Pictured above is a scene from 1949, when workers
were placing the new sign for the Lasalle’s store in place. A crane was parked
on Columbus Avenue, and a worker was high atop the Lasalle’s store, which had
not yet opened.
In this closer view, you can see the Byer Brothers
store, Caryl Crane, and the J.C. Penney Company, all in business on Sandusky’s
Columbus Avenue in 1949.
Further down the block were the
Montgomery Ward store and Gray Drugs.
An article in the March 30, 1949 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News stated that construction of the Lasalle’s store was ahead of schedule. The new store opened on October 28,
1949, right before the busy holiday season. Many of our parents and
grandparents shopped in this block of Sandusky in the late 1940s.
If I recall correctly, Rosino's shoe store was located next to Caryl Crane, altho visibility of the shoe store in the photo is blocked by the crane installing the Lasalle's sign. As a 14 or 15-year-old, I worked Saturday mornings at Rosino's, dusting the shelves. breaking up cardboard boxes that the shoes were delivered in, sweeping the floor, and other menial jobs. It was a great beginning to my working career, and helped me resolve that if given the chance, I would like to go to college so I could get better jobs than janitorial work. The money I earned at Rosino's, together with mowing lawns (at $1 an hour), were important first steps in saving money for college.
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ReplyDeleteWas Lasalle's the original tenant where Elder-Beerman is in the Sandusky Mall?
ReplyDeleteTo the best of our knowledge, Lasalle's did not operate a store in the Sandusky Mall. The downtown location was their only local store until it closed in the early 1980s.
ReplyDeleteWasn't sure. I seem to remember a new store being built at the mall in the early 80s but might have had that one confused with May Co. (now Macy's)It seemed like there was something else in that Elder-Beerman space though originally.
ReplyDeleteElder Beerman as it is now takes up more than one store location. Originally the Elder Beerman store was only a portion of what is now the regular mall entrance and it did not originally extend across the aisle and into the larger store location. The first store I remember occupying the far left entrance (looking at the EB store from inside the mall) was called Kohn's. It was a department store much like all the other anchor stores. The other section (in the aisle and to the far right) was occupied by a few places before Elder Beerman expanded. I remember Service Merchandise, a household goods and decorative wares store, where one example of merchandise was on display and you took a ticket and "ordered" the item, then got in line to pay for your purchase, which was retrieved from the onsite warehouse. There was at least one or two other stores at that location as well. Lasalles was never in the mall.There was also a general mall exit at the end of that aisle, which no longer exists because Elder Beerman closed it off when they expanded.
ReplyDeletespelling may have been Cohn's as the first store where Elder-Beerman is. There was also a "Best" store, not Best Buy. Where the other half of Elder-Beerman is. And remember Mongomery Ward used to be where Sears is/was now. A friend of mine purchased a hand gun at Montgomery Ward in the mall, can you believe it?! sounds like ancient history already!
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