Community Chat

[QVCkitty1]

All of this talk about Christmas shopping reminded me  of shopping with my mom long ago.

We would go  to a small city about 25 miles away, and there were at least 5 large department

stores beautifully decorated, and to a child full of color and kind of magical. . We would have

lunch in a tea room in one of the stores, and I felt fancy . All of those stores are gone now, 

and the mall that replaced them is full of empty stores. , it's kind of sad, but everything changes.

[deepwaterdotter]

Would Walmart be considered a department store?  I don't shop there, but past descriptions from others here that do bring the term 'department store' to mind.

[151949]

When we were little my Grandpa would take us into Pittsburgh to see all the dapartment store windows and to help us shop for our Christmas presents for our parents - which , of course, he paid for. We would walk from one end of down town to the other to see all the stores.Thank Goodness Pittsburgh isn't a very large city. In one store there would be a DJ from a local radio station who would do his show from the store window to raise money for the Children's hospital. Grandpa would buy something pretty for Grandma for Christmas and we would be sworn to keep it secret. We would go to grandpas office and I'd get a Christmas pin to wear on my coat - my grandpa was a jewelery designer so it was always something special for me. I still have most of them.

[151949]

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@deepwaterdotter wrote:

Would Walmart be considered a department store?  I don't shop there, but past descriptions from others here that do bring the term 'department store' to mind.

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When I say department store I am thinking Macys or Nordstroms  type stores. Only they were huge and many floors (like 12 ) and would have one whole floor of toyland and another of Christmas stuff. And on the first floor there were huge decorations hanging from the ceilings and walls. It would take a kids breath away. plus they always had delightful windows at Christmas.

[spent2much]

I have the same fond memories of shopping in department stores with my mom in a town about 10 miles away.  We would usually make a stop at the "Nut House" to buy warm cashews.  We would have lunch at a round counter at Walgreen's, I believe.  Our family never went out to lunch or supper, so that was a real treat.  I ordered a hamburg, french fries and a soda.

LOL I guess I was a "whiner" because I remember one time, just before we left, she said, "Now if there's any whining, we're going to get on that bus and go right home."  I bet I was a really good little girl on that trip!

[151949]

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@spent2much wrote:

I have the same fond memories of shopping in department stores with my mom in a town about 10 miles away.  We would usually make a stop at the "Nut House" to buy warm cashews.  We would have lunch at a round counter at Walgreen's, I believe.  Our family never went out to lunch or supper, so that was a real treat.  I ordered a hamburg, french fries and a soda.

LOL I guess I was a "whiner" because I remember one time, just before we left, she said, "Now if there's any whining, we're going to get on that bus and go right home."  I bet I was a really good little girl on that trip!

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Are you from Erie,Pa. They used to have a fabulous little store in downtown Erie called the nut house and they too served warm fresh roasted nuts.

[Shelbelle]

Oh yes, I worked in one for many years, had 8 floors, 2 restaurants, there was one downtown on 4 different corners. My kids grew up not knowing about such huge stores, only 2 floors and malls.

[MaggieMack]

In the 80s, I worked in San Francisco and the Macy's there was decorated so beautifully. My local Macy's now can't hold a candle to it.

[Suziepeach]

S H Kress at the holidays!!  What a nice memory, back then we were allowed to shop alone- I mean this was a small town and our house was almost in town- so our mom would let us go alone plus everyone knew us..  And it would always snow, how I miss all of that but glad for the memories. 

[spent2much]

Are you from Erie,Pa. They used to have a fabulous little store in downtown Erie called the nut house and they too served warm fresh roasted nuts.

No, I'm from CT.  I guess those little nut houses were popular back then, huh?  

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