SS KRESGE

Sure do, had one in west Philly where I was raised. Mom liked Woolworth's much better. 

Yes I remeber SS Kresge's well. My mom on the Friday after Thanksgiving each year would take me to Kresge's located in downtown Baltimore. I enjoyed seeing the train displays in the major department stores along with the animated window displays. We would go to Kresge's and sit at their lunch counter and have dinner before going home on the transit bus. Those were enjoyable times back then. Now all those beautiful stores in downtown Baltimore are a memory.

Never the same after refashioning into K-Mart.

SS Kresgees in Cheltenham or woolworths at 13th and chestnut

The two department stores, plus Sears downtown, and Grant's (where I had a part time job over a summer), Woolworth's, and Kresge's, as well as the Montgomery Ward's which was the size of a dime store, but where my mother got my brother's and my bicycles, were all clustered, except Sears, on one main shopping street.  We hit all

of them at least twice before Christmas.  Sears I most remember for the trains, and

a sporting goods store, Sutcliffe's, that only during that season had a display of

many trains,  including the only place I ever then saw separate sale Marx 3/16th cars.

Sure do, but I was partial to Two Guys. In Baltimore all of them had trains around Christmastime, GC Murphys, Topps, Korvettes, Woolworths and just about every hardware store either had trains or at least had scenic materials and Homasote out for the layout builders. I remember every hardware store knew what you were painting when you ordered a quart of Ping Pong Table Green.

Jerry

Not Kresge's, but it's fun.

Nick, Kresge's and Woolworths are an interest for me, especially their lunch counters. They are a category of my postcard and menu collection. The previous image was found online. Here's another view of Kresges toy department.

Miss these dining emporiums.

Toy heaven...

Toys and luncheonette...

The town I grew up in had one so my 1/48th version had to have one.

Pete

Oh wow, yes!  I knew the shortest route to the train displays from both the front door and ladies apparel section, and my Mom always knew where to find me . . . 

We bought at least one Marx set there in a around '55.  My brother and I saved on allowances and bought a complete, small, RTR set to get more track and everything to add when my dad added some boards on two sides of our 4 x 8 layout to make it 5 x 10.

SS Kresge "On the Square"  The logo was a carpenters square.  Used to go the downtown Newark NJ location as a kid.  Ate int eh downstairs cafeteria.

How about Wanamaker's and Two Guys?

Christmas heaven and after Christmas blowouts!

Fred

'Top of the hill' on Wisconsin Avenue, across from Sears, northwest Washington, D.C..  Would wander in there walking home from school.  I can still hear the creaking of the wood floors as I'd walk about the islands of "stuff".  But, no, I don't remember them having any electric trains.  Plastic cars, diecast cars, figures, thingies, etc.,...lots of cheapie 'Made in Japan' tin toys.

General Electronics was just a few doors away, same side of the street....an authorized Lionel dealer.....also selling refrigerators, TV's (our old Dumont came from there!!), electric stoves, etc.  No display layout, though....kinda boring compared to other shops around D.C. that were a streetcar/bus/walk away.

The Tenley branch of the public library...a little house-like building...was next door to the 5-and-dime.  Another reason to stop by, wander, spend a few cents on things.

And, yes, they had a lunch counter.  Their ice cream sodas were....OK.  But a ride further northwest into Bethesda to visit Giffords Ice Cream Parlor would get you a 4-scoop belly-buster soda that has left an indelible memory in the brain. 

Wandering memories, again......sorry.

Fun, though.

KD

I sure do remember Kresge's.  However, to my knowledge, the closest one to me was in Downtown Pittsburgh.  Once my sister was old enough to go along, 6 years younger than me, we would go there once a year for Christmas shopping.  My dad would take us into Allegheny County to the closest bus stop, then Mom would take us kids in on the bus to Downtown.  Mom and my aunt had ridden into 'Town' on the B&O in their day.  My uncle dropped off my aunt at a preplanned meeting place, either Horne's, Gimble's or Kaufmann's, I forget, then he picked us up in the afternoon, and we went to their house in the east suburbs.  Dad would drive down, then we spent the evening, and headed back to Butler County.  This started in the mid '60s, I must have been at least 10, and I think by then they were opening K-Marts, so the Kresge's was on the downswing.  However, they still had the neat fountain area and some trains, cars, trucks, etc.  I couldn't buy any, because the trip was intended for us to buy one gift for each family member.  I got a die cast car one Christmas, that I suspect came from Kresge's.  

There are so many things you folks just 8 or 10 years older than me got to see, that I missed or got on the tail end.  Ah well, God knew what He was doing when he put me in my time and place.

Thanks for the memories...

I sure do too remember all the neat things at our Kresge's in downtown Hazleton Pa.  Trains and toys and hotdogs and cherry cokes.  We also had a shoemaker in the store there to fix your shoes, put new soles, heels even cleats on the heels.  You were cool if you had cleats on the heels back then.

1960 Los Angles Sears huge downtown store, building still there, was my train store. They had a big train selection even selling and trading used trains. I bought a bunch of that Marx track with the built in black roadbed for Ten cents each. Big displays during Christmas too.

