The "notions counter"

The term "notions" seems to mostly apply to sewing accessories now, OP. There's a woman named Nancy Zieman who has a PBS sewing show, Sewing with Nancy and a company called Nancy's Notions that's very successful.

Back in the days of dime stores, notions seemed to be nearly anything that didn't fall into another category.

It's where bottoms bought their enemas.

Notions are now "sundries".

I'd like to know where you got the notion....

Our love is like a ship on the ocean

We've been sailing with a cargo full of love and emotion....

The notions department at Hudson's Department Store in Detroit in the 1950s.

I'd love to see what all the items are.

If you go to page 9 of OP's link, you can read an exciting installment of Mary Worth!

I worked there as a little girl.

I do remember the larger department stores having Notions departments. I think it was mostly sewing accessories (but not fabric) and odds and ends that didn't fit into another department. It's a term that seems to have disappeared from the modern retail landscape, like Dry Goods or Variety Store.

Screw that, I haven't read Mr Abernathy in years. Thanks

Isn't the Notions Department where you could get a rain bonnet? Every single woman used to have rain bonnets.

It seems like it was a stop in most elevators in movie department stores.

Only on DL, Jesus fucking Christ. I love you, you glorious ancient bitches.

Ground floor: perfumery,

Stationery and leather goods,

Wigs and haberdashery,

Kitchenware and food.

Going up!

God life used to be so beautiful. We can’t even have small nice things anymore. Just fast food and trash culture.

God, I miss brunch.

I see buttons, ribbon, pins, needles, thimbles, zippers, dress shields, scissors etc., a proper modern notions department. Hudson's had an excellent fabric selection too, of course. The big stores might have a husk of those now, maybe, but not really.

Department stores in London, Paris, Berlin etc still have notions sections. A well maintained civilized home needs thise things.

Historically, Valium 5 convinced you that you could make something and NOTIONS are the method by which you’ll actualize that shiny dream into a poorly executed piece of shit.

So, If I want to close and reopen a seam a bunch of times, I buy a zipper or some buttons or some grommets and then install them. If I want to attach something to something else, I’ll buy a buckle or a hook to join them together. I can get an idea of all solutions available in the Notions department.

Also, it’s one place in the store you are allowed to avoid people, do math on your phone, and talk to yourself.

[quote] I see buttons, ribbon, pins, needles, thimbles, zippers, dress shields, scissors etc., a proper modern notions department.... Department stores in London, Paris, Berlin etc still have notions sections. A well maintained civilized home needs thise things.

There's nothing I need more in my well-maintained, civilized home than ribbons, thimbles, and dress shields.

When I was younger I worked at Eaton’s and while I generally worked in books, stamps and coins and stationery, I did a few shifts in notions. It was like a drugstore without prescriptions. It appealed to a very old demographic

Ofd topic, but not really. If someone wanted to experience the look and feel of one of those grand department stores from back in the day... is there a modern equivalent anywhere?

At L. S. Ayres in Indianapolis, if a soigné(e) young man happened to be working the notions department he was "lovingly" referred to as a 'ribbon clerk.' 😊

r5 I see spools of thread in the rectangular case, and trims, such items as lace, soutache, pompoms, braid, etc , sold by the yard(they were wound on cardboard or wooden frames) in the curved section.

I'm old enough to remember notion departments. Fabric stores still have them.

I also used to like to shop at dime stores like Woolworth. We had a dime store in a local shopping center that was filled with counters of tiny things for very little money. As kids we would go there and stare at the merchandise and maybe by a tiny cowboy, yoyo or something.

Op, you can also shop for notions on Amazon.

R17, what will Valium 10 convince me to do?

R14, take a time machine back to the past and enjoy all the racism and homophobia. We won't miss you

There was a character who sold "notions" in Carol

I used to live in a small town and sewing was still popular there. There were still sewing supply stores there, including notions sections.

I recently got interested in sewing and bought some supplies. Sewing comes in handy. I did a major wardrobe clean-out in summer or 2020. I was able to salvage some items by making some easy sewing adjustments (hemming).

Is this where I can buy some toilet water?

[quote] It's a term that seems to have disappeared from the modern retail landscape, like Dry Goods or Variety Store.

Cliff's Variety Store has been in continuous operation on Castro St. since 1936. It's comfortably and unapologetically old-fashioned and is a really fun place to go into just to look around. Lots of household goods including paint and glass sheets, and they still sell toys.

^in San Francisco

Britex in San Francisco is still in business, east of Union Square (Post St.).

R30 Britex is the other store I thought of when I posted about Cliff's.

Never been to Cliff's, R31, but I was into beads (Mary!) for a short while. I remember a cool bead store in the Castro.

Seriously, for being such a modern city (as in the cradle of technology), San Francisco seems to have a lot of old fashioned notions.

New York City still has a lot of fabric stores (and notions). I think any city with a theater district or a garment district will still have fabric / sewing / notions stores.

Is the Notions Dept. between Better Dresses and the Fur Salon?

R33 Those stores were there long before the tech bullshit came to destroy S.F. They likely have had to alter their merchandise to suit the baser tastes of the millennial techies.

