Sym's and Filenes join a long list of vanishing NYC stores

[Evelyn Kanter]

Before there was Sym's and Filenes, there were Alexanders, Franklin Simon, Orbach's, Gimbel's, Saks 34th, A&S, B. Altman, Bonwit Teller, Stern's, S. Klein, May's and EJ Korvette -- which may or may not have been named for eight Jewish Korean veterans who foiunded it.  All gone.  Part of the long list of vanishing and ever-changing New York City.

I wrote up the entire list of what I could remember, and what replaced it, on my NYC blog, NYC on the Cheap.  Here's the link.  If I missed anything, let me know.

http://www.nyconthecheap.com/2012/01/vanishing-nyc-filenes-syms-jus...

Evelyn Kanter

www.nyconthecheap.com

[Ed Wetschler]

Evelyn, this is a wonderful blog, even if it did break my heart. I sent the link to a half dozen friends, and one of them just wrote back to me with this:

Thanks for passing along the NYC department store obituary.  Lisa and I went to the local Syms shortly after its demise was announced, and I walked out with two new suits, a tux, and a stack of shirts, ties, and socks (sadly, all this abundance after I retired).  I must admit to a tinge of sadness, though, because I genuinely enjoyed shopping at the downtown Syms, the one in Woodbridge, NJ, and, hold your laughter, even the one in Buffalo, NY.  

As for A&S...for my family it defined "shopping downtown."  I can still recall the bronze art-deco elevators and the children's menu in what I thought was their terribly fancy restaurant.  A few years ago, we strolled into the Macy's that now inhabits the old A&S building...a travesty.