We'll wrap up Mother's Day Week here on the blog with this ad for the well-remembered Hills Dept. Store that ran in the Journal on May 6, 1965. As to be expected due to the era, the family depicted in the ad are formally dressed for a visit to the store. But the times were a-changing, and by the end of the 1960s I don't think you would see an illustration quite like that.
The ad mentions several possible gifts for Mom, including "dainty lingerie, a duster [!], a lovely new appliance, a box of candy, an attractive new piece of jewelry, of one of hundreds of ideas you'll see at Hills."
I don't think local Baby Boomers (myself included) will ever stop reminiscing about Hills. Thanks to its family-friendly pricing and great selection, it was exactly the right fit for our family when my siblings and I were very young. Mom sure bought a lot of winter coats there for us.
Plus it was fun to go there. The toy department was huge, and in those days Mom could turn us loose there to look around by ourselves, knowing that we would be safe. And of course, the nicest memory was the possibility of a treat (popcorn, a frozen Coke, etc.) when we were done shopping.
By the end of the 1960s, however, we were buying much of our clothes at Sears and we weren't playing with toys as much. So we more or less graduated to Midway Mall.
Today, Hills has been gone so long that several generations have no memory of it at all. But memories of Hills will always conjure up simpler, happier times for many of us.