The Gibson Dress Shop

The Gibson Dress Shop was my father's way of owning another business and providing an interesting job for my sister, Marion. My father was Manager of the main Gardner-White Furniture Store in Detroit and as he traveled to and from work he passed a small retail area with a For Lease sign on the window of one of the shops.  My father liked owning a business even though, sadly enough, his own furniture store had gone bankrupt during the Depression years.  So my father signed the lease for the retail store. 

The previous occupants had cleaned and emptied the space as my father had asked so all that was left was to build two dressing rooms.  My mother was tapped to make curtains for the dressing rooms and she came with a tape measure to determine the yardage of the material she would need - my father had chosen burlap in two different colors.  She was not happy about this new role she had been given! My darling mother sewed and and hemmed the burlap dressing room curtains.  It was a tedious job, but when they were hung at the Gibson Dress Shop they were absolutely beautiful!

The Gibson Dress Shop sign was designed by my father with the approval of Marion. Visiting wholesale houses in Detroit was next, with Marion and my mother and father checking out the inventory, determining which sizes and types of dresses - mostly dresses for work and evening - and which labels to carry.  They also picked out costume jewelry, being very selective because so much of the costume jewelry had little or no appeal to my sister and mother. Then the mirrors were hung and all that was left was the delivery of the orders and the placement of the articles in the glass counters.  

The Opening Day was advertised in the neighborhood paper.  My father drove Anna MacNamera -  widow of his dear friend Frank from Furniture Store days - to the Opening and she bought Nothing!  My father raved and ranted for days afterwards.  He never got over it!

Catherine O'Malley, widow of Pat O'Malley - my father's other furniture store friend -  was also invited to the Opening of the Gibson Dress Shop.  Catherine O'Malley was the the very opposite of Anna MacNamara, so that the very idea of the Dress Shop was a delightful experience.  She loved the Pandora sweaters folded neatly in the glass counters along with many pieces of Costume Jewelry.  She tried on earrings and broaches and bracelets, looking at her image in the little mirror Marion held up for her.  She liked everything Marion showed her, finding the perfect pair of earrings that she clipped on her ears right away and then choosing a Tomato Red Pandora sweater. She was the perfect customer for Opening Day!  A small grey gift box for the sweater and then the cash register rang up the first sale of the day.  My father suggested to Marion that a small gift for Anna and Catherine in honor of The Gibson Dress Shop Opening Day would be a nice gesture so two small silk scarves, one with red dots for Catherine O'Malley and the other with small square blue blocks for Anna MacNamara were selected. 

Customers began arriving and Marion and my mother and father were busy showing and selling. Opening Day was a success and The Gibson Dress Shop continued to be a favorite retail store in the neighborhood.  It was open Monday through Saturday, with my father driving Marion to the store on his way to Gardner-White and  home to Three Mile Drive at the end of the day.    

My father, being an experienced business owner and knowledgeable about what sells and what doesn't sell, talked to my mother and Marion about taking a train to New York City to visit the wholesale area there at 34th Street and Madison Avenue, to give The Gibson Dress Shop an upscale image with better quality merchandise. And so the plan began, with my father hiring the daughter of one of the salesmen at Gardner-White to work at The Gibson Dress Shop the week Marion was traveling to New York. My father gave my sister the responsibility of choosing the things she liked without interference from him (thank goodness, she later told my mother). The shop continued to be very popular on the east side of Detroit. After five or six years, my father decided to sell The Gibson Dress Shop.  Marion was happy with the news.  Her experience selling and keeping the books for The Gibson Dress Shop had given her a valuable resume.  She applied, and was quickly hired to work, in the office of a Men's Clothing company and was eventually promoted to Office Manager.

The Gibson Dress Shop was sold to an affluent Grosse Pointe family whose daughter wanted to own a dress store. My father sold the entire inventory and the wonderfully designed sign.  He gave Marion a large bonus from the proceeds of the sale as well as a skunk fur coat which she loved,a present for working long hours at the Gibson Dress Shop.