Thom McAn Shoes - Life in America
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
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#recollectionroad #nostalgia
Brings back so many memories. Being a kid in the 60s.
The good old days gone like every damn thing else in this country Thanks for sharing
The more things change the more I wish they'd stay the same
@@mikemcclune1440 You got that right!
@@mikemcclune1440 if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it right ? I was 11 in 77’, that would be a good reset point
Soo True. Its like an entirely different planet now.
I miss what we had too. But there were many things that were not so good too. I guess we have little choice but to move forward. Death is always going to be the final destination anyway.
My mom used to purchase my school shoes here. They had male employees who worked there for years. They knew how to fit children's shoes. How to size up for growth and could almost exactly forecast when I would grow out of the shoes. The experience was so nice and calm.
Now I have to dig through a messy pile to find shoes for myself.
I wish I'd had your experience. We were always moving house and never stayed in one place long enough for that. I do miss shoe stores, though, and actually having someone care about whether you liked the shoes or if they were comfortable. You're right about today's experience, unless you want to go to a department store and spend some money. I did that a few years ago, and all I can say is, at that price, those shoes had better outlive me.
We went to the local stride rite and got zips until I was old enough to start expressing a preference for other styles of shoe. There is an older gentleman there who always sized children's shoes and pressed his thumb into the toe to prove that they had room to grow into them over the year.
Gosh, remember when shoes were sold at shoe Stores? I Loved Tom McAn shoes as a child.
I did too!!! I always remember going at the start of the school year
They can be found today at Kmart
@@javierdenardo2607 Yup they went the way of Kmart. All gone
My memory of Thom McAn is of bright clean stores that smelled of leather. sigh.
You said it right!
Growing up it was always going to Thom McAn for shoes just before school started. That smell of leather still recalls memories
Its funny, as a little boy in the early '60's I hated shoe shopping with my mom. I'd give anything now to relive just one of those trips to Thom Mcan with mom
how old are you if i may ask Bernie? and would ever be willing to post videos or photos of your past? if not they may be lost forever always love knowing the small stories you would have never known
When I was a kid living in Austin, TX back in the 70’s my mom would take me to the Thom McAn in the Hancock Shopping center. I got some cool tennis shoes with a popcorn sole, good memories with my mom and getting a treat from Dairy Queen!! I miss my mom so much!! Thanks for the cool videos, it’s nice to remember when....
RIP Mom!
Same here.
@Jim C I still live in Texas, just not Austin anymore, when I visit family there it’s hard to believe it is the Austin I was born in and grew up in, anyways I miss the Austin I knew as a kid.
I miss my parents as well.
@@sharonrose9994 Austin is a shadow of its former self. The only thing I recognize is the tower over at UT.
This reminds me, remember when the shoe sales person would sit on that special stool in front of you, and put the shoes on your feet (using a shoe horn), for you?? I haven't seen that in decades.
I always had a metal shoe horn with Thom McAan engraved in the metal in my back pocket. The measuring device was called a Brannock (after the inventor), the stool was called a shoe bench, you always put the shoes on their feet, tied them, felt for tightness or looseness, pointed them to the shoe mirror that sat closely by, and asked them how they felt. If they complained the heel bone was rubbing, you put the felt pad under the insole at the heel. If they were too stiff, you would take them back off and flex them, or take the shoe in the back where we had stretch devices to loosen the leather. We had spare socks for the rare occasion that anyone came in without socks (almost never happened in those days). I would suggest shoe trees, recommend a polish, and know the person by the first name before they left, and remember their name when they came back - and they always did. That was all 50+ years ago.
Nordstrom's still does that.
@@tomf429 Thank you, that really was nice to know how many ways sales people used to help customers.
@@SallySallySallySally My late wife worked at Macy's Fragrance Department for nearly 40 years part time. Those women knew how to treat a customer. Now, it is becoming self service with the few employees left as cashiers. Nordstrom remains old school because they know that without customer service, you might as well buy everything online.
Kinda like "full service" gas stations.
Thank you for creating this video. So many memories. I was an Assistant Manger at our local Thom McAn store for six years in the mid 80's. I actually have some display props and two chairs from the store closing.
I was a store manager in the early 80s my first real job after college they had great sales training that I still use today.
