Hagley Library will be closed on Friday, December 24th through Monday, December 27th ...

Back cover illustration in white, red, and black of a child with Santa. Santa's face is split in half (the other half is on the front cover). The child is drawn in 3/4 profile from behind.

Hagley Library will be closed on Friday, December 24th through Monday, December 27th for the Christmas holiday.

I'll be returning with new content on Tuesday. Until then, please enjoy this (slightly unsettling) back cover image of the December 1952 issue of Store Chat magazine.

Store Chat was 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. 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. To view digitized copies of the Hagley Library’s collection of Store Chat, head over to the landing page for this publication on our Digital Archives by clicking here.