The wing of the lower level that was previously home to the Last Act department was completely given over to fixture sales at this point, again with nothing much of interest. Those frosted glass panels on the back wall look pretty neat, though -- I wonder what they were originally used for. I'm also curious what that Seattle Academy sign was originally for, since I never saw it in use. Also, I just want to take a moment to mention how bad the tilework in front of the checkout counter looks -- who thought it was a good idea to have the straight tile cut into the curving actionway like that? It's all very professionally done, so I'm sure it was intentional -- but still a bad idea, in my opinion!
I'm not sure what that Seattle Academy sign was used for. Maybe the Macy's sold school uniforms or something? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteIt's not unheard of for department stores to have schools in them, but that's probably not the case here. Back in the ~1960s, department stores would have 'fashion schools' for children/teenagers where they taught kids (usually girls) how to dress formally and use manners. Stuff like that is pretty antiquated now and presumably long gone from department stores. Also, I have a family member who bought a Sears sewing machine in the 1960s or 1970s and she said that they had a sewing school at the store and she got free lessons there after buying her machine from there. That kind of service after the sale is most certainly antiquated now!
In more recent times, Houston-area Sears stores had driving schools in them for teenagers wanting to learn how to drive. These operated until just recently when Sears closed their full-line stores here in Houston. At one time in the 1980s-1990s, Sears was known for having cool driver ed cars like Camaros, but in more recent times they usually had brand new Honda Civics. I suppose those are still cooler than the typical driver ed cars, lol.
Here are a couple of photos from Je's Louisiana & Texas Retail Blog showing a Sears Driving School:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4a9KgRBL5Gw/XGOZc9pVNXI/AAAAAAAAWUg/kkNPqx0lbe8zWapGiSO5Rwp6VBhL7Ix3wCLcBGAs/s1600/20181011_192550.jpg
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OBxo4XRYXeM/XGOYuyeUcJI/AAAAAAAAWTg/gMIGGUI5I50JUCaJBwhq5FrCLOHB9bXbACLcBGAs/s1600/20181011_190210.jpg
Those came from this post: https://southernretail.blogspot.com/2019/11/sears-memorial-city-mall-houston-texas.html
Yeah, that's possible, though school uniforms are almost unheard-of around here, and even though Seattle Academy is the type of fancy private school that I'd stereotype as the sort of place to have uniforms, nothing I've seen online indicates that they do. So I have no idea.
DeleteHuh, I never realized that department stores had any sort of teaching/school thing! The whole "fashion school" concept sounds so old-fashioned these days. Sears having driving schools also seems quite strange to me... I wonder if it was ever a thing around here, since I've never seen any evidence of it at the Sears stores I've visited. It's crazy how many different things Sears tried over the years!