Ambridge's Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears, Roebuck and Co.
653 - 655 Merchant St.
Daily Citizen
August 25, 1954

Ambridge's Sears, Roebuck and Co., opened in 1931, was the first Sears in Beaver County. The store was originally located in "modest rooms adjoining 817 Merchant St." In 1934 the store acquired additional space nearby. (Daily Times, April 9, 1937)

Then in 1937, Sears leased an even larger location in the Fraternal Order of Eagles Temple at 653 - 655 Merchant and moved there. (The Eagles purchased their current location at 401 Maplewood Ave. in 1948.)

Here's that beautiful Eagles building, built in 1923, shown in the 1924 Economy Centennial program book.

Eagles Temple
653 - 655 Merchant St.
Economy of Old and Ambridge of Today
June 1924

The Ambridge Furniture Co., and later Reichart's Furniture, had occupied the Eagle's building before Sears moved into it. Unfortunately, I don't have any description or photos of what the facade looked like when those businesses were in the building, but according to a news article, the black shiny trim shown in the first photo above was added when Sears moved in. Other changes made with the Sears move were larger display windows and new entrances. (Daily Times, April 9, 1937)

Sears leased three floors in that building; the Eagles retained space on the upper floor. The basement and first floor were used by Sears for sales and display; the second floor was for business offices and storage. This Sears primarily sold "hardgoods." On the first store shoppers could find hardware, electrical equipment, washers, sweepers, radios, and sporting goods. The basement was the floor for plumbing and heating supplies, stoves, paint, and farm equipment, still an in-demand line of products for area farmers. The only clothing the store routinely carried was work clothes. But just about anything else a shopper might want could be ordered from the wide range of items in Sears' legendary catalog and later picked up at the store.

When Sears moved into 653 -655 Merchant, it also opened an auto service building behind the store in the rear of 650 Maplewood Ave.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. ad
Daily Times
April 9, 1937

Over the years, the Ambridge Sears store pretty much stuck to selling the same types of merchandise. But it did add newly popular items from time to time:

Sears ad for TVs
Beaver Valley Times
July 5, 1951

And I guess there was always a demand for "memorial markers." But they weren't anything I expected the Ambridge Sears catalog department to be advertising.

Sears ad for tombstones
Beaver Valley Times
March 24, 1951

Sears also offered home remodeling services like roofing and siding.

Sears roofing service ad
Beaver Valley Times
October 1, 1951

Here are two of the ads Sears ran during Ambridge's Golden Jubilee celebration in 1955. I know some people will say, "Wow, look at those prices!" But don't forget how much lower wages were in 1955 too:

Sears "Old Fashioned Bargain Days" Sale ad
Beaver Valley Times
June 29, 1955

Sears "Old Fashioned Bargain Days" Sale ad
Beaver Valley Times
June 29, 1955

And during the Christmas Season, the Ambridge Sears always had a Toy Town where you could tell Santa, in person, which of the toys you wanted:

Sears Toy Town ad
Beaver Valley Times
December 6, 1957

I'm including this 1957 Sears sale ad because I think it's the most unsettling business ad I've come across so far during my Ambridge history research.

Sears "Operation 'H-Bomb' Sale!"
Beaver Valley Times
May 28, 1959

I know some people now believe that Sears moved to Northern Lights when the shopping center opened in 1956 - 57, but that's not true. Sears remained in Ambridge until mid-October 1963, one week before it opened the new store the company had built on the far northwest side of Northern Lights where Giant Eagle is now. That new store was a larger department store that carried a more extensive line of merchandise than the Ambridge store had, including: clothing for women, men, and children, shoes, white goods (linens, towels, drapes), housewares, furniture, jewelry, cosmetics, perfume, and candy. Plus there was a snack bar.

The Ambridge Sears "Removal Sale" was held not only in its store, but also at a "storeroom" at 639 Merchant St., "next to Isaly's."

Sears "Removal Sale" ad
Beaver County Times
October 18, 1963

The year Sears after moved out, Bargain Furniture Mart, which already had a small store at 651 Merchant, expanded into 653-635. It was Bargain Furniture that remodeled the facade of the building by covering the lower front with a white "chipped ceramic" and the upper floors with the trendy-in-1964-green corrugated steel that still covers the building. Bargain Furniture also added the big 37 1/2 foot sign, the largest in Ambridge, that originally spelled out "Bargain" on lighted four-foot blocks.

