The three department stores, the small retailers, the streetcars! It was a holiday wonderland.
It's now a dead city of pavement and broken promises.
And the Steelers.

I love Pittsburgh.

When I was a kid, we'd go "dahntahn" every year to see the decorations & the trains at Buhl Planetarium. The trains still exist, but they're at the Carnegie Science Center. We took the family to see them a few years ago.

I remember Grandma taking me to ride the Santaland Express. I wa 5-6 and we rode on the electric street cars to downtown.

I miss it, too, Deb.

While they have a year-round online presence - they also sell things like Santa suits - they only run storefronts in the weeks before Halloween. Since Toys R Us made almost all its money around Christmastime, this would be perfect for them.

Not sure which ones.

But I like your idea as well.

...on Black Friday. Did one year just to say I had done it, but didn't buy anything. Most times if we go out black Friday, it's usually just to make a run to the grocery store.

It was absolute heaven--no phone calls, nobody else working because they were all on vacation.

I have the grocery store to myself. I love it! For Small Business Saturday, we go out for dinner to one of our locally owned restaurants.

Generally speaking, I hate in-person shopping with the fire of a thousand suns and I hate it most of all when there are crowds. We used to go downtown to see the department store windows decorated for Christmas way back when the department stores were downtown and had windows. Dayton's (which was high-end but became low-buck Target and moved to the malls) had nice window displays. But shopping? Ugh.

really shop , but browse in the decorated stores I loved the decorations.

May Company, Robinson's, the Broadway, even Sears.

Maybe they were gone by the 90’s.

Not since the day after Thanksgiving is Buy Nothing Day. I've been following it for more than 20 years.

Last edited Mon Nov 25, 2024, 03:30 PM - Edit history (1)

My first time ever to go Black Friday shopping was in 1991 to get my son a seven dollar dump truck at KB toys at 5 AM.

Waldenbooks
Bookland

was never part of my life. my parents weren't very materialistic and I don't really enjoy crowds. never really understood the whole thing really. and the "deals" never really seem to be actual deals from what I can tell.

an adult I loved them. At one point in my life that is what I want to do. decorate stores for the holidays.

there is a whole neighborhood in Tucson (Winterhaven LOL) that goes all out, but even the little LDS towns around here get pretty carried away. fun to drive through and look at lights.

Last edited Mon Nov 25, 2024, 10:25 PM - Edit history (1)

but I do miss the old department stores such as A,M&As, Hengerers, Grants and Hen’s and Kelly’s which were in Downtown Buffalo up until the early 1970s. A,M&As in particular was a Christmas Wonderland, similar to the store portrayed in the holiday classic movie Christmas Story. As a child my friends and I would take the bus downtown and play Hide and Go Seek in all the large multistory department stores at all times of the year except at Christmas because the stores were always so packed and it was the only time when we were accompanied by our parents. The stores all had elevators and escalators and it was incredible harmless fun. Those were the days when kids got into “good mischief”. Now kids just sit around and play on screens all day. I miss those stores and those times of my youth.

the memories. I never shopped on the day after Thanksgiving (we didn't call it Black Friday) My mother didn't believe in allowances as if we needed something, she would decide and buy. My own money was kept in one of my socks and was made by collecting empty soda bottles. I should have included as a child. Maybe posters here were given spending money. I wasn't . In a large store there is very little to buy with sock money. from bottles. I looked . Never stole anything just looked in wonder.

We earned it by doing chores for my elderly great aunts and uncles who lived within walking distance from my home. My brother and I didn’t get allowances either, but we were given cash to go to movies or for treats on a weekly basis. I loved Christmas shopping as a kid but we didn’t shop at the big downtown stores. Back in the 60s many neighborhoods, including my own, had thriving business districts that had single floor Woolworths and many other shops that were much less expensive than the downtown stores. We used to also race on the elevators and escalators. Memories

I live in a small town, but up until about 20 years ago there were several nice gift shops downtown. The downtown department stores started to disappear a long time ago - when Walmart arrived, but the smaller gift shops held on for a while. I do a lot of online shopping now, but I miss those nice, friendly local stores.

sometimes walk to during my lunchbreaks to browse / shop (it was only a couple of blocks from me, downtown). I loved, loved, loved this place (and so did my parents when they came to visit!). It's gone now, bought by Macy's / Federated department stores.

A damn shame. It was a shopping experience to really enjoy. 9 floors you could disappear in, and not realize that you were shopping.

and when I was little to see Santa. There is a picture of me about 3years old sitting on Santa’s lap looking quite terrified. It is a sepia toned photograph that is really kinda cute. I am wearing a favorite plaid dress.

After Christmas, as a young adult I loved to go to Gayfer’s department store in Mobile, AL for their after Christmas sales. Such great bargains could be found! Their Bell Ringer sales before Christmas were pretty epic, too.

I remember when I was attending college in Seattle, Frederick & Nelson, Jay Jacobs, and The Bon Marche in downtown Seatle were wonderfully festive during the holidays. Frederick’s had the huge window displays and Jay Jacobs’ decorations were really unique with bright non traditional type colors and lights.

I hate shopping on Black Friday, so I don't. People are worse than animals in a feeding frenzy then.