Holiday shopping downtown Youngstown was 'magical'


By KALEA HALL

khall@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Rev. John Harris recalls hopping off of the No. 17 Mosier city bus in downtown Youngstown as a boy with a lightness of tone in his voice.

It was the 1960s and his mother, dressed to the T, had a routine. He followed in hopes of getting the heavenly Strouss’ malt at the end of the shopping trip.

To him downtown, especially during the holiday season, was a magical place. The halls of the stores were decked with countless decorations and no one from the era of McKelvey’s and Strouss’ will ever forget the perfect window displays that awed both children and adults.

It was like a slice of New York City plopped in the center of Youngstown, and Mahoning Valley residents had an appetite for the experience.

“The downtown was the center,” said Harris, who is in his 50s now. “I feel a real connection just walking down the street. I feel my parents and my grandparents.”

Today, Harris and others from the era of the downtown experience see something different. There seems to be a loss of the service, decor and something else.

“In many ways our community and a in larger sense our society was lost,” said Tom Welsh, author of Strouss.’ “We lost that social interaction. That kind of experience was lost. There was an attempt to re-create it in the suburban areas, but it was lost.”

McKelvey’s and Strouss,’ two stores that got their start in the 19th century, were the staples of downtown shopping for much of the 20th century.

Generations from the 1930s through the 1970s have passed down the memories of that experience.

Both stores had a friendly competition, Welsh said.

“It was always neat to go downtown,” Harris said.

Harris remembers the amazement of climbing the escalators of the multi-floor stores and seeing the toys. Lights illuminated downtown as crowds of people went store to store and holiday music played on in the background.

A big shopping day for the Harris family was always the day after Thanksgiving. It was the kickoff of the holiday season ­— without waking up at 4 a.m. or getting started on Thanksgiving day.

“My parents couldn’t have imagined getting up at 4 a.m.,” Harris said.

There may have been some extended holiday hours, but the real service was in the workers who went out of their way to serve the customer.

When Harris became a father he knew he had to share downtown with his three children. His daughter still remembers the sales lady from the cosmetic department giving her her first samples of perfume — Chanel No. 5 — and helping her pick out a Mother’s Day gift.

“That was a very special [memory],” Harris said.

83-year-old Josephine Houser has some of her own special memories of shopping downtown.

“You could hardly walk in the street,” she said. “You saw everyone you knew.”

It was festive, and it felt “wonderful” to be a part of an event that felt special, she said. Everyone was dressed up, the trees were decorated ,and the window displays were beautiful.

Sales back then did not happen every day as they do now, Houser said.

“You looked forward to going there,” she said.

Like many others she would take the bus to downtown and sometimes a car. During its prime in the mid-20th century, all public transportation went downtown, Mahoning Valley Historical Society Executive Director Bill Lawson said.

“It was natural that you would have, in the holiday season, thousands of people here in the evenings and Saturdays, as well,” Lawson said.

Welsh repeatedly heard the term “magical” in his research for the Strouss’ book.

“It really reflected the extent to which downtown continues to hold a special place to Youngstown residents,” he said.

The discussion of the service offered at the downtown stores was also a main topic. At Strouss,’ customers would return wine glasses with wine stains and noticeably worn wedding dresses without a problem.

If a customer didn’t want to carry around packages, the stores would deliver them.

“That level of customer experience is so foreign to us today,” he said.

It wasn’t just about the shopping downtown, though that was a major part of the attractions. The restaurant scene was also one to experience.

Sandra Cika remembers dressing up to go to The Youngstown Club with her godmother, Carolyn Maresky, in the mid-1970s for Christmas dinner. She would look down at Central Square from inside the commerce building where the Youngstown Club was and feel like she was in a big city.

“It really, truly was elegant and beautiful,” Cika said.

Cika, 47, grew up going downtown for the day after Thanksgiving Day parade.

Immediately after the parade she would head over to Strouss’ to sit on Santa’s lap with her three sisters.

By that time, the malls in the area had opened. The business downtown migrated elsewhere and, with it, the traditions left, too.

People did not have to go downtown anymore with the suburban plazas and malls.

“There was a real sadness to see it go,” Houser said. “I still feel that sadness.”

Cika and Harris both felt that sadness too, but they have tried to continue the tradition they remember.

Cika still likes to be a part of the holiday excitement. Harris has taken his grandchildren to the downtown Pittsburgh Macy’s to experience the multi-level shopping.

“The day after Thanksgiving was a fun time because my mother would take me downtown,” he said.

“We thought Youngstown was this exciting and bustling city.”