| Industry | Retail |
|---|---|
| Founded | Danville, Pennsylvania, U.S.(1883) |
| Founder(s) | Charles P. Hancock |
| Defunct | April 1994 |
| Headquarters | Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Area served | Northeastern Pennsylvania |
The Globe Store was a regional department store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, founded in 1883 by Charles P. Hancock. It closed in 1994.
Contents |
Charles Hancock was born in Danville, Pennsylvania. During his early life he was a clerk with the firm, Cleland, Simpson & Taylor. He continued in their employ until the firm moved to Scranton. In 1883, after having acquired the necessary experience, he resigned his position with the firm and launched his own business. He returned to Danville and opened the Globe Store, where his former employers were located, and established one of the first stores of its kind in this region of the state. The original building was a three story white stone-faced building. It was stocked with "the latest and largest line of dry goods, notions, cloaks, ladies' tailor-made suits, and men's furnishings".
The Globe Store eventually moved to Scranton where it would gain local fame. The Scranton Globe Store was the former Cleland, Simpson & Taylor building on Wyoming Avenue. The original building of Cleland was destroyed by fire on March 17, 1889.
The new Globe Store in Scranton was one of the only stores of its kind in the city. It had sometimes been compared to the stores of New York City with its large display windows, enormous selection with all of the latest fashions, and its restaurant, the Charlmont (later converted to cafeteria style restaurant). The Globe continued to prosper throughout the 1900s, adding a wider selection of goods and other features to the store. It had elaborate outside decorations during the Christmas season.[1]
The store prospered until the opening of the nearby Viewmont Mall in the 1960s. Business was drawn to the new suburban mall and downtown business began to decline. In the 1960s the Globe was purchased by Wanamaker's but quickly became an independent store again in the 1970s when Wanamaker's experienced financial difficulty, that chain eventually closing in 1986.[2] In the 1970s and 1980s Scranton's downtown shopping district as a whole was in financial trouble with the closing of Stern's and other similar department stores. In 1987, the Mall at Steamtown was proposed to help revitalize the shopping district. Demolition of dilapidated buildings started October 1991 but this was too late for the Globe. The Mall at Steamtown opened to the public October 23, 1993 with the Globe as one of the anchor stores (connected to the new mall by pedestrian bridge).The Globe couldn't last though and closed its doors April 1994, laying off 400 workers, after PNC Bank seized the store's assets.[3] The former Globe building was converted to office space and is occupied by Diversified Information Technologies.[4] The pedestrian bridge was closed off from the Globe and turned into the furniture department of Boscov's, one of the other anchors of the mall. The bridge has since become a Steve and Barry's sportswear store. Following Steve and Barry's bankruptcy and subsequent liquidation, the area is now the furniture closeout department of Boscov's.