Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Lorain Surplus Center Ad – March 1953

Today we're back in March 1953, seeing what sundry items are featured in this ad for Lorain Surplus Center. The ad ran in the Lorain Journal on March 25, 1953.

Unlike the previous two days here on the blog, there's no clothes suitable for the traditional Easter Parade. As the ad heading notes, it's a 'Spring Clean-Up' sale – and Lorain Surplus was hoping to clean up selling clothes you wouldn't mind getting dirty in, including various uniforms, fatigue pants and dungarees.
Dungarees? What in tunket are dungarees?
Well, as you can see from this 1953 Lee ad that ran in LIFE Magazine, they're pretty much, uh, jeans.
Otherwise, the basic items carried – including socks, jackets, and loafers – make it my kind of store.

The only non-clothing items in the ad are the various paints for sale. There's no well-known brands like Sherwin-Williams or Pittsburgh Paints listed (although 'New Dutch" sounds vaguely reminiscent of Dutch Boy), so the ad employs a friendly mascot.
He sort of reminds me of those 'dancing cigarette' packages with those long legs.
Anyway, back on this 2018 post, longtime blog contributor Rick Kurish wrote a nice history of surplus stores.



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4 comments:

  1. Don HiltonMarch 29, 2023 at 6:57 AM

    I grew up with the word "dungarees."

    But what in tunket is a tunket?

    I had to look that one up.

    Thanks for learning me a new word!

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  2. RaeMarch 29, 2023 at 7:46 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. AnonymousMarch 29, 2023 at 4:14 PM

    If only we could go back in time and pick up a couple dozen pairs of both the Lee and Levi's dungarees we would all be selling them on eBay for $300-$500 a pair.Vintage USA made jeans are a hot market collectible and people will pay accordingly.

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