Shoppers in South Jersey recently learned that a vaunted department store in center city Philadelphia would close, leaving behind the history of another.
Macy’s is closing more than 60 stores across the country, including its 13th and Market location in the city. The store it replaced – with the exception of brief tenants Lord & Taylor and Strawbridge’s – was John Wanamaker, whose building is a National Historic landmark that had its grand opening in 1911, complete with a dedication by President William Howard Taft.
Plenty of department stores have closed over the years, including Gimbel’s, Lit Brothers, Sears, Bonwit Teller and S Klein, victims of a shopping culture that moved online and malls weakened by lost anchor stores.
Sears served customers for more than two centuries with its catalog, a 19th-century print version of Amazon, if you will, that people recall using as a doorstop or a booster seat – even outhouse toilet paper once its pages had been read. You could buy products from the catalog that included chickens and medicines for every malady to cars and do-it-yourself housing kits.
But the historic cache of the Philadelphia Wanamaker’s – as people often called it – was unique, with attractions like the beloved Christmas light show, the giant bronze Eagle statue, an “enchanted fountain” and one of the world’s largest pipe organs. Their future has not been determined, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Shoppers in Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties have faced store closures for years and mall closings haven’t helped. The Moorestown Mall lost another Wanamaker’s and a Lord & Taylor. The Echelon Mall lost Macy’s and Sears. Burlington Center lost Sears and JC Penney.
The Cherry Hill and Deptford malls are relatively successful, but the fact remains that malls are predicted to become things of the past.
Yet we all have memories of stores that have gone away, places we visited with family and friends, places we grew up with. Smaller stores like Woolworth’s, Kresge and W. T. Grant – dubbed the 25-cent store – dotted shopping centers all over the country, what we now call strip centers.
But those centers no longer have familiar retailers like Radio Shack, Tower Records and even toy stores like Kiddie City. More recent chain stores such as Blockbuster Video – its one remaining store is in Washington state – and Modell’s Sporting Goods have gone belly up.
And remember when the whole family shopped for shoes at Thom McAn?
“You can’t help but get a nostalgic feeling when you see photos of these old stores, because nothing can ever replace the feeling of going down the aisles at the old five-and-dime,” noted Good Housekeeping magazine in 2019.
“Nostalgia is usually a yearning for our past selves, not just for a time and place,” explains Dr. Valentina Stoycheva on the website for Psychology Today. “We crave … the positive emotions that we felt, to connect to the version of ourselves we were at the time we are reminiscing about.”
But when we’ve connected ourselves to cultural milestones like Wanamaker’s, the memories can be unique.
“These stores weren’t just places to buy things,” says Lyn Sable on the only earthlings lifestyle website. “They were cultural landmarks that defined generations of shopping experiences. From electronics megastores to beloved bookshops, these retailers played a significant role in shaping consumer habits and community gathering spaces.”
