RewindTime1929

Jaws released in the summer of 1975 was the first summer blockbuster as we know them today. Today big movies are purposely released at the start of summer with massive anticipation. Thank the Jaws classic for that.

You may remember this department store. Zayre was founded way back in 1919 by two brothers in Boston, Massachusetts as the New England Trading Company. About 1956, the first Zayre storefront (as we would come to know it) opened in Hyannis Massachusetts (Cape Code). This storefront was in partnership with the Stop and Shop Supermarket that we know today. Expansion took hold, and they boomed in the 60’s across the Eastern United States from Chicago to Miami.

Did you know that TJ Maxx, the store we love today, was initially a subsidiary of the larger Zayre corporation? This came about because Zayre initially tried to buy Marshall’s. That attempt was unsuccessful and TJ Maxx was born. Ironic because today, Marshall’s and TJ Maxx are part of the same parent company.

By the late 1980s, Zayre started to decline. They sold all of their stores to Ames Department stores. And they closed for good in 1990.

In a measly 36 years, from the first storefront in Hyannis Massachusetts, Zayre was at one time in the top five of largest retailers in the nation. This was the 1960s after all before Target and Walmart boomed.

And by the way, Zayre the name was derived from the brothers naturally.
Zayre is Yiddish for “very good”. Although they did adapt the spelling for a catchier title.