Lit Brothers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Notepad
 To comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may need to be rewritten.
Please help improve this article. The discussion page may contain suggestions.
This article lacks information on the notability of the subject matter.
Please help improve this article by providing context for a general audience, especially in the lead section. (August 2007)

Lit Brothers was a moderate priced department store based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The flagship store occupied a full city block bounded by Market Street, 7th Street, Arch Street, and 8th Street. Like many department stores of its time the flagship store was a combination of several buildings built over time, but were joined so the interior appeared to be one building. The unique facade of this buildings front on Market Street resulted in the title the "cast iron" building.

Lit's positioned itself well as a more affordable alternate to competitors, Strawbridge and Clothier, John Wanamaker, and Gimbels. The stores tag line was "A Great Store in A Great City", and it was noted for its millenary department. The statement "Hats Trimmed Free of Charge" can still be viewed today on the facade of the redeveoped flagship.

Contents

[edit] The Enchanted Colonial Village

Lit's also joined its fellow Center City department stores in presenting a Christmas Season exhibit when it opened The Enchanted Colonial Village. This room by room display of a colonial era Christmas ran each year from Thanksgiving to New Years Eve, and remained until the final Christmas season in 1976. The exhibit itself was donated to the Atwater Kent Museum after the store closed and it has since been restored, and sections are displayed around the holiday season at the Please Touch Children's Museum.

[edit] Suburban Growth

Lit's saw the growing demand for suburban locations, and started building stores in mall locations around the greater Philadelphia market, including southern New Jersey. Lit's also operated a store in nearby downtown Camden, and Lit's was the only one of Philadelphia's department stores to maintain a branch along the New Jersey Shore, when it acquired the Blautt Department Store in downtown Atlantic City, and re-branded this location as Lit's.

[edit] Changing Marketplace

Faced with growing competition in a changing retail landscape, Lit's closed its doors in 1977. One of Lit's larger competitors, Gimbels, built a new store in Center City as part of The Gallery Mall in 1976, and while Lit's was only 1 block away from The Gallery, not being a direct part of the popular new complex hurt sales at its important flagship location. The famous flagship location sat vacant for a number of years, and was rescued and redeveloped as a regional headquarters for Mellon Bank, with retail stores on the Street Floor, and a Food Court on the Lower Level. For a few years after the building reopened in the mid-1980s, sections of the Enchanted Colonial Village were displayed in the retail section during the Holiday Shopping Season.

[edit] Former Locations

(all former locations closed in 1977, unless noted).

[edit] Pennsylvania

  • Philadelphia, Market Street East, former flagship, now mixed use building.
  • Philadelphia, 23rd Street & Oregon Avenue (South Philadelphia) (Former Snellenberg's, acquired 1962, now ShopRite supermarket)
  • Philadelphia, Castor and Cottman Avenue (NE Philadelphia) (Built 1950, later Clover (Discount Division of Strawbridge & Clothier), then JC Penney, now vacant (2008), possible future site of Boscov's)
  • Plymouth Meeting, Plymouth Meeting Mall (later Hess's, now Boscov's)
  • Bensalem, Neshaminy Mall (Built 1974, later Pomeroy's, then Bon Ton, now Boscov's)
  • Upper Darby, 69th Street & Ludlow Street, now mixed use building
  • Lawrence Park, Lawrence Park & Sproul (Former Snellenberg's, acquired 1962))
  • Willow Grove, York & Easton (Former Snellenberg's, acquired 1962)
  • Morrisville, North Pennsylvania & East Trenton (Later Dunham's)
  • Berkshire Mall, Reading, replaced by Bon Ton

[edit] New Jersey

  • Camden, Broadway and Market Street (Downtown) (Built 1955, closed 1976, now Camden County Office Building)
  • Voorheese, Echelon Mall (later Gimbels, then Stern's, now Boscov's)
  • Atlantic City, Atlantic & Carolina (Downtown) (Former Blautt's, then Snellenberg's, acquired 1962, now "CitiCenter" mixed use offices)
  • Trenton, South Broad and Front (Closed 1970)


Maryland

  • Rockville, Rockville Mall, former Lansburgh's, later subdivded retail pace.

[edit] Lit's Tire Stores

  • Philadelphia, PA, 7th & Arch (Now Federal Courthouse's Jail)
  • Philadelphia, PA , Cottman & Castor (added to Lit's store on site 1961)
  • Philadelphia, PA, 23rd Street & Oregon Avenue (added to Lit's store on site)
  • Ellisburg, NJ, Route 70 & Brace Road
  • Audubon, NJ, Route 168
  • Willow Grove, PA, Easton & Moreland Road
  • Lawrence Park, PA, Lawrence Park & Sproul Road (added to Lit's store on site)
  • Trenton, NJ, 167 North Olden Road (Opened 1965)
  • Upper Darby, PA, 69th Street & Walnut Street (Opened 1965)