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Rules of the Sale: 1920

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Conbro clothing store, interior." Happy shopping, everyone. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Conbro clothing store, interior." Happy shopping, everyone. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

 

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Mystery Solved

CONBRO Clothes, which was located at 930 F Street NW, was next to the Metropolitan Theatre. It appears to have been in business for approximately one year with advertisements for the store starting to surface in local newspapers in December 1919. This store was managed by Jack H. Koppelman. A fire at their warehouse at 116 E Baltimore Street, in Baltimore, Maryland, preceded the sale scene shown in the photo here and in the sale announcement below from the Washington Times on August 4, 1920. No date for the fire was given in the other ad.

Conbro claimed there were a total of 10 stores in the chain, but no details of other locations were provided. Possible locations, culled from multiple sources, seem to have been Pittsburgh, Akron, Indianapolis, Flint, and Detroit.

A week's pay for a pair of pants

I was surprised by the prices as well. This illustrates how much we would all likely be paying for clothes right now if they were all still made in the USA.

Alterations

Well of course you could get alterations, but they're not included in the sale price.

"Sale" prices?

Wow! For a clearance sale, these seem lofty for the time!

Today, that $24.44 suit (or jacket?) would cost $262, using the Consumer Price Index, or $1350 (!!) using GDP Per Capita, an estimate of "affordability."

Re: "free alterations"

I take that back. After further scrutiny, I see ONE "battle-axe" facing the camera who IS going to have a voice in her man's attire. She's wearing earrings and a turned-up brim. Sorry.

And free alterations too!

A couple of the salesmen have tape measures around their necks so they can make the clothes fit perfectly. This looks like the wedding gown sale at Filene's except they are all men and it may be a summer clearance since they are wearing straw hats. Imagine, not a single domineering wife or girlfriend is visible in there to tell her guy what to wear.

[It's spring ("spring suits," palm fronds). - Dave]

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