Probably collectibles now
I enjoyed a 40-year career in direct sales and sales management (electronics for the printing industry). Many times over the years I was asked where I learned my skills. I always responded, "selling shoes while in HS and college". I learned far more working at Thom McAn than I did in any classroom. Today, you pick up a shoe and ask the clerk for your size, or find it yourself. If they don't have your size, they tell you they are sold out (with their hands in their pockets). I learned to NEVER do that. You come out with the next size up or down, a different color, a similar style, whatever. You say they run big or small, and try whatever you have. You tell them that brown is sold out, but, try the wine color because you can wear it with more colors. Once they like the shoe (or shoes quite often), you bring over some handbags. At the register, you sell them polish. You get their name and address and call them when a good sale starts. Over time, you develop enough of a relationship that they ask for you when they come in. That is sales. I learned that at Thom McAn.
I learned that also. First job out of college in 1981. Learned how to deal with people and never judge anyone by how they looked.
@@joefaller4525 For me it was 1967-1974 (with a 2-year “break” to serve in Viet Nam. I still have a Thom McAn shoe horn in my desk. Started at $1.40 an hour + commission part-time.
I work there from 1968 until 1978 and learn my trade in sales and management. Went on to have a successful career in wholesale.
Thom Mcan , Kinney, Fayva..... miss them all . Good quality shoes at affordable prices.
Gone are the days of personal service. Everything is self-serve now.
@@loribach534 ...
And the quality, dependiplity, and reliability went to the birds.
@@jpolar394 You got that right!
Bakers shoes too
In the UK we had Dolcis, Clarks and Dr. Scholls.
My childhood growing up in the 70's in Indianapolis. This was the only place we bought our shoes from. My parents especially my mother, loved the store...I did too and throughout my high school days in the early 80's, Thom McAn is where I bought my penny loafers.
This makes me cry as I think back to a great time and place and the country wasn't pure hell.
I love your vids.
Even the hell isn’t pure these days.
My last pair of sneakers from Thom Mc An, I purchased at the Palm Beach Mall in 1981. They were an awesome yellow color with black stripes. 💛 The good old days.
They were Jox!
My Dad bought me my first pair of "adult" shoes @ Thom McAn, which I needed for a wedding. Will always remember that moment. I have 2 pairs of new Thom McAn dress shoes saved from the closing sale of my local store.
As Kids, those were beautiful days at the Thom McAn Shoe Stores.... when people actually knew The LOST Great Art Of Shoe Fitting. They were courteous & well trained to CARE about you and your feet. That was such a beautiful world back then. Thank you for the warm memories. Today is so cold and careLESS. That Good Fit from the 60s is long gone & sorely missed.
no al bundys ? were there
I always race to my tablet after work to see if there's new Recollection Road videos :) love em!!
These are great videos, I watch them in the evening, it's calming. I hardly watch television programs any more.
~ In the late 1960's, before I could afford Florshiem shoes, Thom McAn's & National Shirt Shops were my stores.
I remember looking at the Florsheim shoes in the display window thinking they were wealthy people shopped.
My first full time job was selling Florsheim shoes. Even with the employee discount (50%) they were expensive for a young guy
Another swell trip down memory lane, when malls ruled! Thanks very much❤️
I absolutely love the background music on these vids....
Same! ✌🏻🙂✌🏻
I loved Thom Mcan shoes. As a kid, I remember picking out my shoes. I loved the smell of brand new shoes. 🙂
Me too!!!!!! Doesn't happen any more.....
I remember going to try out our shoes for the start of the school year with my mom in the 60's in hialeah fla.
I didn’t like the smell of Payless Shoes though. The store always smelled like glue. 🤮
I feel like they were everywhere. I'm getting Earth Shoe memories ✌🏻
Yes someone who actually remembers the name "Earth Shoe"!
Ernest B Feel like I'm always dating myself on these things 😂
Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s they had the most durable and comfortable work boots. There was a pair with soft leather with a square toe. They were expensive compared to the rest - but worth every penny.
I can’t remember the name of them. They look better with age just like the “Adidas Stan Smith” sneakers. Work all day - clean the dirt off them - put on some jeans and a concert tee-shirt - jump in my hopped up VW Bug....and had great memories!!!
Great shoes as I recall. Those days sure were fun while they lasted, never to return in any semblance.
I remember this store well. Growing up in the 1960's and 1970's this was the days when shoe salesmen always were neatly dressed and wore ties.
They really helped you in putting the shoes on your feet, had a foot measuring metal device to measure your feet for size and width and they sat on a shoe bench in front of you. I went to some stand- alone Tom McAn shoe stores and other ones in the malls. Great shoes at affordable prices and really good customer service.
