Home Care In Pomoroy, PA

It was known as the Levittown Shop-A-Rama and, like Camelot, the fictional realm and fabled home of the legendary King Arthur, it was recognized “for one brief shining moment” as the finest and most-modern shopping mall east of the Mississippi River.

It had been the brainchild of real estate developer William J. Levitt to serve the families in the 17,311 new homes he had built in his Levittown, Pennsylvania, community.

In its heyday, between 1954 and 1970, the Levittown Shop-A-Rama boasted an array of stores that included Pomeroy's, Sears-Roebuck, J.C. Penney and Yards department stores, Lobel's, W.T. Grant, F.W. Woolworth and Pep Boys.

These giants were fortified by dozens of smaller shops, including several shoe stores (actually 16 stores in the shopping center sold shoes), a candy store, two banks and two restaurants. There was also a large supermarket and a drugstore, a community meeting room and a parking lot for 6,000 cars.

At the center of the Shop-A-Rama was its anchor store, Pomeroy's, then the newest member of a department store chain based in central and eastern Pennsylvania, that had long been known for its varied selection of goods, its service and its sales staff.

Opening its doors on Thursday, May 5, 1955, it would be Pomeroy's fifth location (the other stores were in Reading, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre and Pottsville) and would be the largest department store between Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey.

Having recently married and having moved into the area that summer, Betty and I would soon find the Shop-A-Rama, and especially Pomeroy's, the ideal solution to all our growing family’s shopping needs. For us, it was the scene of weekend and holiday shopping sprees and leisurely days spent wandering the store’s numerous departments.

In succeeding years, we’d get to know a great many Pomeroy’s employees — individuals like advertising manager Jane Travis and women’s clothing specialist Wilma Ryan. Our daughter Kathleen would eventually work after school and on weekends in the store’s advertising department.

During those years, Pomeroy’s was much more than a mere department store. It served as a community center and was the scene of art exhibits and cultural displays.

It was once even visited by Sen. John F. Kennedy, who was campaigning for the presidency.

I still fondly remember that autumn day in 1960 when Betty and I, with two of our then-young children, stood in Pomeroy's front doorway watching Kennedy deliver a speech from just a few feet away.

In recent weeks, a great many memories of those days have been re-triggered by the new book “Shop Pomeroy's First,” written by Michael J. Lisicky and published by American History Press.

It’s the latest of seven books Lisicky’s written dealing with the history of departed East Coast department stores. Among the others are “Wanamaker's: Meet Me at the Eagle” and “Gimbels Has It.”

Lisicky, a Baltimore resident, is today widely recognized by many as the foremost historian and lecturer on retail stores of the past.

His recent work includes numerous reminiscences of former Pomeroy's employees (along with many of their personal Pomeroy's mementos and photos) and affectionately chronicles the rise and fall of the store from its founding in 1876 as Dives, Pomeroy and Stewart (the names of its original owners) in Reading to the final closing of the last of its stores in 1990.

It details how, in 1923, George Pomeroy bought out his partners and developed a store that would quickly acquire a reputation for exemplary service and a devoted sales force.

The author then faithfully describes many of the features that made Pomeroy’s so popular, from its extraordinary window displays and annual Christmas parade to simply enjoying a bite at the store’s elegant Tea Room. It was a time when stores like this were social hubs where sweethearts first met and families did their Saturday shopping.

Besides the Tea Room, there was a restaurant and a large auditorium where nationally known celebrities such as Captain Kangaroo and Mary Martin would make occasional appearances.

According to Lisicky, and based on statements from former employees, Pomeroy's Levittown store was a success from its very first day. It was a community store that had real customer loyalty. If you shopped at Pomeroy's, you didn’t go anywhere else.

In contrast with some other department stores, salespeople went out of their way to wait on customers, with employees in every department performing a variety of tasks.

And there was a great deal of bonding among employees — most of the group was very close-knit, like a family.

In one interview, a former employee recalls the store closed for one day every summer for a company picnic and an ad running that day would read: ”Gone fishing.”

One surprising bit of information that Lisicky uncovered while doing research was that Pomeroy's was not Bill Levitt’s first choice as his anchor store at the Levittown center.

Seeking a prestigious department store to anchor what was then considered the “newest and most diversified shopping center in the nation,” Levitt had initially approached both John Wanamaker and Strawbridge & Clothier in downtown Philadelphia. But neither store felt Levittown’s income level was enough to support their kind of store.

Yet, just a few years later, each would have a change of heart and move into the nearby Oxford Valley and Neshaminy malls.

At its peak in the late-1980s, there would be 15 Pomeroy's stores, including three only a few miles from the Levittown Shop-A-Rama — the Oxford Valley Mall, the Neshaminy Mall and the open-air Levittown Plaza (later Willingboro Plaza) in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Yet, by then, times and shopping habits were rapidly changing, and the creation of the large enclosed suburban shopping malls — and with them the invasion of the major downtown department stores into the suburbs — would eventually seal the fate of Pomeroy's.

For a few years, it would try to compete in both the Oxford Valley and Neshaminy malls, but the competition was too great.

By 1986, Pomeroy's had already moved out of the Oxford Valley Mall, and that year, the Pomeroy's stores in the Levittown Shop-A-Rama, the Neshaminy Mall and the Willingboro site were sold to Boscov's.

Finally, in 1990, the last Pomeroy's store closed its doors.

“Shop Pomeroy's First” is an informative and entertaining read for anyone interested in the history of department store retailing and is certainly a memory-jogger for those who remember shopping in those friendly stores. It contains 160 pages and retails for $19.99.

Note: Author Michael J. Lisicky is also an musician with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Jerry Jonas’ column appears in the Life section every Sunday. Reach Jerry at 215-949-0376. Email: [email protected].