April 1967: O'Neil's is Replaced by May Company

Here's an interesting Lorain Journal article from April 1967. The article (by Staff Writer Bob Cotleur) tells of the changeover that occurred when the O'Neil's store at the O'Neil-Sheffield Center became a May Company store. (I'm sorry some of the article is cut off at the end!) I left the other front page articles there, since it is nice to see the article in its context. (Plus, you get a Today's Chuckle. The Journal should bring that feature back – we need a chuckle now more than ever!)

Hearing my mother say that she was "going shopping at O'Neil's" is one of those old, old memories of mine from childhood. The big O'NEIL'S sign at the shopping center really left a big impression on me too. I was kind of surprised to see that the changeover occurred much earlier than I thought.

It was a sad thing when the Sheffield Center May Company store finally closed. Many of the employees had been there for years, and had become part of the shopping experience. Also, we went there much more often than the Midway Mall store, as it was much more convenient for us.

Today the former department store complex is the Macy's Systems and Technology center, and the O'Neil's name haunts the area through the street signs.