Farewell Department Stores

We may be losing more than we think

Opening day newspaper advertisement for the Fedway Department Store in Bakersfield, California 1954

I’m not a traditionalist. But when it comes to small town department stores, I do confess to some regret as they and the megastores that displaced them, fade from the retail scene. These smaller-town department stores were centers of commercial life, conversation, and what passed as popular culture long before online meant anything other than standing in…