Those of us who got on the No. 8, 15 or 19 streetcar to spend a day at the four anchor stores in downtown Baltimore - Hecht Co., Hochschild Kohn, Stewart's and Hutzler's - were in shopping heaven. Our dads may have only made about $50 a week, but that was enough to qualify for a Baltimore Shopping Plate. We had that magic silver-plated credit card that was good for a new Easter outfit or a pair of back-to-school shoes.A Gardenville gal, I boarded the No. 15 on Belair Road with my mother or my aunt during those days in the late 1950s for a Saturday of fun. We would start our excitement by dressing in our Sunday best of white socks, Mary Janes and white gloves. The excitement reached a peak when the streetcar or bus turned onto Fayette Street and downtown came into view.
We would always start at the department stores. By lunchtime, we took a break for a sandwich and a scrumptious pineapple soda on the balcony of Read's Drugstore before moving on to the hat shops along Howard Street. When I reached the great age of 13, I was sometimes allowed to carry the coveted Baltimore Shopping Plate with a note from my mother that I was her daughter and allowed to sign for purchases.
FOR THE RECORD - An article on Friday's Commentary page, "Still longing for Hecht's as Boscov's bows out," wrongly attributed a quote from a 2006 Baltimore Style magazine piece. The person quoted should have been identified as Mary K. Zajac. Also, quotation marks were missing from part of the quote. The Sun regrets the errors.
In 1968, we saw the beginning of Inner Harbor development and the end of the downtown stores. Hochschild's, Hutzler's and Stewart's left in the late 1970s. Hecht's closed in 1989, the last of the downtown holdouts. With the close of the downtown stores, I migrated with others to the Hecht's in the suburbs to shop. By that time, I had daughters of my own who loved to shop as much as I did.
We were drawn to Hecht's, standing outside its doors for Saturday opening, by the coupons and the weekend bargains. But we stayed Hecht customers because of the service.
When Boscov's opened its stores in Baltimore in 2006, taking over mall spaces vacated by Hecht's, I mourned for weeks. It was like attending the wake of a beloved cousin with whom I shared many a happy weekend.
It is unfortunate that the chain's 9,500 employees will need to be looking for work and that the 200 Baltimore-area staff will soon be hitting the unemployment line. But anyone with some shopping sense could have called this two years ago. "Did you really think you could win my loyalty as Hecht's did?" we ask.
When Hecht's announced its 1989 closing, it was after the opening of Harborplace and the disinvestment of money in the downtown shopping district. Today, when Filene's, Best Buy and Victoria's Secret are going great guns in downtown Baltimore, we witness the cyclical nature of retail.
So farewell, Boscov's. I guess "Build it and they will come" doesn't always apply.
Ellen Marshall, a freelance writer and adult educator, lives in Baltimore. Her e-mail is marshknop@aol.com.