I remember them very well. Never paid much attention to their toy department as we had a LHS that was the best for Lionel trains.

Are you sure some of you aren't talking about S Klein?  "On the Square" was their trademark.

Did you know that Woolworth's first store was right here in Utica, NY!  The streetcar ran right in front of it, in downtown Utica...

Not only that, but I also work with Lee Kresge (Chemist), Great-Great-Grandnephew of S.S. Kresge (not heir to the fortune).  He's going to ask his dad about more information...

Small world, indeed!

Thanks,

Mario

My Aunts would take me to the one on Woodland Ave in Phily to get a toy, also Woolworths. Thems was the days we thought would never end. sorry to see the old Five and Tens go into the history book. Somehow K mart is not buying it for me, maybe because there are no Paraketes to look at.

I think you meant S.Klein.

The Kresge's in Binghamton, NY, was right next to Montgomery Ward's, as I recall.  Just separated by an alley, you could duck from one to the other.  I most remember the baby turtles for sale, painted or plain.  We usually went to Woolworth's, as it was closer to home, and the Triple Cities Traction bus stopped right in front of it.  That was a factor, as we didn't always have a car.

Great photographs.  What a trip down Memory Lane.

Never had a Kresge store in the small town where I grew up in the Fifties.  But we had a G.C. Murphy and a McCrory, and at Christmastime, both of them carried full lines of Marx trains, track and accessories.  My trains were Lionel, but my father and I bought many sections of 027 Marx track and switches there.  And I'm fairly sure that the Marx water tank that's still on my layout today was a Murphy's purchase.

Also Western Auto. Kresge's had Marx year round just like any other toy of it's time.

Yes, Kresge into K-Mart into Sears.  And my childhood Sears, in fact two of them,

were in the big box store format with their own parking, which put them some

distance from the dime store shopping street.  It was a several block hike which we only usually did around the holidays.  We later used K-Mart a lot, but here they are closing/have closed.  I see above no mention of Grant's.  I had a summer job

setting up a new Grant's on the edge of the city, under a woman store manager, possibly unusual at the time, who was really working hard to make her store a success.  But there were already discount stores popping up, local ones before K-Mart, and the store was only there a few years.  My mother, for a year or two,  worked at a new Woolworth's close to home, also in the suburbs in a new shopping mall...it, too, did not last long.  This in the late 1950's.  I never thought of Grant's for toys or trains.

I did buy Marx red "Bogota" series passenger cars and a separate sale #21 ATSF

diesel in the Woolworth's, which was the largest store, with a basement, of the dime

stores on the shopping street in the city.  There was a wide stairway to the basement

toy area in the center of the store, and my brother and I practically fell down it to

get to the toy section fast enough.  I remember on one visit, an older woman did

fall down it, and adult shoppers raced to help her up.  I can still remember that

#21 displayed on a shelf high above the rest of the trains, in spite of it, and the

six inch passenger cars, NOT being, for me, beloved Marx.

Yardlet6:

Yes you are correct.  Both were located on Broad St. in downtown Newark

You guys are making me cry..... LOL

If you went to see Santa at Kresge-Newark, you could join the "Drink Your Milk" club, chaired by the big-man himself.

Wow, This topic brings back memories of buttered and grilled split buns with hotdogs at the Gertz department store luncheon counter during the day after Christmas sales.

J.J.Newberry was another store in Bayshore, New York where we would go for the discounted trains and toys.

Oh wow! Can you imagine Wal-Mart having one of those in each store??? 

I remember going to Kresge's, Murphee's and Wollworth's.

Used to go to an O-Mart quite a lot and "Monkey" Wards too. And the local Uncle Ben's Five and Ten.

Gentlemen,

    The Kresge's in Braddock, Pa in 40's and 50's was one of the nicest stores around, later it was purchased by Woolworths, I was taken to lunch there many times, when we visited my Grandfathers law office, played with toys that were purchased for me, rode the kids train, ate fresh peanuts from the big silver street grinder, just outdside the front doors.  There home made hot roast beef sandwiches were out of this world.  To me Kresge's was so much better than K-Mart, even their Milk Shakes were almost as good as Isalys, simply one great great store, with Lionel & American Flyer train layouts, the kids were allowed to run, with adult supervision.  Every Friday fresh home made deep fried Fish Sandwiches with home made Mac & Cheese, made right in the store.  Our Dairy farm supplied the eggs, cheese and milk for the store, before the Pa milk commission came into existance.  What a place, the kids today have no idea what they were cheated out of, American communities at their very finest.  Wish I had some pictures of the old store to post, unfortunately they were destroyed long ago.

PCRR/Dave

Yes, my mom worked at the one on 110th and lorain ave, sears was on the opp.corner an acrossed the street was a hobby shop. when they closed it she worked at the store downtown till it closed in the 80s

How fortunate you are to have enjoyed "Breakfast with Santa" at this once great store. I assume you also enjoyed a ride or two on the monorail. If I understand correctly, Kresge-Newark closed in 1964, marking the end of an era, and is currently a Two Guys.

Here's a postcard view from the store's early years...