Hills Ads – November 1965

Nov. 4, 1965

The ads for the well-remembered and beloved (by local Baby Boomers) Hills Dept. Store never really developed a specific design look. As long as the oval Hills logo appeared in an ad, apparently that was enough for it to conform to the corporate brand.

An ample sample of Hills ads from November 1965 follows that marketing strategy, with a variety of illustrations in the ads, including renderings of people, line art of products and cartoony holiday clip art. 

The attire of formally dressed shoppers depicted in the ad at the top of this post is surprising, seeing as we were halfway through the 1960s at this point. Although President John F. Kennedy (assassinated two years earlier) changed mens' styles forever with his shunning of headgear, the man in the ad is still wearing a fedora. Likewise, the woman shopper in the foreground wears a Jackie-inspired pill box hat. Within a few years, things would be getting groovy style-wise and this look would be abandoned.

The Hills ad from November 10, 1965 is interesting because it features popular long-playing records.

The list includes: Boots Randolph, Living Strings, Eddy Arnold, Roger Miller, Jim Reeves and Skeeter Davis. 

It reminds me that my parents had a stereo (a full-size piece of furniture) in our formal living room that was closed off from the rest of the house. We hardly ever used the living room, except at Christmas or when we had visitors (which was not too often). We kids weren't allowed to touch the stereo, either. I do remember Mom playing it sometimes during the day while she cleaned. The 1960s Brady playlist: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Jules Wechter and the Baja Marimba Band, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, and The Sound of Music soundtrack. Sometimes a few of my sister's Beatle albums made the playlist.

A favorite record of my parents at Christmas time was Something Festive, which is not too surprising since it had the A&M Records stars like Herb Albert, and the Baja Marimba Band on it.

Anyway, let's head for the Hills and get back to the ads.

The November 11, 1965 ad launches the first volley of the Christmas season with an ad devoted mostly to toys. Hills always did have a great toy department. 

And the November 18, 1965 ad takes aim at adults, reminding them that Hills carried artificial trees and everything you need to trim it.

The 'Thanksgiving' ad for Hills ran on November 19, 1965 and featured some holiday clip art at the top. The ad itself was devoted to things that might be of aid to a hostess (like a can opener or waffle-grill) or merely a gift suggestion (like a GE portable tape recorder).

After Thanksgiving, of course, it was time for Santa to make an appearance at the store. The November 24, 1965 ad featured some great art of Santa arriving by a helicopter (which was piloted by a diminutive look-alike 'helper.'

In view of my own happy memories of my family shopping at Hills (such as being turned loose in the toy dept., or the possibility of Mom buying us a Frozen Coke® or popcorn), I kind of feel sorry for today's kids. With online shopping preferred over brick and mortar stores, I'm skeptical that kids will be able to look back and conjure up happy memories of their shopping experience.

But then again, every generation prefers their own era and experiences, and think theirs are the best.