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JJ Newberry Store, Part 1

millinockethistsoc

             Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!

By Trudy Wyman, Curator, Millinocket Society Museum

           

            Many children, teens and adults remember the fun of shopping at one of the two J.J. Newberry locations in Millinocket. The earliest (opened 1929), on Penobscot Avenue, current Our Katahdin building, was there for many years. Later, a second store was opened just across the street.

            A news article (actually a full large page article plus additional related stories on a 2nd page) appeared in the 10/18/1939 Bangor Daily Commercial. The wording used by the unnamed local correspondent is very descriptive. The headline reads, Enlarged Store Opens Tomorrow. “Harmoniously colorful, roomy, bright, the new store will be operated for the complete benefit of customers, staffed by courteous, enterprising employees eager to offer every assistance to their customers.” About 2000 sq. ft. of

Space was added to the original store.   

            For the home, “lovely breakfast and dinner sets to add a touch of smartness, a real curtain call in the drapery shop, luncheon cloths and towels.” For “the fastidious woman, “modish dresses, up-to-date styling in the millinery department as well as many attractive articles in swanky modes and hues.” There was a lamp shop, small wood tables, magazine racks, household appliances, kitchen equipment, dining room accessories, gleaming glassware and patterns all “artistically arranged: for the “opening gala shopping festivities.” “Kitchen requirements in aluminum, also in enamel; delightful kitchen ensembles and an oil cloth section that intrigues the buyer.”

            “The men are not forgotten” with a department made easy with “the latest styles, moderately low prices in which quality has not been sacrificed.” There were “suits, neckware, hose, undergarments, “all arranged as to afford pleasure to the man who shops around at Newberry’s.”

            The support columns were “rust and buff giving the general effect of buff and mahogany. Overhead lighting “reflects on the ceiling from opal globes 6 x 16 inches providing 25% more illumination than hitherto been possible from the same watt bulb.”

            The article states, “thousands of people will visit the Newberry store on Thursday morning at 8:30 o’clock and are prepared to avail themselves of this community center.” JJ Newberry was a national store brand for many years.

            Ads congratulating JJ Newberry’s on their expansion were: Frank W. Rush (supplied 95% of the construction materials), Millinocket Opera House, Bangor Hydro (electric service), Frank O. Daisey (coal, oil, wood) and Charles Madden (oil burners).

            The caption under the accompanying photo (very grainy) states, “A shoppers’ paradise well describes the modernized Newberry store at Millinocket which will have its opening tomorrow. The picture shows a section of the interior with its large high posted floor space, wide aisles and brilliantly lighted counters where a great variety of merchandise will be displayed.”

            A photo and detailed biography is included about the Millinocket store manager, Howard Foley who at the time had been employed in Millinocket for 9 years. Foley married a local woman, Hazel McLean. He was a member of several civic groups was said to “have advanced the business community.”

To be continued next week with info on employees at the time and the new “refreshment fountain.”



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