Sunday Times Ads #8

The ad for Finley's, which sold "gentlemen's clothes, hats, haberdashery and shoes" at Fifth and 46th "respectfully suggested" that "in view of the fact that merchandise conditions remain confusing and permit no definite public announcements regarding stocks on hand" patrons should phone their favorite salesman from time to time to see what was in the store. This was the first acknowledgment of the clothing shortage in the abundant store ads this day in The Sunday Times.

The ads near the back of the news section in The Sunday Times were, on average, smaller than the ads up front and some less expensive merchandise was among the stuff advertised. Not that luxury goods were missing, particularly on the society pages. For $50,000 you could buy a medieval castle in France. Peck and Peck and De Pinna made an appearance, as well as mid-price stores like Macy's, Gimbels and Sterns department stores. Some of the Fifth Avenue department stores that had big display ads for luxury goods up front reappeared, sometimes with more down-to-earth merchandise.

Overall there were a lot of ads for women's shoes, hats and gloves but children's clothing, widely advertised that day in the Sunday News, was largely absent, and few ads ran for menswear. Stern's was the only department store that ran ad for their bargain basements, which dominated The Sunday News ads.

An almost comprehensive list of the back page ads is here, minus the funeral parlors advertised on the obit pages and a few others.