1963 Cane's Surplus Christmas Ad

Here's a December 14, 1963 newspaper ad for a Downtown Lorain icon that is sorely missed: Cane's Surplus.

Cane's Surplus was another of those Lorain landmarks, like Bob's Donuts, that leaves an awfully big hole in the local landscape when it's no longer around. The store was part of that dying breed of army surplus stores, like the recently lost Dave's Army-Navy in Oberlin.

The above ad is kind of interesting in its claim of more than a thousand toys and gifts. I suppose that was true, especially if you were thinking of buying your wife an empty ammunition case for Christmas, or perhaps some MRE (meal-ready-to-eat) packets.

I have a couple of Cane's Surplus memories. In high school, my marching band buddies and I used to go in there and buy used work uniform shirts with names sewn on them, I think for a buck. Then we would wear them on the band bus to away football games and enjoy our exciting new identity as "Fred-who-works-at Sohio" instead of "Dan-the-trombone-player."

I also remember buying a great parka in Cane's around the early 1980's for about twelve bucks. I wore that thing for several decades, until my middle age spread spread a little bit too much and I couldn't close it anymore.

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UPDATE (November 30, 2020)

While looking at vintage newspaper microfilm at the library, I recently found this early ad for Cane’s that ran in the Lorain Journal on November 30, 1950. This is from when the business (run by Herbert L. Cane) was located at 539 Broadway.