Buffalo in the ’70s: Were your catalogs from Brand Names or Century?

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

Century Housewares was a Hamburg-based chain of catalog stores, very similar to Brand Names. Shoppers would find items they wanted in a catalog, and then fill out slips of paper to hand to a clerk, who would then call back into the warehouse to retrieve the goods.

Buffalo News archives

This 1978 photo was taken at the store adjacent to the company’s warehouse and headquarters on Southwestern Boulevard.

Buffalo Stories archive

In 1964, Century Housewares had eight stores in Western New York. By 1975, Century had 39 catalog stores in five states.  The last Century location closed its doors in 1983.

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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.