I'm sorry about the quality of the photo below, but it's the only photo I currently have of the exterior of Bargain Furniture Mart's 653 - 655 Merchant St. store. You can see its smaller store to the left with the "Sale" sign on the window. That store became Bargain Furniture's Early American furniture showroom.

Bargain Furniture's new building with new facade and sign
653 - 655 Merchant St.
Beaver County Times
October 15, 1964

I hope to write about the businesses that occupied 653 -655 Merchant, both before and after Sears was there, in a future blog article. Watch for it.

When Ambridge had "everything you need"

Harvest Days Sale ad
Daily Times
October 3, 1956

Before there was a Northern Lights Shoppers City in Baden, years before the Beaver Valley Mall was built, Ambridge businesses were busy, and not just thriving, they were booming. Sidewalks were crowded with shoppers, and the lack of enough parking spaces was a frequent complaint.

But Northern Lights, the biggest shopping center then built in Pennsylvania, was under construction. Its first stores were about to open on November 1, 1956. So it was no surprise that the Ambridge business community was concerned, very concerned, about the impact Northern Lights would have. And they were right to be concerned. The opening of Northern Lights was the beginning of the downturn of the Ambridge business district.

Then the mall started luring businesses from Northern Lights.

And now, online shopping is killing off businesses in the mall.

Businesses couldn't have predicted in 1956 that "shop at home" would mean something very different in 2018 than "shop in your hometown."

Ambridge memorabilia: parking meter token, Ambridge District Chamber of Commerce

The parking meter token below is somewhat of a mystery.

Ambridge parking meter token
side 1

Ambridge parking meter token
side 2

The reason the token is a mystery is because it indicates it was distributed by the Ambridge District Chamber of Commerce. Only I can't find any information about a "District Chamber of Commerce" in Ambridge PA ever existing.

If I have ever come across a reference to an Ambridge District Chamber of Commerce, I don't remember it. Or thought it significant enough to note.

The only mentions of an Ambridge District Chamber of Commerce I've found during several online searches were by people selling tokens like the one above.

I would have guessed that the token was from the mid-to-late 1950s, when Ambridge businesses were facing strong competition from the new Northern Lights Shoppers City with its 5000 spaces of free parking. But all I've found from that time are mentions and ads of the "Ambridge Chamber of Commerce."

I checked with Bob Mikush, whose family business, Mikush Maytag Home Appliance Center, has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce for generations. He said he'd never heard of a District Chamber of Commerce.

I mentioned the token to Kimberly Villella, the president of the Board of Directors of the latest iteration of Ambridge's Chamber of Commerce, the Ambridge Regional Chamber of Commerce. Kim said that her research of the history of the Ambridge Chamber didn't find an Ambridge District Chamber of Commerce.

So far, Kim and I have found four Chamber of Commerce groups that have been in Ambridge over the years, none with "District" in their names: The Ambridge Chamber of Commerce; The Greater Ambridge Chamber of Commerce; the Ambridge Area Chamber of Commerce; and the Ambridge Regional Chamber of Commerce.

So was the "Ambridge District Chamber of Commerce" on the token a mistake? Or, as unlikely as it seems, could the token possibly be from an Ambridge District of another town like Gary, Indiana?

If you know anything about an Ambridge District Chamber of Commerce, or when the token might have been used, please help solve the mystery and let me know.

Ambridge memorabilia: Ambridge Has It All!

Ambridge Has It All!
promotional pin
mid-to-late 1950s?

This "Ambridge Has It All!" pin belonged to the late Edward (Eddie) James Palsa, who grew up in Ambridge before moving out West. He attended Divine Redeemer Church and School and Ambridge High School (class of 1962). The pin was sent to me by his son, James Palsa, who lives in California.

I don't know for sure how old this pin is or what it was promoting. Bob Mikush, my go-to-guy for information about Ambridge memorabilia, says that he thinks the pin was given out by Ambridge merchants after Northern Lights opened in 1956, reminding shoppers that they didn't need to travel to Baden to shop for anything.

J. C. Penney 1929

J. C. Penney Co.
601 Merchant St.
Daily Times supplement, August 10, 1929 ?
Louis Vukovcan collection
courtesy Jackie Vukovcan

Many of us have fond memories of the J. C. Penney store at the corner of 6th and Merchant Sts. shown above circa 1929. But that wasn't Penney's first Ambridge location. Before the 601 Merchant St. building was built, Penney's did business at 531 Merchant St.

