At auction recently, I came across a 1902 Christmas catalog from Strawbridge & Clothier, and it spoke of a time when this store and its counterparts were the place to go for shopping in Philadelphia. The gifts were fancy, and the prices a bit to hefty for most people who were making pennies an hour.
But it was interesting to flip through the catalog to see what people might be buying for Christmas that year and the prices they were paying. Strawbridge, as one site noted, was a store for middle-class shoppers, and when I calculated the prices in today’s dollars, that was certainly true.
When I first moved to Philadelphia, Strawbridge and Wanamaker’s were the only two major department stores left from an era when four of them successfully competed for consumers. The retail market had changed, and it was getting tougher for even one of them to hold on.
There had been Lit Brothers and Gimbels, which along with Strawbridge had each held a spot at Market and Eighth Streets. For years, the four stores, including Wanamaker’s, had gone all out for Christmas.
Strawbridge’s had been open for more than 30 years by 1902. It was the last locally owned store when it was purchased by May Department Stores in 1996 (following May’s purchase of Wanamaker’s). That company was acquired by Macy’s, which gave up the Strawbridge name.
Here are some items from the catalog, which give some idea of the style of the time:
