Buffalo in the ’60s: boys’ back-to-school shopping

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

The week before the return to school in 1960, The  Buffalo Evening News’ special back-to-school section featured articles on the latest in education inside and outside of the classroom, and, of course, plenty of back-to-school ads.

AM&A’s Back-to-School 1960. (Buffalo Stories archives)

Clothes shopping was a much more gender-specific endeavor in 1960 — while many larger department stores and discount stores obviously offered accouterments for both sexes, there were also plenty of specialty shops that catered to only boys or girls.

Burns Bros., 529 Main St at Genesee. Charge your tweed using Marine Shopper Credit Service (Buffalo Stories archives)

Boys buying school clothes 55 years ago were far more likely to be looking for sports coats and ties than jeans and T-shirts, as reflected in these ads.

Campus Corner, 3262 Main Street. (Buffalo Stories archives)

Burns Bros, Campus Corner, Cresbury’s, H. Seeberg’s and Kleinhans all offered clothes for men and boys.

Cresbury’s had six WNY locations. (Buffalo Stories archives)

AM&A’s, Kresge, CG Murphy’s and Penney’s all offered clothes for both sexes.

H. Seeburg’s five Buffalo area locations offered S&H Green Stamps. (Buffalo Stories archives)
Kleinhans, Downtown Buffalo and Thruway Plaza in 1960. (Buffalo Stories archives)
In 1960, Kresge’s had locations in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Lockport. (Buffalo Stories archives)
C.G. Murphy’s Buffalo locations were in Central Park Plaza and Broadway near Fillmore. There were also locations in Lancaster and North Tonawanda. (Buffalo Stories archives)
Penney’s Thruway Plaza location had it’s own specials. (Buffalo Stories archives)

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Steve Cichon

Steve Cichon writes about Buffalo’s pop culture history. His stories of Buffalo's past have appeared more than 1600 times in The Buffalo News. He's a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. Since the earliest days of the internet, Cichon's been creating content celebrating the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York.