Never saw women employees in the 1960's or 1970's at any of the shoe stores I was in. Just well dressed gentlemen and always wore a tie, usually a white shirt and dress pants.
Are there any shoe stores like that anywhere these days?.
I remember the Thom McAn shoe store in the Beaver Valley Mall
Mom would take me there for back to school shopping for shoes growing up
In the mid 70's I bought my one and only pair of platform shoes from Thom McAn. They were brown with a zipper on the side. The salesman even sold me a can of spray shine so they would sparkle under the disco lights.
Good salesman. He got 15% of that $2 can of spray, and 2% of whatever the shoes cost, plus his $1.50 per hour. If you hustled, you could make $5/hr. on a Saturday. That was not bad money in the 1970's for a part-time job. In those days, a Big Mac was 99-cents and gasoline was 49-cents a gallon.
No. Thanks. Bye
Tom McAn shoe store in Terrell Plaza in San Antonio on Austin Hwy. in the 60s and 70s. Those were the days, my friend. I thought they'd never end. 😢
Terrell Plaza? I don’t remember that. It changed a lot and Earl Abel’s moved there.
@@rbsmith3365 Earl Ablrs used to be on the corner of Hildebrand and Broadway where that huge high rise apt. Is.
@@stevemelancon6207 Yes, I remembered that. During Great Depression, Earl Abel opened three locations. And, I think until war it became a problem for the business. He had to close two locations and kept one. And until early 90’s city council told them that they can not operate business for 24 hours. I don’t recall what reason? . Closes at midnight. Opens for breakfast about 6 or 7 AM. Until late 90’s Earl Abel’s son was retiring and he was so old and didn’t want to continually business. The investor bought furnishings, fixtures and outdoor signs. . The property was sold to build high rise condos on corner which, I don’t like it. And too bad for Incarnate Word students who can’t go across street for meals. . Take a bus to Austin HWY anyway.
@@rbsmith3365 you ate so right. Now Earl Abels' has moved from the Terrell Plaza location, down to "The Pearl". A "5 Below" store is in the slot where Earl Abel used to be at Terrell Plaza.
@@stevemelancon6207 I’m in Pennsylvania. It’s a damp out there. Water main broke loose overnight. And not in mood for prescription refill until tomorrow. Earl Abel’s have moved back on Broadway? I can see that it’s south of Grayson. Wow! And that place have added a patio too.
yes the loafers were beautiful and comfortable for girls in the 60s and 70s and so many styles
I worked in the shoe department at K-Mart in Massachusetts in the early 80's. The shoe department was owned and operated by Meldisco which was part of the Melville Corp which ran Thom McCan. We got paid in cash by K-Mart but technically we didn't work for them. We could only work in the shoe department. I do remember the Blue Light Specials!!
victrol8 where was the K-mart store you work at
@@rogerstlaurent8704 Fairhaven, MA
The one and only pair Sandals i ever bought were these Roman warrior looking things in 68 from t.m.
My mom use to purchase shoes there for me when I was a kid. All these videos bring back memorable moments of my childhood and the soft background music is a great addition.
I still have a pair of Jox from 1982.
Thank you for another nostalgic video. The information is interesting but I wish for a little more. That said, I think your videos are going to cause me to start drinking. The America we lost was really special. I remember Red Goose shoes for kids, Buster Brown shoes, U.S. Keds, Kinney’s and also Thom McAn. Thom McAn did a few things right; good looking shoes, in stock, they fit and they lasted. I remember they fit a little better than some other brands. Bigger toe box I think 🤔. The things we lost have not been replaced by anything better. Oh, one other thing; they were made in America by Americans.
Being 80 now, I can see and realize how REALLY SPECIAL America was when I was growing up! I won't be drinking but a heavy sadness overwhelms me!
When I was 11 years old, I got a pair of blue suede Jox sneakers from Thom McAn.🙂
I remember having
that same pair...I thought I was pretty cool 😎
I had blue and yellow ones....kind of like the Rams' colors.
@@FLStelth Don't you wish that you could go back to those days?
@@MarkJackson-wc2xh Absolutely. I feel like an anachronism. I'm not a fan of the present.
Thank you for this walk down memory lane. I grew up in the 60s and 70s and I really miss American made shoes and full service shoe stores. I used to shop at Red Cross Shoes even into the late eighties- early nineties.
