Fox fleet would pick up the thread.”Īuerbach was so anxious to please customers that on Christmas Eve she kept a small staff and drivers on standby until midnight for desperate parents who still needed a Christmas gift.Īs far back as 1917, Hartford had an amazing emotional attachment to G. Fox employee, “The policy was if a customer wanted to return a spool of thread, the great G. Fox celebrated its centennial by delivering packages by helicopter.
Fox since her grandfather founded it in 1847 was free home delivery –- first by wheelbarrow, then by horse-drawn carriage, and finally by automobile and truck. Fox’s glory years, would not allow a customer to go away unhappy. Its motto: The customer is always right.īeatrice Fox Auerbach, the beloved matriarch who presided over G. The hankie is still in good shape and just as beautiful as the day he gave it to me.” Customer Is Always Rightĭowntown department stores treated customers like royalty, but perhaps no store treated customers better than G.
He couldn’t believe I kept it all these years. We rediscovered each other in 2011 and just married this past April 2012. My sailor friend went into RH Sterns and purchased a fancy lace hankie for me. I was having a sneezing attack from Hay Fever. Stearns, a 10-story emporium that offered simple elegance to little old ladies from Beacon Hill.Ī woman told the Department Store Museum that she met a handsome sailor on the Boston Common in 1958. Such was the case of a handkerchief from Boston’s R. Items purchased at the great department stores sometimes took on special significance. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Bargain hunters could thrill to the shopping hunt with end-of-season luxury goods at a fraction of their original prices - with labels and original price tags still intact.Ĭhristmas crowds at Downtown Crossing, date unknown. There was ‘Young Breed,’ ‘Varsity Shop’ and ‘Junior Gown Shop.’ There was a special repair department, back when you repaired broken merchandise rather than replacing it.įilene’s was known for its Lilly Pulitzer clothes, its Kimberly knits, its ski shop, its cruise shop, its Oxford shop and its fine men’s clothing.Īnd the basement! Filene’s paid 10 cents on the dollar for leftover merchandise from stores like I. That was just one of many shops within Filene’s flagship store, designed by the great Daniel Burnham. Filene’sįilene’s opened a Paris office in 1910, which established its reputation as a fashion authority and sent stock to its high-end French Shop. The stores sent buyers all over the world to bring back wares to would wow customers. Their vast assortments of merchandise put flesh on our admittedly materialistic dreams. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.įor roughly 50 years, from the 1920s to the 1970s, downtown department stores transported customers from their everyday cares. Everything was bright and cheerful and sparkled in the sun.”Ī shopper at Boston’s downtown department stores, date unknown. “Store windows, a kaleidoscope of color, added to the gay splashes of varied hues on Christmas-wrapped bundles.
“It was an exciting time and an exhilarating experience for this small-town boy from Connecticut!”Ī Boston newspaper reporter in 1956 waxed elegiac about the scene: “Gay Christmas music on the streets and in the stores added to the spirit and helped brighten the mood for the intrepid shoppers,” he wrote. Stearns, Filene’s, and Jordan Marsh,” he wrote. “I remember going to Downtown Crossing in the early 1970’s and being met by enormous crowds of people who were towered over by the Boston Police officers on their mounted horses…what a sight!,” commented Ellis Paulman. A giant manger scene loomed above Summer Street at Jordan Marsh and three large gold bells swayed with the Christmas music. Downtown Crossingĭuring the heyday of Downtown Crossing in Boston, carolers serenaded shoppers atop the Filene’s marquee.