Gimbels Department Store, 1963, with rival Macy's next door. To the far right is the Hotel McAlpin, the largest hotel in the world when it opened in 1912. Close right is Hotel Martinique, a stately destination when Herald Square was the city's theater district, before it devolved into a dilapidated welfare hotel in the 1970s.
Um, actually, I for 
one, since I grew up in the south...But I do recall the fact that Kris Kringle, in Miracle on 34th Street, tells a mamer at Macy's that she can find sold-out skates at Gimbels, and that after Auntie Mame is fired from Macy's, she shouts out to buy "the little nippers" their Christmas skates at Gimbels... So when I moved to New York in 1995, I was eager to find the landmark.
Of course, unfortunately, by then it had closed. Gimbels began as a general store in Indiana in the 1880s, and expanded into Philadelphia in 1894, before opening its flagship in New York's Herald
Square at Sixth Avenue and 32nd Street, just across from Macy's in 1910, beginning a 50+-year rivavlry. In 1923, owner Adam Gimbel also acquired what would become Saks Fifth Avenue.Gimbels marketed to the middle class, offering NYC's first department store bargain basement, but had a tough time distinguishing itself from the larger Macy's—which did, after all, have a parade—and the legendary store shuttered in 1986. In its location now is what locals detest—Manhattan Mall—where Abraham & Strauss, then Stern's operated. In 2010, J.C. Penney opened its first New York retailer in the space.
See the site today and before Gimbels and Macy's, after the jump!
And this amazing photograph shows pre-Herald Square, before Gimbels and Macy's, with a four-story residential building and dry goods retailer McDonalds on the ground floor. The billboard along the roof is an ad for Benedictine, a French liqueur.
Gimbels in the 'burbs. Yonkers, NY, in the 1950s.
gimbels,woolworths,b.altmans,alexanders,and korvettes are history in new york city. also in the grocery field bohacks,sloans,peter reeves,roulsetns,safeway,finast,grand union,food fair,pantry pride,dilberts,and daitch shopwell.
ReplyDeleteOne Christmas, mother told me she wanted poultry shears. I went to Gimbels. They had a case of almost 10 different designs of poultry shears. The lady took her time going thru the merits of each one so we could select the proper one for mother. Imagine having the choice of 10 different types!
ReplyDeleteMy father would bring my mother, my 2 sisters and I into NYC to go to Gimbels every 6 months to shop back in the late 1970s, early 1980s from New Jersey. He would drop us in Gimbels and then go to the camera stores that surrounded Herald Square. When I was in 6th grade, I got my ears pieced at Gimbels. There was a section upstair that had designer clothes marked way down for $3-15 each. My father would give me a $50 bill before we left the house and I would come home with a bag full of clothes. My NJ classmates could never understand how I had such nice clothes from NYC. Going to Gimbels with my father was one of the best memories of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that! I also have similar memories growing up in Yonkers, NY and going to Gimbels in the old cross county shopping center in the 1970s. I bought my first "members only" jacket and Jordash jeans there! remember those?? My sister got the cash from my late dad to shop there and me and my brother sort of had to work for some extra cash and do some clothes shopping....imagine, $50 and a bag full of clothes! Not happening today! BTW, Gimbels is long gone and then Sterns took over and they went out and then Macys took over and they've been their ever since. So very much has changed but every now and then i pop into Macys Yonkers not only to browse but to sort of feel and remember shopping when it was Gimbels in the 1970s.....many wonderful memories!
DeleteIn 1966 working at Gimbels in the advertising dept.was the greatest job I ever had .
ReplyDeleteThat ABSOLUTELY sounds like a wonderful job...advertising in the 60s and in gimbel's to boot. Cool era cool job
DeleteSpent many hours there 32/6th perusing the floors..good times when NYC had some Flavor and grunge..original new yorker 1970 .NYC always in my heart.
ReplyDeletelogo Macy’s logo vector best
ReplyDeleteI used to work in an export company catty-corner from Gimbel's and would go there for gloves, skirts, an open-faced clam sandwich for lunch. Loved it. Miss it.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I misss shopping there and especially having lunch in the basement restaurant,especially when it was cold outside. I worked for nedicks for a couple of years. The orange room. Miss all the old stores.
ReplyDeleteIt's beginning to look a lot like Gimbels
ReplyDeletei love it!
ReplyDeleteI worked in Gimbel's bargain basement in Roosevelt Field, Long Island the Christmas season of 1971.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely surprise this blog is. I am enjoying exploring it. You have done a great job making me nostalgic for a different time. thank you
ReplyDeleteLove to remember Gimblels...part of my childhood.. .then I worked in the cross county store and also 34th street...I worked in the bridal dept at 34th st ...on saturday my boss would have me go check Macys to see how many customers they had..as I was going there Macys was checking us out ...all fun
ReplyDeleteGimbals was not the next door neighbor of Macy’s. They were separated by Saks & Co which morphed into Saks 34th St when Gimbels bought out the store as they were building their new store on 5th Ave. Gimbels had the foresight to eventually separate those two stores. Saks 34th St remained a middle class clothing chain with a few suburban outlets before closing about 1970 and turning into a Korvettes. Saks 5th Ave became ….well a version of Saks 5th Ave anyway
ReplyDeleteMacy’s was always a block away from Gimbels but certainly close enough for a long rivalry- “Does Macy’s tell Gimbel’s?”