No. of Recommendations: 10
I was wondering why I hadn't heard of a couple of high-end stores I fondly remember from my youth.
Founded in 1867, Keuffel & Esser went out of business primarily due to the rapid advancement of technology (the hand calculator, CAD systems, laser-based surveying equipment) that made their core products obsolete. The company, which specialized in surveying instruments, drafting supplies, and slide rules, experienced a sharp decline in market share and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982.
Hoffritz, a purveyor of the Victorinox Swiss Army knife, Solengen steel cutlery, straight razors and such, went out of business in 1993 primarily due to declining sales in the early 1990s, which was exacerbated by financial problems including being cut off from inventory by suppliers due to non-payment.
During my youth, NYC was cluttered with department stores. Since then, the landscape of the city has changed. On one hand, the Times Square area, once home to obvious street walkers and peep shows now sports an M&M candy store and Disney.
On the other hand, people would come to The City to shop at its multitude of department stores. Since then these come to mind as the departed (year of closure given to show how they align with various financial trauma):
Store Name Year Closed
Georg Jensen Inc. (NYC) 1968
John's Bargain Store 1971
Orbach's 1971
S. Klein 1975
Arnold Constable & Company 1975
Franklin Simon & Co. 1979
Martin's (New York) 1979
Korvette's (E.J. Korvette) 1980
J.W. Mays 1981
Gimbels 1987
B. Altman and Company 1989
Times Square Stores 1990
Bonwit Teller 1990
Alexander's 1992
A&S (Abraham & Straus) 1995
Woolworth's (NYC) 1997
Fortunoff 2009
Takashimaya 2010
Syms 2011
Loehmann's 2014
Henri Bendel 2019
Barneys New York 2020
Century 21 2020
Sears Roebuck (NYC) 2021
Lord & Taylor 2021
Hammacher Schlemmer 2023
So, we are left with Macy's (empty of customers), Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman (if you haven't heard of them, you can't afford to shop there) and the relative newcomer - Nostrum's (which is not in great shape either). And, while no Walmart's, we have TJ Maxx, Marshals, Targets, Costco, BJ's and recently, Ross for Less. I still miss shopping for my clothes and shoe at Sym's and my wife misses Loehmann's - both of which were outlets for the NYC high-end garment trade (where they bought their inventory by-the-pound (literally) at the end of each season) before most manufacturing migrated to China et al.
To get the maximum shopping variety, we now turn to Amazon instead of their ancestor - the Sears catalogue.
How things have changed,
Jeff
