Northern Lights: Fintex Clothes

"This is Northern Lights Shoppers City, opening tomorrow for business,"
Beaver Valley Times, October 31, 1956

This post takes care of some unfinished business from last year.

On November 1, 2013, I posted a list of the first stores to open in the new, not-yet-completed "Northern Lights Shoppers City" on November 1, 1956. Later, a reader who had lived above, and worked at, Northern Lights, said she'd never heard of two stores on that list: The Farm & Garden Patch and Fintex Clothes.

I posted a blog article about The Farm & Garden Patch on December 21 and said I'd post about Fintex "later." This is that "later," although it's being written much "later" than I originally thought "later" would be.

While "Fintex" may sound more like a brand of non-stick surfaces for frying pans, it was a chain of men's clothing stores.* The photo of Northern Lights above shows Fintex--its the store with the dark sign. It appears to me to be in the center strip of the shopping center and to the left of Penney's.

Here's another, later, photo of Fintex that gives a closer view of the store:

Fintex Men's Clothing store,
Northern Lights Shoppers City,
Beaver Valley Times, June 12, 1957

Apparently, Fintex's display windows were a big deal. The text under the photo says:

Customers actually can browse at Fintex Clothing Store in Northern Lights Shoppers City with a feeling they are inside the store. The display windows have been designed in a U-shape, giving the store plenty of room to display its popular line of men's clothing.

Here's the Fintex ad announcing the opening of "the 5th Great Fintex Store in the Pittsburgh Area" in Northern Lights:

Fintex Clothes ad,
announcing opening of Northern Lights store,
Beaver Valley Times, October 31, 1956

A coat sale ad from December 1956:

Fintex Clothes coat sale ad,
Beaver Valley Times, December 14, 1956

An ad from June 1957, when more stores opened, and Northern Lights held its big Grand Opening celebration. An article in the Northern Lights Grand Opening advertising section of the Beaver Valley Times, "Suits, Topcoats Best at Fintex," focused on how busy the store was, drawing customers from a wide area.

Fintex ad,
Beaver Valley Times, June 12, 1957

A Fintex Christmas sale ad, December 1957:

Fintex Christmas gifts ad,
Beaver Valley Times, December 13, 1957

I haven't yet found out when the Northern Lights Fintex closed, but it was still open in November 1960:

Fintex "2-pant suits" ad,
Beaver County Times, November 3, 1960

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* Fintex of London is a very old company selling fine cloth for men's suiting that eventually expanded across the globe. Fintex stood for "fine texture."  I don't know for certain, but given the unusual name, the Northern Lights Fintex may have been affiliated with Fintex of London.