Highlights from SAHARA: Commerce, Part II

A couple of months ago we highlighted a very small selection of the vast offerings in SAHARA related to commerce. This month we revisit this topic to see more of the wonderful places and things our members have documented and contributed. This selection of images includes imposing 19^th-century department stores, humble stalls and dry goods stores, and inventively repurposed buildings. Again, we thank our members for their keen eyes, skill, and generosity in sharing these images.

To see more, visit SAHARA: http://sahara.artstor.org/library/portals/SAHARA/rloginSAH.html 

To learn more about contributing to SAHARA, visit: http://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/sahara

The ZCMI (Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution), Salt Lake City, Utah. The first department store in the United Stated, it was founded by Brigham Young in 1868, and sold to the May Company/Macy’s, Inc. in 1999. This cast iron façade was slated for demolition in the 1970s but was restored as a landmark in 1976. Photo: Lauren Soth.

Interior of Phsar Thmei (“New Market”), Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Designed by Jean Desbois, 1937. Photo: Lawrence Chua, 2008.

Stores along Chester Avenue, Bakersfield, California. Photo: Richard Longstreth, ca early 1980s.

The Hudson’s Bay Company Department Store (“La Baie”), Montreal, Quebec.  Designed by John Pearce Hill, 1891. Photo: Peter Clericuzio, 2011.

Drumetul shopping center in the Taberii housing district, Bucharest, Romania.  Designed by the Institut Proiect Bucuresti, ca 1972. Small shopping centers with basic services were typically incorporated into housing complexes built in the 1960s and 70s. Photo: Juliana Maxim, 2013.

Robin, Jones and Whitman General Store, L’Anse-à-Beaufils (Percé), Québec.  Established in 1928, it is now a museum. Photo: Dell Upton, 2013.

BASCO Showroom, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown designed this new façade in 1976 for a run-down 1950s shopping mall. Photo: Richard Longstreth, 1979.

The Falabella department store at Galería Mitre, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Designed by Estanislao Pirovano in 1930, the façade includes decorative motifs recalling indigenous designs from 16^th century Jesuit missions. It is the former headquarters of the newspaper La Nacion. Photo: Caroline “Olivia” Wolf, 2013.