Thank you everyone for discovering and visiting my blog. I will start off by writing my first story about my memories of Gatelys Peoples Store. It was located at 11201 S Michigan Ave in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago. My family and I moved from South Shore to Roseland in June of 1969, 50 years ago this month. My father owned the property at 11135 S Michigan Ave and it was a shoe store called Schiff Shoes. We lived in an apartment right above it. He was landlord of the shoe store and two apartments since he bought the property back in 1965. My mother wasn’t really happy living there. She wanted a house with a backyard and a garden. My father explained to her this was only temporarily, until we find a good house to live in. Truthfully, I was glad we stayed there, because we wouldn’t have discovered Gatleys. I remembered the front and revolving doors as we entered inside. Most of the departments I do remembered were, the jewelry section where there was a revolving Timex display. It lit up as it was turning, displaying the beautiful watches. I bought my very first one there. Next, was when we bought school uniforms, which was on the 1st floor with the jewelry section. I remembered the tobacco section which was next to the staircase. I don’t really remember the cafeteria but there was a huge book selection there next to it. I could be wrong. The second floor had women’s clothing and furniture and I saw Santa Claus there for the first time. I really afraid of him, but he was very nice toward me and my brothers. There is a photo somewhere in my house with me and my brothers and I looked very nervous. The third floor has appliances and TV sets. Some of the colors ones like Zenith, Motorola and Admiral were absolutely beautiful. I don’t know what was on the fourth floor or there was a fifth floor. Someone who remembered can tell me. Last, but not least, we go to the basement. The basement has a grocery store. My mother told me most of the items there were expensive, but she also shopped at the A&P at W 112th St, the National Foods Store at Roseland Plaza at 115th St & Michigan, which DeKoven Drug Store was there also that were reasonable. The basement at Gatleys had a toy department which I loved very much. It had the Tonka toys on display. There was popcorn machine there too and it smelled so good. A lot of people on Facebook remembered the donut machine. The donuts would roll down like it was a roller coaster and they would drop in the oil bins where there being cooked and fried as me and the customers observe them. It was fascinating to watch and the donuts were fresh and delicious. We moved out of Roseland in September 1974 and moved to Ashburn on the southwest side near Ford City Shopping Center. Gatelys closed in 1980 and the neighborhood changed drastically over the years. There was another store in Tinley Park that opened in the mid-1970s and stayed opened until 1994. The building in Roseland is still there and smaller shops opened in recent years. The Gatelys sign is still there, but the parking garage was torn down a few years ago. Who knows what will be built there and still a vacant lot. People from Roseland and the South Side miss that store tremendously. Whether they took the 34 Michigan streetcar or bus, the South Suburban Safeway Bus Lines which took you downtown very conveniently, or if you drove there and parked at the garage in back of the store, that place was very unique. I doubt we will get another one like that anymore. We all miss it very much. Well, that the end of my first story. I hope you will like it and please spread the word of my new blog. Thank you. Pete Kastanes-Admin for Vanished Chicagoland Facebook Page.

A look back At Gatelys Peoples Store in Roseland. Listen to the background music. It consists of the department store paging bells, telephones ringing and people and customers talking.

Gatelys Peoples Store once located at 11201 S. Michigan Ave in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago. A real jewel on the South Side. Memories included but not mentioned in the article were visiting Santa Claus, Mr. Gately, the owner walking around the store, the cafeteria, the donut machine, toy department, grocery store and so on and so on. What a place!

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