Name: Jordan Marsh
Brand: Anthony M. Sammarco
SKU: 9781467137904
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Anthony M. Sammarco

Jordan Marsh

9781467137904

$21.99

Author and historian Anthony Sammarco reveals the fascinating history of Boston's beloved Jordan Marsh.

Jordan Marsh opened its first store in 1851 on Milk Street in Boston selling assorted dry goods. Following the Civil War, the store moved to Winthrop Square and later to Washington Street between Summer and Avon Streets. The new five-story building, designed by Winslow & Wetherell, unveiled the novel concept of department shopping under one roof. It attracted shoppers by offering personal service with the adage that the customer is always right, easy credit, art exhibitions and musical performances. By the 1970s, it had become a regional New England icon and the largest department store chain in the nation.

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Eric A. Johnson

The W.T. Grant Company

9781467170086

$24.99

Possessed with a spirit of optimism and an innate gift for retailing savvy, entrepreneur William T. Grant revolutionized the nation’s retailing industry with the 1906 debut of his W.T. Grant Company department store in Lynn, Massachusetts. Taking aim at the lucrative yet untapped middle ground between the discount five-and-dime variety stores and traditional department stores of the era, he built a well-deserved reputation as the store “Known for Values.” Grants quickly became one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most beloved department store chains, encompassing 1,238 stores in forty-six states at its height in 1972. While the Grants stores are now just a fond memory, the legacy of William T. Grant continues to be remembered today, along with the vibrant philanthropic nonprofit William T. Grant Foundation, which he started in 1936.

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Frank Sands

King Arthur Flour Company

9780738536262

$24.99

In 1790, George Washington was elected the first U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson became the country's first secretary of state, and flour imported to Boston from England marked the beginning of the King Arthur Flour Company. The King Arthur Flour Company, now more than two hundred years old, produces the flour of choice for millions, from beginning home bakers to the world's top chefs, and has evolved into a one hundred percent employee-owned company. King Arthur Flour Company illustrates the history of America's oldest flour company (and New England's oldest food company). King Arthur Flour was founded in Boston not far from Long Wharf, where the flour was unloaded from merchant ships. Five generations of the Sands family headed the company for almost two centuries until the Employee Stock Ownership Plan was initiated in 1996. Marketing at King Arthur Flour has always revolved around the icon of the lone knight on his horse, and in 1896, a lone rider dressed as King Arthur rode through Boston's streets atop a black stallion to advertise the product. Another creative marketing campaign featured a white sound truck, complete with a large pipe organ and an eight-foot statue of King Arthur, roving through New York City streets.

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Neal DeLowery

Aubuchon Hardware

9780738555317

$24.99

William E. Aubuchon Sr. immigrated to the United States from Canada in 1900 at the age of 15, speaking no English and armed with only a fifth-grade education. Through hard work and perseverance, he established a hardware store in 1908 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. One hundred years later, there are over 130 Aubuchon Hardware stores located throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, employing about 1,100 people. This remarkable growth by Aubuchon Hardware can be attributed to the company treating its customers as friends and always making them number one. As William E. Aubuchon Sr. once said, The business was founded on the principle of buying economically. We give our customers what they want—high-grade hardware at a price everyone can afford. Aubuchon Hardware never lost track of where it started, and today it still remains all in the family with over 20 family members currently employed, including the fourth generation. In Aubuchon Hardware, family members were an invaluable resource for photographs and historical information.

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Christopher Sawyer

Denholms

9781609493950

$21.99

When William Denholm and William McKay teamed up in 1870 to form a dry goods store in the factory town of Worcester, Massachusetts, they could not have imagined the 103-year legacy that would make their store a beloved New England landmark. Former customers may well recall the store's elaborate promotions that took shoppers to exotic locales, from an African holiday to a trip through the Italian fashion world. Join authors Christopher Sawyer and Patricia Wolf, daughter of a former Denholms president, as they take a behind-the-scenes view of the history and memory of Massachusetts's largest department store outside of Boston. With vivid descriptions of the festive holiday displays and personal recollections from former employees, this book is sure to make any reader nostalgic for the bygone days of shopping at Denholms.

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Janet Mansfield Soares

The Westminster Arcade

9781467145244

$21.99

The stately Westminster Arcade was built in 1828, and this landmark building has been a part of Providence ever since. Now known as the Arcade Providence, it is the oldest surviving shopping mall in the United States, and it was recognized from the beginning as an innovative and beautiful structure. It has survived near-demolition, fires, hurricanes, consumer trends, city planners and commercial developers. Within its walls are fascinating stories of the people who made their livelihood between its double façades. Through archival records, interviews and personal accounts, author Janet Mansfield Soares reveals the challenges faced by its tenants from its beginnings as a competitor to Cheapside to its many transformations that mirror Providence's own volatile history.

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Michael J. Lisicky

You'll Enjoy Shopping at Porteous

9781467172202

$24.99

For eighty-five years, Porteous, Mitchell & Braun stood guard in the heart of Portland, Maine’s Congress Street commercial district.

Founded in 1873, the firm spent its first three decades in Norwich, Connecticut, before it took over a failing department store in Maine’s largest city and became a beloved shopping tradition. Porteous was home to Portland’s Santa Claus, and its elaborate Christmas displays were a holiday destination for northern New Englanders. By the late 1970s, Porteous had expanded and opened branch locations throughout Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. As the retail industry experienced mergers and consolidations, the family-run Porteous bucked the trend and remained in operation longer than many of its former competitors. Although its Portland store closed in 1991, its iconic building has been creatively transformed into the Maine College of Art & Design.

Through interviews with residents, dignitaries, and former employees, and dozens of rarely seen photographs, department store historian Michael J. Lisicky recalls the time when the community knew "You’ll Enjoy Shopping at Porteous."

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Eric A. Johnson

The W.T. Grant Company

9781540299833

$34.99

Possessed with a spirit of optimism and an innate gift for retailing savvy, entrepreneur William T. Grant revolutionized the nation’s retailing industry with the 1906 debut of his W.T. Grant Company department store in Lynn, Massachusetts. Taking aim at the lucrative yet untapped middle ground between the discount five-and-dime variety stores and traditional department stores of the era, he built a well-deserved reputation as the store “Known for Values.” Grants quickly became one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most beloved department store chains, encompassing 1,238 stores in forty-six states at its height in 1972. While the Grants stores are now just a fond memory, the legacy of William T. Grant continues to be remembered today, along with the vibrant philanthropic nonprofit William T. Grant Foundation, which he started in 1936.