R34, not sure since covid/last March, but New York City had an old line shop that primarily stocked shoulder pads, sleeve heads, waddinfmg, etc. The exterior remained the same forever. Since the young whippersnapper stepped in, they expanded to zippers and threads in every imaginable color.

I’m convinced the Notions Counter inspired Steve Jobs and his anal retentive packaging ethos.

The zipper you purchase is tacked to a cardboard strip, given a crisp cellophane wrap, and then inserted into a windowed cardboard sleeve. Scissors have four layers of wrapping if they’re kept in a locked case.

I’m beginning to think home crafters are known historically as a bunch of shoplifters.

The notions packaging isn't that bad, IMO. Cardboard & thin plastic. I actually like Apple packaging. I re-use the boxes.

Costco has the worst packaging: apples in those heavy plastic containers, etc.

I haunted that notions street in Manhattan in the 80s for several years. I worked nearby. I still have some of my treasures. Was it 38th street? I'm getting old.

Also there were hole in the wall lunch places on all those streets. It was a fabulous time. Very modern 80s but so much of the old New York was hanging on.

They had grosgrain stacked to the ceiling in every imaginable patter and width. And it was all American and French

it makes me happy just looking at it.

It seems there is still a physical Tinsel Trading of NY store in CA now?

R38 is making me remember my first cellphones, and how basic their packaging was.

My first phone in 1995, a MicroTAC (brick), came in a brown cardboard box. The next phone in 1998, a StarTAC, came in a plastic sleeve, the way you'd buy a set of earphones at the dollar store today. My most recent phone, a Pixel 3a, came wrapped in a sleeve, tucked in a clamshell, slipped into a box, covered with a lid, and wrapped in another cardboard sleeve, all wrapped in plastic.

Father needed help behind the notions counter!

It’s where you bought your pessery.

Well I like to know if you’ve got the notion.

R10 Some even had women's clear plastic boots to go over their shoes in wet weather.

We had a Goldblatts (sp?) where everyone working there had one leg longer than the other and wore 80 pound shoes. Fucking spooky.

Oh, and aside from notions, Goldblatts had pants with one leg longer than the other and shit like that.

r46 Until I saw "Derry Girls," I had no idea that "Rock the Boat" was a popular group dance number at Irish wedding receptions.

I vaguely remember some sort of very old-school button or ribbon store in downtown DC when I lived there in the '80s.

Where can I buy a flexible tape measure that measures body parts and dimensions?

“Phyllis, it looks like a retarded person cut your fabric - did you buy it from Goldblatts?”

“Yes, it’s like a dare. Nobody got hurt this time.”

Sewing is very satisfying and good for the soul. Creative people are usually very happy people.

r46, you were scooped days ago by r4.

Whatever happened to Ribbon Clerks??

[quote] Where can I buy a flexible tape measure that measures body parts and dimensions?

R51, this is the one I have had for many years (from Britex). It's called the "Rollfix" and is made in West Germany by Hoechstmass.

R40 I think 39th had the hardcore notions shops. 38th Street hangs in there with a couple major fabric stores, but the individual small businesses are going by the wayside. On etsy you can find notions shops that bought out buttons, trim, etc. inventory as old businesses closed.

Love the Tinsel Trading link!

The no-good bastid who recorded Carol and Terese was a notions salesman.

A thoughtful gift for any Datalounger on your shopping list.

"Dime stores" also had notions departments. Regardless, the stuff was related to clothes--stuff like hangars, closet organizers, as well as thread, thimbles and that kind of stuff.

There’s a notions section in an old-fashioned department store that I visit whenever I’m in that city. It’s more than sewing notions, it has all kinds of odd little things that you could never find anywhere else and you can buy 1 (one) and not be forced to buy a package with six or ten pieces when all you need is one.

Could you please direct me to the nearest dime store?

In both small shops and later department stores notions counter is where women (or anyone else) who sewed purchased small items like thread, buttons, thimbles, needles, etc... Since for ages all women both high and low born engaged in some sort of needlework (either for pleasure, necessity, or profit), as shops first then giving way to large department stores a counter was set up for such things.

Haberdasher/Haberdashery is the term used in UK, hence "Are You Being Served?" opening credits " Ground floor: perfumery Stationery and leather goods, wigs and haberdashery, kitchenware and food Going up! "

In France it is "mercerie", which some sites such as eBay translate into English as "haberdashery"

In all instances stores or shops that were dedicated to selling sewing notions along with dressmaking and other needle work supplies were called haberdashery, or "notions/sewing" supply or equivalent in local language.

In terms of department store layouts those that did sell sewing machines and other such supplies normally had them deep inside the store perhaps several floors up. It would seem cruel to make Madame hunt all that way just to get a bit of thread or packet of needles. So notions counters were usually on ground floor with other small things like accessories.

In High School I worked at JC Penney Co as a stock boy, the store had a partial upper level mezzanine that contained an area called the women's "foundations" department, which was women's sleepwear, bras and underwear.

I remember those old-school JCPenney stores with mezzanines.

r64 I thought haberdashery was menswear.