Garfinkels was A very exclusive Washington DC based 7 Unit Chain Of Department Stores. They Were Founded in 1905 By Julius Garfinkel. And Eventually Constructed A large Neoclassical Building on 13th And F streets in DC.
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Children's Feat. A Disturbing Mannequin
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Womens |
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When the suburban Fever Came Along in the 1950s-70s, Garfinkels chose not to expand as rampantly as some of their competitors into the malls. Their 6 Branch stores were all very well thought out and classically designed.
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| Great Visuals! |
The Landover Mall location Was number 5. Opening in May of 1972. The malls other anchors were competitor Hechts, Woodward And Lothrop. And a totally out of place Sears.
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| Escalators From The Bottom |
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| Escalators from the Top |
The store’s interior design was completed by fairly well known store planners/Architects Copeland, Novak And Israel. And it was a very classy interior indeed. Sporting separate selling rooms Chandeliers and amazing Visual Merchandising.
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| Little Bit Of Disco Snuck In |
The Stores exterior sported a simplistic yet classy arch design done in white brick. The entryways sported large archways, and some 70s looking mercury vapor can lights.
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| Jewelry And Cosmetics |
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| Mens Suits, Classy as all get out |
Unfortunately Garfinkels took a turn for the worst in 1990 as a company and Filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. One of DCs Classiest was gone forever. The Landover Location rotted until 2003 and was Demolished that year along with the rest of Landover Mall. Fast Forward To 2019, 29 years After Garfinkel's demise and I finally after years of searching got ahold of one of the iconic blue Garfinkel's Credit cards as seen below. I had wanted one ever since I started Collecting Old credit Pieces 8 Years ago.
Photo Credit: Store Planning And Design Novak Adolph 1977
Store Planning/Design: History, Theory, Process Lawrence J. Israel 1994
Garfinkels Logo Courtesy Of The Department Store Museum
Worked at 7 Corners from75-79 and coincidentally then became a manager at Hechts at Landover. Never could understand Garfinckels being there.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Where did you find the pictures? I’m trying to locate photos of the Fair Oaks location! It still operates as a forever 21 but has a lot of the original architecture and fixtures from Garfinckels.
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