I remember this show store as well thanks for sharing this video.😘😊
I'm still wearing a pair of Thom McCann shoes that I bought at Kmart before it closed. Super comfortable. I don't know where I'm going to get my next pair.
youll prob have to search ebay lol :)
Great video...brought back many fond memories......excellent back round music as well! :)
My mom loved Thom McAn shoes. She really rocked the 70's!
I still have a pair or army style boots I got at Thom McAn. I have replaced the soles a bunch of times but they still look good. I just give them a good shinning They must be 30 years old. Thom McAn was a great store.
I remember good quality at a fair price. RIP Thom Mcan!
Still have a pair of 3 eyelet camp/deck shoes I bought at Northgate Mall in Cincinnati in 1987.....they are pretty worn out but I can't seem to get rid of them! :-)
Thanks for another great presentation
Back to school shoes and Easter shoes! God bless you mom and what was America 🇺🇸
Wow what a Blast From The Past I sure enjoy your videos. Keep up the Excellent Work
Nicely done! Great music bed, too. 👍🏻👏🏻
Back when you could ask if they had anything else in the store room and they always did.
I remember Thom McAn shoes very well. I always went to their store in White Plains, NY
I'm going to overdose on nostalgia! Miss it all :(
With all the trouble's in the world it's nice to see great content I love your channel keep it up
As a teenager I worked for a womans shoe store called Leeds..in the mall across the way was Thom Mcan...I was a stocker in the back...the salesman in each store would play jokes on the new stockers, and send them to the other store and ask to borrow the "shelf strecher" the power shoe horn...etc etc...it was so funny to see reactions
Thom Mc An stores were LEGENDARY here in Puerto Rico. I can still sing their local jingle from the 1970's: MI AMIGO TOMAS, MI AMIGO TOMAS, MI AMIGO THOM MC AN (my friend is Thomas, my friend is Thomas, my friend is Thom Mc An).
The place to find the ZAPATACONES (male platform oxfords from the "groovy '70s"), KUNG FU's (unisex fabric Mary Janes used back then in many Marial Arts movies) and MACANUDOS (the ones promoted by the kid-pop group Menudo in the '70s and '80s).
They could do no wrong back then....
Great shoes, great prices. I used to buy my Tom McAn's at the Bergen Mall in Paramus, NJ. Last time I remember I was there was the early 90's
In the early 60s there was a Thom McAns in East Los Angeles. I loved their styles because they were "cool." I got a pair of ankle high boots that had an open toe laced up the back. I felt like a folk singer! Lol
I wore blue suede Jox . My favorite!
I think I had a pair of very cool red running type shoes in the mid 1970s from Thom Mcan, It was 5th grade or so. I living in Ridgewood Nj at the time
One of the best jobs I ever had working at the Inland Center Mall in San Bernardino, CA
I really miss the old time shoe stores. It seems like they disappeared overnight. I remember shopping at Red Cross Shoes and Mom and Pop stores in the 80s to the early 90s and then they were all gone.
I remember my parents taking us shopping for shoes at Thom McAn. My father always made sure our properly fitted and to wear leather shoes. My favorite shoes they sold were called Miss Wonderful penny loafers, and I remember the delightful smell of the leather! My father was Navy veteran of WWII, and he cleaned and polished our shoes.💕
Loved the store! Great styles. Bought my Graduation shoes there... wingtips.
Bought my school shoes from this store in the 1950s great shoes
Brings back such wonderful memories of my parents taking me shopping for dress shoes...one pair of black and one brown🙂
I remember going there w I th my mom to get shoes for school I miss you mom
I love this channel so much!
i remember when i was a teenager back in the 60's when i could buy my first Thom McAn shoes after i had saved my money while working part-time whenever i could do it..i was happy and excited cause was closed to Christmas season and could complementary my new outfit for Christmas Eve...
Thom McAn had the most up to date and fashionable shoes. When the Beatles hit America, TM started selling "Beatle Boots". In the mid 60's TM couldn't keep enough of these on the shelf.
We always went to Thom McAn. I remember getting my first pair of penny loafers from them.
When our mall opened back in the late 70’s we had Naturalizer Shoes, Kenney’s and Thom McAn. I spent a huge portion of my pay from managing another store at Kenney’s and Thom McAn.
My mom worked at Thom Mcan when I was little, I loved shoe shopping there
Thom McAn was the to go place for back to school shoes. I have nothing but fond memories from that time.
