The 1920s were a formative decade for retail and our visual merchandising forebears.
It was early days in the golden era of department stores. Macy’s held its first Thanksgiving Day parade in 1924, Sears opened its first physical location in Chicago a year later, and JCPenney became publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange as the three retailers began their climb to the mountaintop of American retail. Inside stores, more durable and heat-resistant “mannikins” began to supplant wax figures commonly used in display.
There’s something about the retail industry that lends itself to nostalgia, so we’re indulging in that here. Thanks to diligently preserved photo collections, we can enjoy the sights of retail in the Roaring Twenties from our vantage point of 100 years into the future.
Dr. Scholl’s shoes and “foot comfort appliances” are featured in the window of R. Berberich’s Sons in Washington, D.C.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
A department store window presents its latest in handkerchiefs, along with a rosy-cheeked flapper.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
Brown’s Drug Store uses its storefront window to advertise “Digestit,” a stomach relief medicine. The product is being endorsed by a pianist who reportedly played in the window non-stop for 60 hours and 45 minutes.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
Vacuum cleaners are showcased at a J.C. Harding & Co. store, which provided free trials and “easy terms” for its Royal brand machines.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
A little girl with a “life-sized” peppermint cane stands with brothers John and Constantine Janes, proprietors of the Janes’ Fine Confectionery store.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
Yes, there used to be such a thing as an all-egg display. This one was in Harrods, the world-famous luxury department store in London. Today, one café in Harrods reportedly sells avocado on toast for a mere 60 pounds. How times change.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
The New York Waist Store in Allentown, PA catered to women and girls, selling blouses and undergarments.
The Offterdinger cigar store in Washington, D.C. included a soda fountain – albeit with no seats – and a newsstand. How about the 1920s typography on the magazines?
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
This is the snug interior of a Peoples Drug store. The chain was founded in 1905 and ultimately acquired by CVS in 1990. Four years later, the Peoples Drug banner was retired and all of its stores were converted to CVS.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
Clocks, powered milk and toothpaste: a combination you’ll be hard-pressed to find in any contemporary window display.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
A spyglass at the Bon Marché department store in Paris depicts the 1920s stylings of French women’s fashion.
At Sport Mart, a sporting goods store in Washington, D.C., you can “get the boy something he wants.”
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
In its window advertisement, the Almar United Beef store in Trenton, NJ announces various meat specials including “Jersey Killed” fresh ham for 19 cents per pound.
📸 rich701, Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The ground floor of Brownley’s Confectionery in Washington, D.C. offered sweets for sale along with a lunch counter and soda fountains. The store went out of business in less than 10 years, but the Art Deco-style building that housed it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
📸 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
14 Photos of Visual Merchandising in the 1920s
The 1920s were a formative decade for retail and our visual merchandising forebears.
It was early days in the golden era of department stores. Macy’s held its first Thanksgiving Day parade in 1924, Sears opened its first physical location in Chicago a year later, and JCPenney became publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange as the three retailers began their climb to the mountaintop of American retail. Inside stores, more durable and heat-resistant “mannikins” began to supplant wax figures commonly used in display.
There’s something about the retail industry that lends itself to nostalgia, so we’re indulging in that here. Thanks to diligently preserved photo collections, we can enjoy the sights of retail in the Roaring Twenties from our vantage point of 100 years into the future.