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Poor Hudson County, N.J. -- squeezed between New York and Newark, a hard place for locally owned, independent department stores to develop. Most of them in Jersey City had given up by the 1920s, those in Bayonne and Hoboken never got any traction to last long. But there was one exception, in Union City, one of those towns no one has ever heard of that had more than 50,000 people -- the store of A. Holthausen Inc. on Bergenline Avenue. I know very little about Holthausen's; records of Union City are fragmentary. I do know that it was founded by Arend Holthausen and, after his death, was run by Valesko Hugo. Great names.
Holthausen's made it into the 1970s, when Union City went almost overnight to being Cuban and Dominican. Union City's daily newspaper, the Hudson Dispatch -- universally known as the Hudson Disgrace -- made it a little longer. Hudson County once had four daily newspapers; now it has only the down-to-its-last-20,000 subscribers Jersey Journal. But in addition to the Dispatch, the Bayonne Times and the Jersey Observer in Hoboken are but memories. Observer Highway in Hoboken does keep its memory alive, and the Jersey Journal is still located on Journal Square.
Hudson County had a problem -- its suburbs were New York's suburbs were Newark's suburbs. When people moved to the suburbs, they didn't take the Journal or Dispatch with them; in fact those papers didn't circulate in their new areas. So they picked up on the Bergen Record or the Star-Ledger or the Times. The newer residents of Hudson County were more heavily black and Hispanic. Were the Hudson County dailies too oriented toward their white readerships to adapt? Did the chain stores pull out of them because they didn't want Hudson County customers? It wasn't a lack of local news in the traditional sense, though; the Hudson County papers barely recognized the world outside the county existed. Hudson County has not been depopulated in the manner of Detroit; and in the last two decades lots of affluent people have moved into Jersey City and Hoboken and Weehawken. But it has been a daily newspaper graveyard. I'm sure it's all explainable, it's just more evidence that the problems of the newspaper business largely predate the Internet and some of its problems have nothing to do with it.
14 comments:
Wow do I remember that store!! We were in there often when I was a kid.
Holthausen's was the classiest store in Union
City. It was located on Bergenline Avenue, which was at one time the longest shopping area in New Jersey; it may still be. I remember that Holthausen's, in its heyday not only had elevator operators, but it also had fashion shows, some of which used local high school girls as models. And it was where you went if you were shopping for high-class goods. Ah, for the days of yesteryear.
I shopped in Holthausen's all the time. I grew up in North Bergen and that store was about 2 blocks from my home. Some other stores on Bergenline Ave. were Grants and Sylvettes.
I remember my Mom taking me to Holthausens' and bought the prettiest dresses there!! She shopped there often, as I remember.
I remember, as a teen, walking down there, the Avenue, almost everyday,after school, window shopping. Bergenline avenue was full of ALL kinds of stores, shoe stores, where people would actually wait on you and properly measure your feet for shoe-size!
Mens stores/womans stores/ Woolworths and Kress. Wow!! Good memories.
Then the Malls came.........
Holthausen's is a legend. Shopped there all the time in the days of my youth and beyond. Went to Union Hill High School.
Many happy memories of Bergenline Avenue shops.
Holthausen's was a great store.
Bergenline Ave. had some wonderful
stores, David Burr, Davis's Toy store, Ponticorvo"s for fruits and
vegetables, Adams Hats, Home Fair,
Woolworths, lots of good times !
I actually have an amazing mink fur trimmed Holthausen's coat for sale in my Etsy shop (size L/XL), if anyone is interested! The winters here in California just don't get cold enough for me to justify keeping it! A simply wonderful, high end piece.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/208921986/1940s50s-swing-coat-with-mink-fur-trim
Holthausen's was one of a kind in every way. I had the privilege of working at Holthausen's for about a year and a half, when I was a teenager. Will never forget this store, its owners and fellow employees..all wonderful people.
I was, indeed, a very lucky girl!
Our family lived on 35th, just across from Holy Family School.....Holthausen's was the store to go to for everything.....shopped there all the time.....at Christmas, the store was turned into a magical fairy land....the older I become, the more I miss Bergenline Avenue and all the wonderful stores.....I'm so glad I grew up there as a child and young adult.....
I remember going to Holthausen's to buy all my record albums. Remember those? I still have them, especially the original Beatles. Just loved looking through them there. And they let a kid do that without saying anything. I agree. Great times.
My parents bought almost everything at Holthausen. I remember especially at TV, Reord Player and Radio in one unit. I was a good looking piece of furniture until it was no longer operational or practical in 2003. Bergenline then was the place to go shopping.
I grew up in North Bergen and got my first formal dresses at Holthausens. My mom thought their department staff was great. They remembered you. They didn’t try to sell you the wrong outfit. And um, yeah I was one of the high school models. They ran an in-house summer course to teach us hair, make-up and movement.
25 yrs born and breed nobody's mentioning TWO GUYS on 1440 Kennedy Blvd in North Bergen that was a modern Dept. Store circa 1971
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XUE1tzte2RQ
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