I still don't know when Penney's moved into the 601 Merchant St. building. A January 1917 Sanborn Insurance map indicates that a three-story building was planned for the northwest corner of 6th and Merchant Sts. with two store fronts, a larger one at 601 - 603 Merchant and a smaller one at 605 Merchant. Above the stores, the second floor would have offices, and the third would house a club of some type.

I don't know if the buildings eventually built at 601 - 603 and 605 Merchant were based on those plans, but it took a while for a building to be constructed on that corner. According to an article in the April 4, 1924, Daily Times, the Penney's store was among the building projects, totaling about $1 million dollars, then ongoing in Ambridge. The Penney's ad in the 1924 Economy Centennial program book, Economy of Old, Ambridge of Today, still has the 531 Merchant address.

[Update March 20, 2016, Maria Notarianni pointed out that the 1924 Economy Centennial program book has an ad for the real estate office of John F. Maloney at 605 Merchant. The ad gives information about Maloney's construction of a new building for Penney's. And also some complimentary words about Maloney, which I'm including because they made me smile:

Mr. John F. Maloney, a member of Council and one of our most influential citizens has in the past few years erected more than three hundred homes, which have been sold to people on easy terms.

He opened his first office in 1902, corner Seventh and Glenwood, but his increasing business made larger quarters imperative, and he is now located at the corner of Sixth and Merchant Streets. At the corner, adjoining his real estate, he has now under construction a modern, fire-proof store and apartment building, consisting of a large storeroom on the first floor for the J. C. Penney Co., and eight apartments above, which will have every modern convenience. Each of these apartments will have an incinerator, refrigerator, electric range, tiled bath room with built-in fixtures, Gates' reversible windows, and are finished in a most attractive manner. A feature which will be much appreciated in Ambridge as well as by the occupants of the building will be a roof garden.

As a pioneer in promoting the welfare of Ambridge in every way, Mr. Maloney has few equals.

If I'm remembering correctly, in the 1950s and '60s, Penney's sold merchandise in the first two floors plus a mezzanine and the basement. The first and second floors were connected by a large staircase. The second floor was girls' clothes. Susan Bacon Holowaty reminded me that that's where girls went to buy the lovely (yes, that's definitely sarcasm, mine, not Susan's) one-piece gym uniforms we had to wear in that era. At one time, we also went to Penney's for Girl Scout uniforms and paraphernalia. That's also where my mom bought my underwear, which you didn't need to know, but I thought I'd throw that in.

I loved watching the pneumatic tubes woosh money and receipts between floors, high-tech store entertainment for kids in the 1950s.

If I'm not remembering the store layout correctly, or if you want to add more details about the store that you remember, don't hesitate to leave a comment below.]

Even after Penney's opened a larger, more modern store in the new Northern Lights Shoppers City in 1956, the Ambridge store stayed open for over two more decades. I've been unable to find out when the Ambridge store closed, but it appears ads listing both stores stopped at some point in 1968; after that, ads mentioned only the Northern Lights Penney's. If you know when the Ambridge Penney's store closed, please leave a comment.

This is what the former Penney's building looked like in 2014. Although the sign says Sol's, that business had already closed in January 2014. The building appeared to be vacant the last time I visited Ambridge in 2015.

601 Merchant St.
March 30, 2014

Northern Lights, Christmas shopping season 1960

Northern Lights in Baden was packed with shoppers during 1960's Christmas shopping season. Even though the parking lot was huge, trying to find an open parking space could be hard.

A small part of the parking lot
Northern Lights Shoppers City
Beaver County Times
December 8, 1960.

Times caption:

BUSY PLACE AT CHRISTMAS -- Cars jam the big parking area at Northern Lights Shoppers City these days as Beaver County folks prepare for the Christmas season.

In December 1960, Northern Lights, which had opened its first stores just in time for Christmas shopping in 1956, had over 50 stores, many new to the area, including some that were part of popular chains. Stores, modern and bright, were open late every night. Parking was free, no meters to feed, and no parallel parking was required. Plus Santa arrived by helicopter! It's no surprise that Ambridge businesses were feeling the pressure.

Christmas shopping ad
Northern Lights Shoppers City
Beaver County Times
November 24, 1960

Now, the Northern Lights parking lot is mostly empty spaces and potholes. Many of the stores are vacant. The big Penney's building that was once its centerpiece is gone, and a road to a Walmart runs through where it used to be.

Nationality Days 1983

The Ambridge Area Chamber of Commerce's three-day 50th Annual Nationality Days Festival started today, not on Merchant Street in Ambridge as it did for 49 years, but on Duss Avenue in Harmony Township. So this seems like a good time to take a look back at a past festival. Let's do 1983--since I have photos of that year's event.

