the other hand, would take me to Kohl’s and buy me UT Vols sweater vests that were five sizes too big. Dad would buy me church clothes that were starchy and smelled like Bibles and alzheimers.
Pretty much. You know those bibles with the really thin pages? Like that.
Those just smell like onions. But yeah lol, GA. :D
I like all brands because i am the follower of online shopping.
@ETpro You reminded me of the in store lunch counter. My grandmother would take us to get chocolate malteds during the shopping trip. I can still taste it.
@psychocandy I remember Zody’s, we had one near where I lived. All you Montgomery Ward shoppers, was my grandmother the only one in the world who called it Monkey Wards?
@SuperMouse I was wondering if you remembered Zody’s. I thought maybe I was imagining it.
We went to K-mart or Eatons. Shoes came from a store called Kiddie Kobbler. I don’t know if it was a chain store or what – does anyone else remember this place (maybe only in Canada) in the mid-80s?
@worriedguy A chocolate malt would make shopping one of my favorite non-contact sports. :-)
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