Description

Photograph taken December 27, 1927 of the interior of Brager-Gutman's, a department store located at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and West Lexington Street in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. Built in 1930, it was the first downtown department store to use escalators. A leading discount store in the area, it survived easily in the 1970s when other department stores had difficulties. In the late 1980s, the store lost out to discount competitors such as K-Mart and Caldor's and closed its doors about 1991. In this picture, taken during the 1984 Christmas shopping season, many women, especially many African American women, are browsing the racks. Decorated garlands (left) and the decorated branches of a Christmas tree (right) can be seen.

Record Contributed By

Enoch Pratt Free Library / State Library Resource Center

Record Harvested From

Digital Maryland