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Post by caoilainn on May 14, 2014 23:05:58 GMT -5
G.C. Murphy was a chain of five and dime or variety stores in the United States from 1906 into the 1980s.The chain was founded in 1906 in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, by George Clinton Murphy. Murphy had gotten his start in retail as a manager of a McCrory's store in 1896. Murphy later moved to Detroit, Michigan, to manage several stores there, and then returned to the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area to launch his own stores. His namesake chain was founded in 1906. It was one of several large retailers to originate in Pennsylvania. This was located in Wildwood in an area called Holly Beach Station, a foot mall laid down in 1987 over Pacific Avenue, the main shopping drag. The hope was to draw walking spenders, a la Cape May's wildly successful Washington Street Mall. The idea flopped. Merchants, left with fewer and fewer browsers and buyers and charged an assessment to pay for the renovations, closed up shop. Nowadays, the corridor is pockmarked with vacant storefronts and peppered with bars. In April 1985, the company was acquired by Ames Department Stores Inc. for $196.5 million ($446.1 million today) Ames rebranded many of the larger "Murphy's Mart" stores. In 1989, Ames decided to sell the variety stores (while retaining the former Murphy's Mart), and sold the division to the McCrory's chain led by Meshulam Riklis. McCrory's rebranded some and closed others. The McCrory's chain filed for bankruptcy in 1992, closed many of their stores (including former G.C. Murphy's outlets) in 1997, and ceased its remaining operations in 2001.
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Post by Bill Cherkasky on Jun 26, 2014 21:14:01 GMT -5
Interesting information. Thanks. I always wondered how Holly Beach Mall could support 2 large department stores...Woolworths and Murphys. In the end, both closed.
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