This article written by Polly Campbell appeared in the Enquirer on November 24th and is now on Cincinnati.com (part of USA Today network):

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2016/11/25/shoppings-changed-merriment-not-so-much/92775806/

Shopping’s changed, merriment not so much

This story is part of our Holidays in Cincinnati: Then and Now special series.

Then: In the 1940’s, ’50s and ’60s, Christmas shopping meant going Downtown. That’s where the department stores were, bustling and festively decorated but not until the day after Thanksgiving. A new book called Lost Tea Rooms of Downtown Cincinnati by Cynthia Kuhn Beischel has delightful descriptions of the Christmas season Downtown. Going Downtown to shop was always an occasion, with lunch and sometimes a show, like The Bob Braun show. Taking the bus or streetcar was part of the occasion.Department store elevators were operated by uniformed young women who announced the departments at every floor, attentive service and beautiful windows. But Christmas was special. Shillito’s had a Secret Gift Shop for children to do their shopping, Mabley & Carew had seasonal concerts, Pogue’s had Pogie and Patter, the animatronic reindeer. There were Breakfast with Santa shows complete with puppets and elaborate window displays.

Beischel’s book lovingly describes lunch at the tea rooms every department had. Or at The Woman’s Exchange, a store that sold handicrafts made by women who needed to support themselves by working from home, along with a tea room. “These were places women went with their mothers or aunts, where they could talk about things they wouldn’t with their husbands or brothers around,” said Beischel. They served food of the dainty sort: mulligatawny soup, tomato aspics, chicken salad, tea tarts and white chocolate cake. At Christmas, there were special shows and menus for children.

Shopping’s changed, merriment not so much

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