A "new and improved" Nationality Days debuted Thursday, May 12 through Saturday May 14, 1983. Among the 18th annual festival's "new" features was a new name, "Nationality Arts Festival." In additional to the traditional ethnic food and entertainment, the event added musical, theatrical, and dance performances, plus artists and craftsmen who offered demonstrations as well as items for sale. The festival site on Merchant St. ran from 4th St. to 8th St.

Here's the entertainment lineup listed in the May 8, 1983, Beaver County Times:

Nationality Arts Festival's list of scheduled events
Beaver County Times, May 8, 1983

Racers in the Nationality Arts Festival Classic 10-K on Saturday ran from Northern Lights to Merchant Street via Route 65. Just enough of a distance to work off a few calories from the highlight of every year's festival--the food.

Despite the new arts and crafts, really, the event was, as usual, about the food.

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

The May 16 Beaver County Times reported on the sales of some of the ethnic food booths:

• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox: 3,800 pounds of gyro and 1,200 pounds of shish kabob;
• Christ the King: 3,500 Italian meatballs on 1,750 sandwiches, 400 pounds of hot sausage, 400 pounds of shells, and 600 calzones;
• St. Vladimir Ukrainian Church: 44,500 pirogi, 3,744 stuffed cabbages, 100 nutrolls, and enough haluski to use 350 pounds of cabbage;
• Holy Trinity Catholic: 3,600 stuffed cabbages, 350 pounds of kolbassi, 1,400 apple strudel strips, 440 dozen donuts, and used 250 pounds of noodles for cabbage and noodles;
• Scottish White Heather band: 400 pounds of fish and a half ton of potatoes for fish and chips, plus 500 meat pies.

Not listed on the Times' events schedule was the women's body building contest featuring young women who obviously did not partake much at the food booths. Cultural diversity event? Art? Craft?

None of the women are identified in these photos from the Laughlin Memorial Library's Bowan Collection. Are you in the photo? Or do you perhaps recognize your mother? Or your grandmother?

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

If you'd like to read about 1966's first Nationality Days Festival, I wrote about it on May 14 and May 15, 2014.

Ambridge Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up Week

Painting the J. C. Penney Co. sign
Paint-up, Fix-up, Paint-up event
Beaver County Times,
May 14, 1965

Text below photo:

EARLY START - As part of the Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up Week program sponsored by Greater Ambridge Area Chamber of Commerce, the J. C. Penney Co. store in Ambridge is being painted. Watching painters at work are James Parkinson, right, store manager, and John Dontas, Baden, painting contractor. On the ladder are Jack Sarries, Ambridge, and Joe Klimkowski, Sewickley. Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up Week observance officially starts Monday.

The Committee to Clean and Beautify Ambridge (CCBA) gave Ambridge a spring cleaning on April 25. More than 65 adults and 20 children removed many bags of litter and trash from Ambridge streets, sidewalks, and other public places. Good job, volunteers!

In May 1965, the Ambridge Chamber of Commerce sponsored a week during which businesses were encouraged to spiff-up their buildings. Does anyone know if that was an annual event?

The J. C. Penney store was at 601 Merchant Street. For many years, Penney's had a store both on Merchant Street and in Northern Lights. Penney's finally closed the Merchant Street store some time after 1967, but I've yet to find the exact date. Anyone know?

The photo isn't great, but you can see the S&S shoe store, 599 Merchant Street, in the background.

Stangl's Bakery

Stangl's Bakery
1210 Merchant Street
1950s-60s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

The photo above is how I remember Stangl's Bakery when I was growing up. And when I think of that Stangl's, which stood at the corner of Wagner and Merchant Streets for over 80 years, I immediately remember the donuts--plump, delicious, raised donuts covered with fine granulated sugar. I also remember huge flaky ladylocks and custard-filled cream puffs. And finally, the bulk candy--the nonpareils and Michigan Cherries were my favorites.

The original Stangl's Bakery, a business started by Paul Stangl, Sr. in 1920 at the corner of Wagner and Merchant Sts. (1210 Merchant St.) is gone, but a new Stangl's has been opened by his great-granddaughter, Lorianne Stangl Burgess, at the location of what was once a Stangl's outlet store, 572 Merchant St. in Ambridge.

[Update Aug. 8, 2018: you can see a photo of the exterior of the 1920 Stangl Baking Co. here.]

Lorianne shared some wonderful vintage photos with me and allowed me to post them here.

