Ed Balint| ed.balint@cantonrep.com
Bob Mann keeps the retail glory days tucked in a few boxes and files scattered around his home.
The mementos are from Stern & Mann’s department store. Wrapping paper emblazoned with images of Canton landmarks. Gift boxes tagged with the store name. A pneumatic tube that was used to send sales checks and cash to the finance department.
They offer a peek at an era when downtown Canton was the retail king of Stark County — decades before the term “Black Friday” was synonymous with the craziness of holiday shopping.
No shopping malls. No strip shopping centers. No outlet malls. No big box stores. No Internet.
“What else was there?” the 84-year-old Mann recalled of the days when shoppers flocked to the retail establishments dotting Cleveland and Market avenues.
“All the major department stores that were in Canton were downtown,” he said. “This was the shopping hub.”
DOWNTOWN WAS KING
Stern & Mann’s was opened in 1887 by Max Stern and Henry Mann when they purchased an existing store. The retailer is among the names most recognizable to those old enough to remember the golden period of holiday shopping downtown.
“Sidewalks were filled with pedestrians, and the cars couldn’t move,” Mann reminisced. “People were jaywalking, and traffic was held up. That’s why they used auxiliary police officers at Christmastime, to keep traffic moving.”
He started working at the family business in the 1950s. By then, the three-story department store at Tuscarawas Street and Cleveland Avenue long had been a downtown institution. The venerable retailer was known for its upscale and specialty merchandise, including imported silk and other fabrics. The selection also featured lingerie, footwear, cosmetics and men’s and women’s clothing.
The first floor was covered with Italian marble. Marble also adorned the walls surrounding elevators.
The company and other downtown merchants boomed in step with the growth of the city’s population, said Michael Gill, director of the Canton Development Partnership, a department of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“When you take a look at Canton, it really hit its zenith in terms of its highest population around 1950 — about 117,000 and almost 40,000 households,” he said. “There was such a buying power in those neighborhoods.”
Mann, who advanced to president and chief executive officer of Stern & Mann’s, rattled off other downtown fixtures: Stark Dry Goods, Kresge’s, Kobacker’s. Others included W.T. Grant Co., Sears Roebuck and Co., Walkers, The Harvard Clothing Co., Richman Brothers, Gray’s Drug Stores.
Evening hours expanded during the holidays, Mann said. But downtown stores were closed on Sunday.
“There was no such things as these big sales in those days,” the retired retailer said. “They didn’t have the huge, so-called Black Fridays.”
But a variety of merchandise was splashed in a barrage of advertisements in the Thanksgiving Day edition of The Canton Repository in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.
In 1942, during World War II, Kresge’s was selling men’s ties for 29 cents. The W.T. Grant Co. sold an 18-inch Dream Doll for $3.29 and a toy stove for $1.98. Fur dress coats for women retailed at Stark Dry Goods for $58.
In 1952, Kobacker’s advertised train sets for $2.98 and metal wagons for $6.99. Rayon pajamas for men cost $3.25. Men’s suits cost $48 each at The Harvard Clothing Co. Sears was staying open until 9 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving and offering a 42-inch Kenmore gas range for $259.95.
THE EXPERIENCE
Shoppers invaded downtown the day after Thanksgiving. It was a complete experience: Decorations, music, lights, food and even movies.
Stern & Mann’s had a reputation for gorgeous Christmas displays.
“We used to spend thousands of dollars for our Christmas decorations,” Mann said. “They were just beautiful to look at — angels flying off the columns.”
Customer service was another store hallmark. A slogan appeared on advertisements and promotional material: “Home owned and operated.”
Gift boxes were wrapped and tied with a colored bow. Merchandise often was delivered to customers’ homes. “The amount of business these merchants were doing (was so heavy that) these private delivery companies had a hard time keeping up,” Mann recollected.
END OF AN ERA
As the 1960s approached, Mann said, he realized downtown retail shopping
wouldn’t last forever. Suburban sprawl had begun. With it came shopping malls, retail plazas and competition to serve the shifting populace.
Dennis Saunier, president and CEO of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the retail transformation was not unique to Stark County.
“Obviously, I think as suburbs grew and people moved out of urban areas ... it had an effect on cities like Canton but it really had an effect on cities across the country.”
Gordon Gough, president and CEO of The Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, said that shoppers had different expectations when downtown retailers were dominant.
“Forty years ago, people wanted retail to be an experience — the women wore white gloves and (shoppers) wanted to get dressed up and have lunch and dinner at the retail location,” he said.
“I’m old enough to remember at a young age that department stores still had the big Christmas displays in the windows, (but) in the 1980s those things were starting to move out to the suburbs.”
Stern & Mann’s responded by adding stores at the 30th Street plaza in Canton and in Belden Village Mall.
The local chain of stores was sold in the early 1990s. Stern & Mann’s, under the new owner, eventually went out of business.
Since then, the retail sector has continued to evolve.
“The computer came and stood between the retailer and its customers,” Mann said. “And the computer today stands between the vendor and retailer.
“The days I was in the business ... it was a personal business. Today, it’s just a question of taking your credit card and wanding it.”
Internet-based holiday shopping continues to grow in market share, Gough said.
But there’s still value in the shopping experience, he said.
“Brick and mortar retail is always going to be a big piece of the overall experience because there’s social value in shopping,” Gough said. “People like to shop with their wife and shop with their family or friends. It’s very similar to how we all have the big-screen TVs in our home and our basement or living room, but we still go to the movie theater.
“... Now we’re just giving ... shoppers more options.”
Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 or
ed.balint@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @ebalintREP
