Some of the managers associated with the original Lorain store included: Robert A. Dobosz (1960); Bernard L. Barak (1962); and Fred M. Belch (1964).
By the time of the 1966 Lorain phone book, Economy Sales had made its move to its new location at 4360 Oberlin Avenue. Patricia Gerhardt was listed as the manager at that time in the city directory.
New locations for Economy Sales included the aforementioned Mayfield Heights, Brunswick, and Akron stores.
Here’s a 1963 catalog, currently on Ebay.
I first mentioned Economy Sales in a March 2010 post about 1960s Oberlin Avenue businesses. At the time I wrote, "There was Esco (or Economy Sales, if you prefer)
at 4630 Oberlin Avenue, where my family bought an awful lot of gifts and
presents through the years. The gimmick was that the whole place was a
showroom. After you found what you wanted to purchase either in the showroom or
the catalog, you filled out a small order form with the item's number and
handed it to an employee. A few minutes later, your item would appear like
magic on a conveyor belt from the warehouse in back.
By the time of the 1966 Lorain phone book, Economy Sales had made its move to its new location at 4360 Oberlin Avenue. Patricia Gerhardt was listed as the manager at that time in the city directory.
New locations for Economy Sales included the aforementioned Mayfield Heights, Brunswick, and Akron stores.
Here’s a 1963 catalog, currently on Ebay.
"Esco was a great place because it was minutes from our
home and really simplified shopping.”
I think that with its no-frills shopping experience and large selection of merchandise warehoused on-site, the
store was ahead of its time – anticipating later stores like Sam’s Club.
****
Economy Sales Company was in business on Oberlin Avenue
until around 1984, finally disappearing in the 1985 edition of the phone book.
In one of its last phone book listings, its name was “ESCO FLEA MARKET.”
Today the former store building – after much remodeling – is
the home of Murray Ridge Center of Lorain.
3 comments:
It used to be the only place you could find the old Brady-preferred Farberware Coffee pots.
I've still got mine! But it only works when I use Hills Brothers.
...I worked at Esco from 1975 through when I left for the Air Force in 1978 - it was a pretty decent place to work, the only drawback being that some of the customers were not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. The idea was that you would fill out a form with a stock number and description, then put it in a slot in the stockroom door. There was an electric eye connected to a buzzer that would go off when the form came through, and we'd get the item for the customer. The problem was that some customers simply could NOT wrap their heads around this concept, and would take the display items - for instance, a blender, or a steam iron, or a toaster oven - and do their darnedest to push that item through the 1/2" high by 8" wide slot in the door.
Went through a LOT of doors and busted displays that way.
Mike
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