{"id":3920,"date":"2026-09-25T15:15:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/?page_id=3920"},"modified":"2026-09-25T15:19:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:19:51","slug":"history-of-retail","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/history-of-retail\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Retail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
1. The beginnings: markets and small merchants, 1790s\u20131850s<\/h3>\n
Paterson’s commercial history began almost simultaneously with its industrial development.<\/p>\n
When Alexander Hamilton and the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures selected the Great Falls in 1792 as the site for an industrial community, the intention was to create more than factories. The developing town required stores, markets, craftsmen, taverns, boarding houses, and services<\/strong> for workers and residents. The raceway system and mills eventually made Paterson an important manufacturing center.<\/p>\n
Early retail was consequently concentrated around the growing downtown and transportation routes. Merchants supplied the city’s workers and manufacturers with:<\/p>\n
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Food and groceries<\/li>\n
Clothing<\/li>\n
Hardware<\/li>\n
Shoes and boots<\/li>\n
Furniture<\/li>\n
Medicines<\/li>\n
Household goods<\/li>\n
Tools and industrial supplies<\/li>\n
Dry goods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
As Paterson’s population expanded during the 19th century, retail became increasingly sophisticated.<\/p>\n
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2. The rise of Main Street and Market Street<\/h1>\n
By the middle and late 19th century, Main Street and Market Street had become the heart of Paterson’s commercial district<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
The New Jersey Historic Preservation Office identifies the Downtown Commercial Historic District as containing 211 contributing buildings<\/strong>, with a period of significance from 1850 to 1935<\/strong>. The buildings reflect the extraordinary growth of commercial Paterson during this period.<\/p>\n
Retail was not limited to large stores. Downtown contained an enormous variety of independent businesses:<\/p>\n
Main Street<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Clothing stores<\/li>\n
Dry-goods merchants<\/li>\n
Jewelers<\/li>\n
Furniture stores<\/li>\n
Restaurants<\/li>\n
Shoe stores<\/li>\n
Drugstores<\/li>\n
Specialty shops<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Market Street<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Grocers<\/li>\n
Clothing merchants<\/li>\n
Household goods<\/li>\n
Specialty businesses<\/li>\n
Financial institutions<\/li>\n
Restaurants and entertainment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Broadway and surrounding streets<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Neighborhood stores<\/li>\n
General merchandise<\/li>\n
Furniture<\/li>\n
Food merchants<\/li>\n
Service businesses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
An excellent surviving example is a 1915 photograph of Federbush’s general store on Broadway<\/strong>, which sold appliances and a wide variety of supplies. Another photograph documents Jewish-owned shops on Main Street around Van Houten Street in 1920.<\/p>\n\n
3. Immigration created a new retail economy<\/h1>\n
One of the most important aspects of Paterson retail history is the relationship between immigration and entrepreneurship<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Paterson attracted immigrants from many parts of Europe because of its textile and manufacturing industries. Some immigrants initially worked in factories, while others became merchants.<\/p>\n
The Jewish immigrant community provides a particularly well-documented example.<\/p>\n
Jewish immigrants from textile centers such as Lodz, Bialystok and Odessa<\/strong> came to Paterson in large numbers. Some initially worked as peddlers, carrying merchandise from house to house. As they became established, many opened permanent businesses on River Street, Washington Street, Lower Main Street, Upper Main Street and Market Street<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
This pattern was repeated by other immigrant communities.<\/p>\n
Retail therefore became one of the major ways in which immigrants moved from wage labor into independent business ownership<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n
4. The department-store revolution<\/h1>\n
By the late 19th century, Paterson had developed its own version of the great American department store.<\/p>\n
Two names became especially important:<\/p>\n
Meyer Brothers<\/h3>\n
The Meyer Brothers store became one of Paterson’s most famous retail institutions.<\/p>\n
The brothers originally operated the Boston Store<\/strong>, establishing a Paterson branch in the 1880s. The business expanded dramatically as Paterson’s population and purchasing power increased.<\/p>\n