When I was a child, my mother took me shopping at Sealfons in Ridgewood. My mother had moved to Ridgewood when she was in high school, and my family had shopped at Sealfons for a long time. I remember the penny candy counter that the store had; I liked being able to get some candy after shopping.
Sealfons, a clothing store for women and girls, was founded by
Samuel I. Sealfon. There were stores in Ridgewood, Wayne, Caldwell, Summit, Westfield, Princeton, and Shrewsbury. The closing of the last Sealfons outside of a mall,
the Summit store, was announced on 15 October 2005. The
last Sealfons, at the Grove at Shrewsbury, closed in 2006.
Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Midland Park, Fair Lawn, Ho-Ho-Kus Directory 1960. Newark, NJ: Price & Lee Co. Page 695. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Midland Park, Fair Lawn, Ho-Ho-Kus Directory 1960. Newark, NJ: Price & Lee Co. Page 48. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Trenton Evening Times, 14 February 1990, page A5
I grew up in Allendale, about 15 min from downtown Ridgewood, and Sealfon’s was such an icon. They had their own parking lot with a cute booth for the attendant. A cloth tag that said “Certainly it’s Sealfon’s” was sewn into most of the ladies clothing sold there.
ReplyDeleteTo my embarrassment, my mother used to buy our clothes (and ice skates) secondhand at the Junior Exchange store behind Ridgewood’s Inspection Station. I would race through the clothing racks, looking only for a Certainly It’s Sealfon’s tag, and if one could be found, there was no shame in wearing that floral shirtwaist dress or kilt with brass safety pin.
I loved Sealfons. My Mom was from Ohio she worked for Arnold Constables B. ALTMAN &CO. We loved Sealfons. Our Easter clothes Back to school clothes Christmas semi formals all came from this beautiful store. I loved the candy jars & the furniture with pink Rose's on it. This store was high end and the clothes lasted.
ReplyDeleteRidgewood lost a Gem when Sealfons closed. Such class
ReplyDeleteWe had a Sealfon's in Westfield NJ, but I never went inside it or knew what it sold
ReplyDelete