We're getting into the Olympic spirit this week with a July 1984 cover of Store Chat magazine, the employee magazine of Strawbridge & Clothier, a department store founded by Justus C. Strawbridge (1838-1911) and Isaac H. Clothier (1837-1921) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This issue covered the company's Anniversary Sale employee rally and its' "Cultural Olympics" pageant, and its' torch bearer, Dorothy McGrath. McGrath, Strawbridge & Clothier's Buyer of Misses’ Better Sportswear, Better Tops, Contemporary Misses' Sportswear and Claiborne, was celebrated that year as the company's "Buyer of the Year".
In addition to covering events like these, the magazine published communications from management, news about workers’ lives, reports on company and company-sponsored activities, instructions to employees about fashion trends and consumer preferences, and light commentary on matters of local and national import. As the operation grew into a major regional retail chain, the magazine added dispatches from suburban branch stores.
Store Chat was first published in June 1906 and was released at irregular intervals until 1909. After 1909, it maintained a more regular publication schedule, though it did not operate continuously, and ceased publication entirely in the early 1930s during the Great Depression. After it resumed publication in 1943, it ran continuously and on a monthly to bimonthly basis until 1997, shortly after Strawbridge & Clothier’s was purchased by May Department Stores Company.
The publication is call number HD9959.S78 A115 in Hagley's published collections. The library also maintains records related to the company in our collection of Strawbridge & Clothier records (Accession 2117) and collection of Strawbridge and Clothier photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1995.250). To view a selection of materials from the first those collections, click here to visit their page in our Digital Archive. To view all of our holdings of Store Chat online, click here.