A&S a Brooklyn Institution

 In 1865, Abraham and Straus or A&S was founded as a dry goods store in Brooklyn, Ny as the brand turned into a empire in the tri state area well not yet until the 20th century turned over. Starting out as Weschler and Abraham, The founders were Abraham Abraham and Isidor Straus in which the store bears their last names turned their small dry goods business into a full service department store which lasted for 130 years. Isidor Straus in 1912 was a passenger on the Titanic which sunk into the ocean. his remains are buried in New York once he and his wife were recovered. Brooklyn was the flagship store off Fulton Street once you head into the borough. As WW2 was ending and people started moving into the suburbs, more branches opened on Long Island as Stores opened in Manhasset, Lake Grove, Smith Haven then as the decades went Valley Stream, Garden City, Massapequa, White Plains, Yorktown Heights and Nanuet and Manhattan which turned the old Gimbels Herald Square location into A&S Plaza A mega sized mall. New Jersey received their first branch in 1971 as the Woodbridge store opened at the newly opened Woodbridge Center Mall. 1974 Paramus opened and to this day still has the A&S drive when you come off Rt 17. 1978 the chain opened its store at the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown and 1980 in Short Hills despite the store wasn't upscale at the Mall at Short Hills but had to sell merchandise to benefit the location. 

Connecticut opened its lone store in Trumbull in the early 1990's then Pennsylvania which also had stores that opened in the Early 80's in King of Prussia and Willow Grove which was short lived in that region of the Philadelphia market when Wanamaker's and Strawbridge's were still on top in that region. In 1994, their competitor Macy's was going through their own woes until buying into a merger with Federated Department stores on which things were gonna change as the new century was approaching. Early 1995, Macy's would eliminate the A&S brand on April 30th in which a full one page ad was in all New York Newspapers of the merger. Most stores turned into Macy's right away while Woodbridge turned into Sears and Mommouth, Sunrise and White Plains turned into Stern's which met its fate in 2001 as Macy's rebranded their stores. 

I had good memories of A&S especially the Woodbridge Store in which I liked going up to the third level electronics when SNES came out to play Super Mario World for hours it was epic. I do miss this chain to this day.





















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