Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Long ago, stamps once make their way to retail giants. Macy's at one point was selling stamps in early 1950's. Memco (Gemco) and Woodward & Lothrop also did in 1970's. It was a trend, but lasted briefly. Parents & children often visited department stores together. Stamps attracted shoppers from all ages because stamp hobby was very popular during that time. Department stores did well selling stamps. Clerks were busy restocking supplies (stamps). Suddenly, department stores permanently excluded stamps from their inventory.
1953 circa. Macy's in New York
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I remember Gimbal's dept. store for stamps.
Dan C.
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From the 1950's or so through the 1970's stamp collecting became very popular. For some reason in the early 1980's, stamp collecting fell out of favor, and stamps were no longer sold in department stores.
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A couple of things happened that caused stamps to lose favor. One was the manipulation of the stamp market by several dealers, some big ones. The other was the explosion of stamps that started to be issued by so many countries that it was impossible to keep up with it. Later on, there were more manipulations, such as with the Europa issues. Bad press.
The internet sort of turned the hobby into a collector-to-collector mode, causing many dealers unwilling to enbrace the internet to go out of business, along with many of the older dealers closing their albums.
Many other factors as well, such as social media, exciting electronic games and such to occupy the younger set rather than the laid-back scene of philately.
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An interesting story... my wife has a friend we've known for over 40 years. She knew I collected stamps, but this story only came up recently.
I discovered that her adult daughter, who lives with her, had a stamp collection since she was 13. I've known this girl her entire life and didn't know that!
It goes one step further. Upon me bringing her daughter a package of stamps when we visited, she mentioned that her long dead mother was a stamp collector. They lived on Long Island and as a little girl she'd dread the trips into New York City to go to the big department stores for stamp shopping!
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One of our American associate send us an interesting article & photo. We have very little knowledge about its content. Therefore, we wanted to share her article with you. Maybe you can shed some light on this. According to her article:
Long ago, stamps once make their way to retail giants. Macy's at one point was selling stamps in early 1950's. Memco (Gemco) and Woodward & Lothrop also did in 1970's. It was a trend, but lasted briefly. Parents & children often visited department stores together. Stamps attracted shoppers from all ages because stamp hobby was very popular during that time. Department stores did well selling stamps. Clerks were busy restocking supplies (stamps). Suddenly, department stores permanently excluded stamps from their inventory.
1953 circa. Macy's in New York
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re: Macy's
I remember Gimbal's dept. store for stamps.
Dan C.
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this post
re: Macy's
From the 1950's or so through the 1970's stamp collecting became very popular. For some reason in the early 1980's, stamp collecting fell out of favor, and stamps were no longer sold in department stores.
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12:09:15pm
re: Macy's
A couple of things happened that caused stamps to lose favor. One was the manipulation of the stamp market by several dealers, some big ones. The other was the explosion of stamps that started to be issued by so many countries that it was impossible to keep up with it. Later on, there were more manipulations, such as with the Europa issues. Bad press.
The internet sort of turned the hobby into a collector-to-collector mode, causing many dealers unwilling to enbrace the internet to go out of business, along with many of the older dealers closing their albums.
Many other factors as well, such as social media, exciting electronic games and such to occupy the younger set rather than the laid-back scene of philately.
Login to Like
this post
re: Macy's
An interesting story... my wife has a friend we've known for over 40 years. She knew I collected stamps, but this story only came up recently.
I discovered that her adult daughter, who lives with her, had a stamp collection since she was 13. I've known this girl her entire life and didn't know that!
It goes one step further. Upon me bringing her daughter a package of stamps when we visited, she mentioned that her long dead mother was a stamp collector. They lived on Long Island and as a little girl she'd dread the trips into New York City to go to the big department stores for stamp shopping!
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