The illustration of a Santa Rockette wannabe riding on the back of a reindeer is right out of a 1950s ad man's Christmas fantasy. But it seems out of place in an ad promoting hometown stores – unless the town is Potterville.
Since Elyria has always seemed foreign to me, it's no surprise that I haven't heard of most of the stores, which include Berson's Dry Goods, C. H. Merthe Company (a popular department store) and the Fitch Company ("Elyria's Friendly Store").
The ad unapologetically urges the locals to both shop and buy in their hometown. That's still a good concept worth practicing (although it would be difficult for me to only spend my scratch in the handful of Sheffield Lake stores).
But I do practice the spirit of the ad, though. Years ago, I stopped going to Great Northern Mall, deciding that if I had to go to a mall, it was going to be Midway Mall.
Midway's not exactly in Lorain, but it's my mall so I'm going to support it.
C.H. Merthe had an actual elevator operator as I remember -- sat on a stool. The registers were equipped with tubing (maybe bronze?) that shot the change to a central location. I was born in 1959 and remember my mother taking me there often.
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