I used to love staring in Thom M’can windows just daydreaming about the shoes I couldn’t afford.
Same here.
Ok I am a 63 year old boomer....... dosnt this channel provide peace and closure to knowing the once great country we loved and known as the USA?
Yes it does, sadly 😞
You got that right!
I know what you mean. I was born in the 60s. I miss what we used to be.
Yep, I remember going on my first job interviews in the 1960's wearing new shoes from Tom McAn's and a 3-piece suit from Robert Hall.
Thom Mcan mom shopped our store often - us children shoes, for her & dad's special occasions. As a teenager, my sister and I would go. There selection of shoes,boots, sneakers were so many, hard to pick which ones .
Thanks for the memories. We would get so excited at the start of a new school year. We would go to Thom McAn for our new shoes.
Born in '65. Ma took us here when mall shopping for school clothes. Never wanted the summers to end...
My mom bought me a pair of white dress shoes for Easter, maryjanes, with a slightly higher heel than the flat maryjanes I’d been wearing. I was 9 years old and felt grownup in those Thom McAn shoes. Great memories.
My father used to build these stores in the 60's and 70's. I remember wandering around in the empty stores before stock was delivered.
Oh how I loved shoe shopping in the 1970’s! There was also Kinney and Baker’s shoes
I bought a pair of Thom McAn shoes at Walmart several years ago. I like them!
Thank you for sharing this
Most of my shoes as a kid came from here or Kinney. We had a freestanding Thom McAn that looked just like one in this video. Very midcentury, was fun to see again since ours was torn down. There was a Robert Hall right next to it.
I had a Robert Hall top coat.
I remember them. I had a pair and they were comfortable.
My uncle was the manager of a Thom McAn shoe store in a mall in Edmonton in 1971 when our family took our first trip to western Canada.
Man I remember buying my Jox’s there in the 70s! Them shoes where hot back then! Now is all a faded memory!
Had one right up the street from us got my first pair of Beatiel boots Coolist kid in the class
I remember having Thom McAn shoes as far back as elementary school in the 70s. And Jox too! You were just nowhere if you didn't have a pair of Jox; the big attraction being the sole that went part way up the front and back of the shoes. Then there was Thom McAn being available in K-Mart. They had a pair of hiking boots that I used to like a LOT. They were brown and black, very, very comfortable right out of the box, and were durable enough that I could get almost two years of being a work boot out of a pair. They had this one feature in particular that I liked a lot... the top three or four sets of eyelets were actually miniature pulleys. They worked on the principle of having zero friction when you were tying and tightening the laces as opposed to dragging them through a set of metal open-ended hooks. Haha Marketing!!!
They made very comfortable shoes. Had many pairs growing up. Hush Puppies were a favorite.
In high school (around 1978) everyone wore Exersole a.k.a. Earth shoes. They were the coolest and most comfortable shoes ever!
Nice background music... very soothing. 😌
A lot of the old main stay businesses, I never thought of the name, I just knew where to go.
I never realized this till I watch your videos.
These were the mainstay of K-Mart back in the day.
When all the Thom McAn stores closed, K-Mart picked up the brand.
Your definition of "back in the day" is much more recent than mine. Thom McAn was a luxury brand for my poor family in the late 70's. I got sneakers from Montgomery Wards or TRAX sneakers from Kmart. I think I had some leather "earth shoes" from Hills. I saved up in college and went to the mall and bought cowboy boots at Tom McAn. They were the most expensive shoes I ever owned at that point in time.
@@YAMISOOLD2009 we got boots because we worked, but they were pricier than regular shoes for sure.
I bought a pair of candies there.
I only ware Thom McAn shoes and have for 75 years. They are harder to find but I still. Thanks to the internet,
I didn't know that Thom McAn had disco shoes!! I just remember them having school shoes. The kind of shoes that you wore to school or anywhere that you couldn't wear sneakers.
My two Go To's for shoes back in the day were Thom McAn and Flagg Bros
I have a pair of Thom Mcan dress shoes that I actually just wore to a funeral. Most comfortable and classy dress shoes in my closet. So well made.
I used to walk home from high school and sometimes walk through the shopping center just to look at the window display at our local Thom Mc Ann and dream about which ones I would buy. I only had maybe 3 pair of shoes then, now about 70! Couldn't wait to work so I could buy clothes and shoes!