308 results for: Retail and Department Stores
Photograph
Interior of G.H. Ando's Japanese dry goods store, Seattle, circa 1892
This image shows the interior of G. H. Ando's Japan Curio Company, located at 813 Second Avenue in Seattle from 1890-1893, and variously listed as a seller of dry goods, fancy goods, and notions. Visible in the image are items imported from Asia: porcelain, fans, silk, and what appears to be a suit of Samurai armor in the left foreground…
ID Number:Lib1991.5.61
Date:Circa 1892
Ephemera
Seattle's International Settlement brochure, circa 1960
The Jackson Street Community Council (1946-1967) was established to represent both Seattle's Asian and African American communities in part of the Central District and the Chinatown - International District, supporting businesses, volunteer organizations, and social groups. The JSCC linked these two communities of color and later advocated for civil rights for both. This brochure, titled Seattle's International Settlement, gives an…
ID Number:Lib1991.30.19
Date:Circa 1960
Photograph
Interior of store on Seaview Avenue, Ballard, circa 1920
This general store was owned by John Benjamin Russell, pictured here. Russell was the father-in-law of photographer Otto Langstaff. The store was located across the street from the old Ballard ferry landing, near the current Ray's Boathouse. The brothers Clarence and Otto Langstaff were prolific amateur photographers in Seattle. Clarence worked as a carpenter and also spent time at Mt.…
ID Number:Lib1993.8.38
Date:Circa 1920
Photograph
John Doyle Bishop, Seattle, August 1970
John Doyle Bishop (1913-1980) operated a high-end women’s clothing store in Seattle from 1950 until his death in 1980. He sourced designer garments from the United States and Europe and provided personalized fashion advice for his devoted clients. He was also known for his personal style and cultivated a reputation as a local personality. Bishop took great pride in his…
ID Number:Lib1993.20.227
Date:1970
Photograph
Shoppers buying stockings at Frederick & Nelson, November 3, 1945
In the early 1940s, during World War II, the military needed silk to make parachutes. Silk was rationed, and there was hardly any left over to make underwear, stockings or other everyday products. Women found that rayon stockings bagged and leg makeup smeared or cracked. When the war was over, women jumped at the chance to buy the new sheer…
ID Number:PI21052
Date:1945
Photograph
Woman spinning in Swedish Folk Art exhibition, February 1937
In mid-February 1937, various Swedish groups sponsored a Swedish Folk Art Exhibit at Seattle's Frederick and Nelson department store. Exhibits included handicrafts, utensils, furniture and weaving and spinning demonstrations. During the exhibit, Mrs. Ingeborg Soderlund demonstrated how to spin thread on an early 19th century wheel brought to Seattle from Gamtland in northern Sweden.This photo, taken in Seattle in February…
ID Number:PI22473
Date:1937
Photograph
"Evacuation sale" at Japanese store, Seattle, 1942
On February 19, 1942, shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and United States entry into WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, calling for the exclusion of all civilians of Japanese descent from "designated military areas." More than 9,000 Japanese and Japanese American people living in the Pacific Northwest were forced into incarceration camps in Idaho and California…
ID Number:PI28065
Date:1942
Photograph
Miners and supplies outside Cooper & Levy, circa 1897
After news of Klondike gold reached Seattle in July 1897, many of Seattle's stores joined the excitement and became gold rush outfitters. Cooper & Levy, just south of Pioneer Square, provided gold seekers with crates and sacks of flour, bacon, dried fruit, condensed milk, tea, soap, matches, and many other items needed for life in the north.This 1897 photo shows…
ID Number:SHS401
Date:Circa 1897
Photograph
Soda fountain at Weed's Pharmacy, circa 1910
Melvin Albert (Bert) Weed (1882-1964) began in the pharmacy business in 1898 as a clerk at the Bartell Drug Company. After college he partnered with Albert G. Keene and worked as a pharmacist at Lake Washington Pharmacy. Lake Washington Pharmacy became Weed's Pharmacy in 1910, operating in the same Central District location until Bert's retirement in 1958.This photograph shows the…
ID Number:SHS798
Date:Circa 1910
Photograph
Shorey's Books at 3rd Ave. and Cherry St., Seattle, circa 1895
Legendary Seattle bookstore Shorey's was founded by newspaperman Samuel Fernald Shorey (1851-1932) in 1890 as a small magazine and cigar store at Third and James. Sam's great-nephew John W. "Bill" Todd Jr.(1914-2007) bought the store in 1939, and it was later run by his son, Jim Todd. Shorey's maintained its huge inventory even though the store had to move several…
ID Number:SHS1317
Date:Circa 1895