Loft, Incorporated

Loft, Incorporated was a New York City-based company which owned a chain of stores and restaurants in the late 1920s and 1930s.

Loft, Inc., merged with Pepsi-Cola after a shareholders meeting on May 29, 1941. The absorption of Pepsi-Cola by Loft, Inc., was approved by more than 75% of the stockholders of Loft, Inc., and more than 95% of Pepsi-Cola stockholders. The corporation which survived was known as the Pepsi-Cola Company. A prior arrangement exempted the candy and store business owned by Loft, Inc., from the stipulations of the merger agreement. It continued to operate under the name Loft Candy Stores Corporation.^[1]

Loft's locations and events

• 251–255 West 42nd Street, just east of 8th Avenue

This comprised a portion of the ground floor and basement space of a building in the Times Square area, leased for a period of twenty-one years by Alfred E. Miller, the firm's president, in July 1929. It was the largest store and restaurant in the Loft, Inc., business organization. The lease totaled more than $1,000,000 for the entire period, averaging close to $50,000 annually. The front portion of the store was occupied by the candy and soda fountain departments. The store fronted 42nd Street for 32.6 feet (9.9 m). The ground floor and basement measured approximately 14,000 square feet (1,300 m²). A wide staircase was planned for the center of the main store. The stairway led to a grotto tea room in the basement. The kitchens were situated in front of the basement. Storage vaults ran a length of seventy-two feet beneath the sidewalk.^[2]

• 535 Fifth Avenue

These premises were operated as a Loft's Restaurant. The Frederick Winslow Taylor Society convened here in October 1932, the main topic on their agenda being How Would Taylor Attack The Present Industrial Problem?^[3]

• 17 West 42nd Street

Loft's Restaurant hosted the annual dinner place of the New York Society of Architects, presided over by president Louis E. Jallade.^[4]

• 6 East 39th Street

Loft's Restaurant was robbed of $475 on April 8, 1936. Fifty customers were inside the eatery at the time, but none knew about the holdup until police arrived.^[5]

• Broadway and 90th Street, Manhattan

A candy store. A 190 photograph of the store can be found in Nathan Silver's book Lost New York.^[6]

References

1. ↑ Absorption of Pepsi-Cola by Loft, Inc.; Change in Name Approved by Stockholders, New York Times, May 30, 1941, pg. 23.
2. ↑ Times Square Lease At $50,000 Per Year, New York Times, July 14, 1929, pg. RE1.
3. ↑ What Is Going On This Week?, New York Times, October 9, 1932, pg. 33.
4. ↑ L.E. Jallade Scores Architect Schools, New York Times, December 19, 1934, pg. 2.
5. ↑ Loft Restaurant Robbed, New York Times, April 9, 1936, pg. 11.
6. ↑ Silver, Nathan, Lost New York, Wethervane Books 1967, p. 179