Economy Sales Ad – November 4, 1964

Back in the 1960s, many stores ran Christmas ads highlighting potential gifts in early November.

Why? One of the reasons was that back then, layaway was a very popular payment option. Many families (including the Bradys) utilized it. So making those purchases early made sense.

That's the idea behind the nearly full-page ad above for the well-remembered Economy Sales stores, which ran in the Journal back on November 4, 1964. The ad is nicely divided between toys and gifts for adults.

Economy Sales was the Amazon of its time. It carried a wide selection of items and each store was like a little warehouse. You perused the showroom, decided on your purchase, filled out a little card and submitted it. Then, a few minutes later, your selection came chugging out from the back on a little conveyor belt.

(I've written about Economy Sales several times.)

At the time of the 1964 ad, the Oberlin Avenue location wasn't open yet. It wouldn't hold its Grand Opening until November 1965. So the Lorain store was still out in South Lorain, in the former Lorain Street Railway car barn.

Anyway, many of the toys shown in the ad have survived to this day and are available on eBay. Here are a few of them.

And of course, who doesn't recognize the fruit of Fred Flintstone's loins: Pebbles Flintstone. 

Economy Sales Grand Opening – Nov. 10, 1965

If you lived or grew up on the west side of Lorain in the 1960s (like me), then you’re probably familiar with Economy Sales. The “Discount House of Distinction" was located at 4360 Oberlin Avenue just a little south of its neighbors Big Town, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Above is the full-page ad in the November 10, 1965 Journal announcing the store’s Grand Opening.

(Back in 2016, I did a two-part history of the store, beginning here and ending here.)

Economy Sales was a store ahead of its time. It was sort of like Amazon, with an incredible selection of merchandise. The difference was that instead of Amazon shipping the stuff to you from its warehouse, you picked it up at the showroom/warehouse.

Who doesn’t remember filling out and submitting the little card with what you wanted to purchase, and then waiting until it came chugging out from the warehouse on the conveyor belt?

The Bradys bought a lot of stuff there over the year; lots of gifts. I even bought my first 35mm camera there (a Pentax K1000).

As I noted in my earlier post about the store, it closed sometime in the mid-1980s. Today the building has been remodeled to house the Murray Ridge Center of Lorain.

Economy Sales Company – Part 2

Here are some more pages from that 1959 Economy Sales catalog. It’s fun to see some of the things that were offered.

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.

"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.

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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.

Economy Sales Company – Part 1

Here’s a company logo and top-hatted mascot that should look familiar to many older Lorainites. It’s for Economy Sales, the “Discount House of Distinction.” What a great store!

The logo above is from an ad that appeared in the Lorain Journal in August 1966. As you can see, by that time the chain consisted of five stores. But the very first store was in Cleveland.

Here's a closer look at our favorite monocled mascot.

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The Cleveland Economy Sales store was located at 1257 West Third Street.

The company apparently was around as early as the 1940s. A classified ad in the Sandusky Register of May 15, 1941 read, “WANTED – Women connected with fraternal organizations, lodges, churches, etc. to organize merchandise clubs. An easy ways to make money in your spare time. Write to the Economy Sales Co., 1257 West 3rd St., Cleveland, Ohio."

It was later joined by a satellite store in Lorain, originally located at 1901 E. 28th Street.

Strangely enough, 1901 E. 28th Street (shown below) was also the location of the former Lorain Street Railway car barns.

1901 E. 28th Street today

Car Barns at South Lorain

The car barns were mentioned in the very first Economy Sales advertisement that ran in the Lorain Journal on November 19, 1958. Note the small image of the sales catalog on the coupon.

Here’s the cover of that Economy Sales catalog. We’ll peek inside tomorrow!