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| Telegram and Gazette archives |
It is hard to believe, but it will be 40 years that Denholms vacated the downtown Worcester building that it occupied for over 100 years. On November 26th, 1973 the legendary Main Street store held its last sale, and closed on Wednesday-Thanksgiving Eve. The photo above was from the Telegram and Gazette archives and shows the vacant display windows with store closing signs. Denholms succumbed to poor miss management in its final years, and it was one of the first major retailers to close up shop.
As the Telegram website reads..."Gone but not forgotten".
1871-1973
I remember the wonderful, glamorous displayed windows they had every year when the music festival was going on. And great Christmas windows.
ReplyDeleteI think the closing of Denholms signalled the beginning of the end of Worcester's once-vibrant downtown retail scene In the next few decades we'd also lose Barnard's, American Supply and finally Marcus & Company. As a teen, I'd pass by these shuttered stores on my way to and from the Galleria and knew those empty buildings were once filled with fanstastic emporiums offering a more-personalized shopping experience than either Jordan Marsh or Filene's could (and don't get me wrong: I loved both of those stores, too!) But the demise of Denholm's - like the demise of every other local department store - was a truly a great loss to our collective communities, regardless of where you actually lived - and we were left with antiseptic suburban shopping malls offering the same collection of stores selling the same selection of wares. .
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with you. I just cannot believe having grown up with the city of Worcester that there is little or no retail in the downtown district. Store like Denholms were at one time the anchor to a vital downtown, and now with ALL of them gone, we are left with just the memories of what Worcester was.
DeleteThanks for commenting!