The Spitball of Commerce...Whooosh!

Remember in study hall, you stole the straw from the cafeteria. Sitting at your desk, chewing on a piece of paper, you position the straw to your mouth and place the wad of chewed paper into the end of the tube. Then in a quick exhale, blowing forcibly, the wad is projected across the room hitting your friends or foes in the back of the head. Who would've thought, the process is over 100 years old and originally used as a tool to send information along a superhighway of polished brass tubes. The predecessor of today's Internet, email and computerized POS terminals.

We've all seen them. Those plastic tubes at the drive-thru tellers at your local bank. It's a simple process really, but you probably never really thought about it. You pull up in your car, press a button, and a door opens and pushes a plastic tube towards you. You reach out and grab it, twisting the end open, placing your deposit (no rolled coin please!) into the cylinder and twisting it shut. Then you place it back into the door and press the send button. Instantly the door shuts and they tube is whooshed either above the canopy or below the drive into the bank as the teller completes your transaction and returns it to you as quickly as he/she received it.

The technology for these Pneumatic tubes isn't new. In fact, department stores have been using them to transport cash and charge transactions long before the cash register was invented. Let alone the common POS systems of today. Some of America's great stores had more then 30 miles of tubing throughout their emporiums, speeding travel of currency at 1000 - 2500 feet per minute. On busy days, some of the tubes would travel over 12,000miles
(almost half way around the world.)

Strawbridge & Clothier's of Philadelphia impressive pneumatic tube system. Operators would be considered the lifeline of the stores they worked, for without them, service as they have known would come to a halt.



Prior to the installation of pneumatic tubes or the other popular choice the Lamson Cash Railway System, Many retailers used the not-so-novel system of the "Cash Child". A small boy or girl hired by the store to run the transactions from the selling floor to the cash office and back with the correct change due the customer. Working for what seemed like pennies back then (and probably more so the case) the kids would be exhausted by the end of the day, and let go shortly after the busy season ended. It was only fitting that a new more updated method was needed to assist in transaction processing.

Lamson brass pneumatic tube from the store Scruggs Vandervoort & Barney of St. Louis, MO. Once privately owned, they were absorbed into the Denver Dry Goods Company. DDG was merged into and became part of the Foley's nameplate after a May Company Conversion. Most locations of course are now Macy's.

Gone are the days for these familiar tubes of commerce. Outside of your local bank branch or even at times in a warehouse club, will you rarely find these intricate workings of compressed air, polished brass and good old fashioned ingenuity. Thank god we still have straws!

A Store Grows in Brooklyn!

In a way, I feel sorry for Brooklyn, NY. In the past century, they have been losing their most precious resources to the bigger and more powerful cities. The Dodgers are long gone, Brooklyn-ese is a dying dialect. Coney Island lost its grandeur of days gone by. They only have one tree! OK, I'm kidding about the tree! And, to make matters worse, Abraham & Straus is now a Macy's!

In 1862, Abraham Abraham, yes, yes, that's his name clerked in Newark's Bettlebeck & Company dry goods store -- along with the future store founders Benjamin Altman & Lyman Bloomingdale. Three years later, he partnered with Joseph Wechesler and opened a dry goods store in Brooklyn. After the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, the partners moved their location to Fulton Street, which was housed in the 5 story Wheeler building. Known simply as "Wheeler's Folly", because of the location being so far away from any contemporary commercial center, Abraham sensed that the new bridge would change the business topography of Brooklyn. He was right of course. Abraham also lobbied to bring the New York Subway into Brooklyn, and in 1908 the first subway shoppers from NYC paid their nickles to head to W&A's bargain basement.

Wechesler sold his interest in W&A to the 3 Macy's partners, Isador & Nathan Straus, as well as Charles Webster. Although the store didn't become part of Macy's, it had a close association with the New York giant and shared overseas offices, but Isador Straus kept his eye on A&S. Isador along with his wife Ida, refusing to separate during the crisis, perished on the Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912.

A&S became one of the founding companies of Federated Department Stores in 1929. It expanded across southern New York and New Jersey, as well as Long Island and CT. In 1985 it even opened up in the old Gimbel's building and rivaled its neighbor Macy's one block up. It was the first full line department store opening that New York City has seen in 100 years.

During the late 1980's however, Federated, after absorbing much of the Allied Stores chain, and in 1994 after helping Macy's out of bankruptcy, decided to merge the 2 companies into one. The results obviously phasing out the A&S name for good. Although the Fulton Street store is still functioning as a Macy's today, I think it lacks some of the charm of Abraham & Straus of years gone by.

You're First at G. Fox, So Come to G. Fox First!!!

The slogans, they are all around us today. That familiar jingle that keeps you humming while you shop. Most everyone over 40 who shopped in these grand emporiums can recall the stores' slogan. Macy's - We're a part of your life!, Feeling Filene's, Bloomingdale's - Like no other store in the world, Jordan Marsh - This is the place! There's more for your life at Sears! Alexander's - How lucky can you get?! A&S...Terrific!, Caldor!, We Make Shopping a Pleasure (For Nick) and of course my favorite above in the title.

Growing up in New Haven, G. Fox was the store you went to on special shopping occasions. Having Hartford roots, the closest one I can recall at the time was in the Meriden Square Mall, while working at Macy's in New Haven, I would venture there more often then I could recall. Whether to browse or to purchase, I found that the service I received from Fox's was far more outstanding than what I got from my employer.

The art-deco masterpiece downtown flagship store was a gem. Eleven floors of luxury and wonderment. Two beauty salons, a fur salon, bridal salon, travel agency, pharmacy, postal office, both Men's and Women's personal shoppers, 2 full-service restaurants, a coffee shop, and a liquor store as well as thousands of items from spools of thread to records, stamps and coins, to the most luxurious furs, linens and designer clothing. From it's earliest days it catered to the CT public graciously and with the grandeur of New York City's emporiums, but managed to keep its hometown New England roots alive. Known for "Serving Connecticut since 1847" it was a marvel of sophistication, offering everything under one roof. G. Fox was to me MANY steps above Macy's and the epitome of style.

Founded in 1847 by Issac & Gershon Fox, the first store in America to sell the first pair of Nylon stockings, and one of the first stores to make home deliveries by wheelbarrow of all things! After a devastating fire in 1917, an 11 floor store was built and was known locally as "Fox's Folly." The new store eventually contained a fully equipped hospital, theatre for community events and invisible glass display windows with full lighting. Stainless steel deco moulded escalators whisked guests up to the upper floors. In the 1940's they opened a "home wares/garden center store" in South Windsor know as FoxMart which sold everything from flower seeds to rose bushes, refrigerators to tractors. The location eventually became one of the merchandise warehouses for Filene's.

Gershon's granddaughter, Beatrice Fox-Auerbach succeeded her father Moses as president of G. Fox in 1938-becoming the first ever woman president of an American department store - and continued in this capacity until her retirement in 1967. Two days prior, the company was affiliated with the May Department Store Company, but still maintained its management and buying offices. It wasn't until the Filene's merger in 1993 that the store lost its glory, business offices and landmark downtown location. In many ways, the May Company both saved and destroyed a CT icon.

The G. Fox building however was given to the city of Hartford by MayCo in 1994 and has been converted into a mixed-use center. Capital Community College has moved in as well as various shops and restaurants. The art-deco interior has been painstakingly restored. Known now as 960 Main, it lacks the hustle and bustle of the retail rush, but still manages to thrill the senses with its beauty.

G. Fox Bags & Collectibles