Stangl's Bakery
Wagner and Merchant Streets
1920
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl Baking Co. Nu-Bread ad
Ambridge News-Herald
June 24, 1927

Stangl's Bakery
1930s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Bakery
Wagner and Merchant Streets
late 1930s
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Bakery employees
Wagner and Merchant streets
late 1930s
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

In 1930, Paul Stangl, Sr.'s son, Paul Stangl, Jr., and his wife opened a Stangl's store at 528 Merchant Street. Although the store sold baked goods, it originally was intended to be more of a lunchroom than a bakery. Stangl's remained in that location until 1954 when Paul Stangl, Jr. moved his store to 572 Merchant Street.

Paul Jr. took over the Stangl's name in the late 30's when Paul Sr. died and merged the two companies into Stangl's Bakery. He moved his family from living above 528 merchant to living above the 1210 Merchant bakery in 1945.

Stangl's
528 Merchant Street
circa 1939
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

For many years, the clerks always dressed in white including white caps and shoes. In the photo below, three clerks stand in front of the 528 Merchant Street store. Behind them is Star Markets at 530 Merchant Street and Ambridge Hardware, 536 Merchant.

Stangl's clerks
528 Merchant Street
late 1930s - early 1940s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission.

By the mid-1930s, Stangl's had a third store, at 1813 Duss Avenue.

Stangl's Baked Products store
1813 Duss Avenue
late 1930s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's owned a fleet of trucks that delivered baked goods to grocery stores and homes. The 1938 truck below reminds me a bit of Star Wars storm trooper helmets. I don't know if the more conventional looking trucks in the second photo came before or after 1938.

Stangl's delivery truck
1938
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's delivery trucks
date unknown
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Paula Stangl, Lorianne's mother, says that bread was a big seller for Stangl's. She remembers sales offering six or eight loaves for $1.00. Another promotion was "buy a pound of ham, get the bread free."

Stangl's Super Twist bread
1947
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

In 1949 the Wagner and Merchant Street building was enlarged.

Stangl's Bakery addition
Wagner and Merchant streets
September 3, 1949
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Lorianne says that the Stangl's truck below, pulling out from Wagner Street onto Merchant, was driven by her Aunt Connie, one of Paul Stangl, Jr.'s daughters. Across the street are Slavik's Market, one of the many neighborhood mom-and-pop groceries once found throughout Ambridge, 1221 Merchant, and Robert S. Stewart Hardware, 1229 Merchant. I don't know what bar was on the corner in 1955, do you? If so, please leave a comment.

Stangl's Bakery truck
Wagner and Merchant Streets
1955
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Easter candy
date unknown
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

"All Butter Coffee Cake"
Stangl's store display
date unknown
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Bakery ad
The Daily Citizen Trade Area Directory
1956

In 1966 Stangl's had eight locations including three on Merchant Street. I don't know when most of the locations opened or closed. In the 1970s, Stangl's also had a store in Northern Lights.

Stangl's ad
Beaver County Times
February 28, 1966

According to a July 11, 1970 article in the Pittsburgh Press, Paul Stangl, Jr. began to talk in the early 1960s about redeveloping the business area near the Old Economy historic district. Stangl didn't live to see his idea come to fruition, but the early 1970s saw an effort to restore and revitalize the Merchant Street area near the bakery. Stangl's was given a new facade and became Stangl's Old Economy Village Bakery & Candy Kitchen. Lorianne says that store was closed in 2004.

Stangl's Old Economy Village Bakery & Candy Kitchen
mid-1970s
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

In 2009 Lorianne Stangl reopened the Stangl's at 572 Merchant Street which had closed in the late 1970s. She has attempted not to just renovate, but to restore the vintage look of the store by using many of the original counters, cash registers, and equipment. While Lorianne also uses original Stangl's recipes, some things have changed. While Paula Stangl says the bakery once offered only three kinds of donuts--sugar, glazed, and jelly-filled--the bakery now offers such a big variety, I had trouble trying to decide what to buy. No decision was needed when I bought some ladylocks. Still huge, still delicious.

Stangl's ladylocks
March 24, 2014
credit: Nancy Knisley

Lorianne says that one of her favorite memories growing up was watching her mother decorate cakes. Since Paula Stangl is no longer able to do the cake-decorating because of arthritis, Lorianne has taken over the job and is quite the cake artist.

The bakery also offers a variety of what used to be "penny candy." Alas, the candy is no longer a penny apiece, and Michigan Cherries are no longer made.