You Were My Sunshine

A classic Burdine's store facade, from at least the 1950's on (until March 6, 2005, when Federated Department stores, Burdine's and Macy's parent company, officially changed the store's name to Macy's).  The Miami Herald published a story on the end of a glorious era in South Florida retail history that same day--on Sunday, March 6, 2005.  The next day I could not help contributing my two bits:

YOU WERE MY SUNSHINE

BY GEORGINA MARRERO (3/7/05)

            Burdines Department Store, as we know it, officially closed its doors on Sunday.  I am sad.  For there are very few remnants left of the older, kinder, gentler Miami I remember from my childhood in this town.

            I am so glad my mother was such a pack rat.  Through the years, she’d kept a sturdy cardboard box with the “Burdine’s” logo block-printed on top, and “Sunshine Fashions” cleanly, yet gracefully, looped through the company name.  To complete the advertising, solid colored orange, raspberry pink, and two-toned suns sporting the same hues flank opposite sides of the box.

            For many years, this box contained some of my childhood treasures:  small knickknacks; handkerchiefs; whatnot.  When the time came, however, I emptied it, consolidated its previous holdings somewhere else, and used it as a moving box.

            To this day, it holds several of my prized adult possessions.  The kind you’re glad you have stored away somewhere, even if it’s only to catch a glimpse of them from time to time.

            Just as I – or, rather – my mother had done with my little girl things.

            I took the box out a short while ago.  Funny, I’m such a perfectionist about so many things, that I’d probably dump a box if it had so much as a dented corner.

            Not this box, however.  Several corners are slightly bent; one’s torn; and one whole corner is Scotch-taped together.  I must really like this box.

            Not to mention the squiggly line some ink pen or the other made on the top.  I see it, but I don’t see it.  What I see is a sturdy, useful box, perfectly proportioned to hold my mementos.

            I am sad about Burdines.  Don’t get me wrong:  I have nothing against Macy’s.

            But Burdine’s was my sunshine.  My we can now afford a better store sunshine when I was a child, somewhere in between Jackson Byron’s and Jordan Marsh.  They’re gone, too.

            At least I’ll always have your sturdy cardboard box of yore.

            The historian Paul George was quoted in Elaine Walker’s Herald piece on Saturday as saying that “there’s very little left.”  Almost two years ago, Robert Trigaux of the St. Petersburg Times said roughly the same thing:  “there’s not much of that left.”

            I wonder if they have sturdy cardboard boxes from Burdine’s, too?       373 words

I sent my little piece to The Miami Herald but, sadly, never heard from them :-(.

Fast forward six years:  the noted South Florida historian, Seth Bramson, had his book on the history of Burdine's Department Store published 11/1/11.  Titled, Burdine's:  Sunshine Fashions & the Florida Store, it is described on Amazon's website as:

"The story of the Sunshine State's most famous store actually began in Bartow, Florida, where William Burdine and a partner founded a small dry goods store. When his partner left the business in 1897, Burdine made the decision to move his store to a dynamic frontier town on the far southeast coast of Florida--Miami. By the early twentieth century, many Floridians were familiar with Burdine's famous Sunshine Fashions that reflected the relaxed, subtropical locale and helped define the region's identity. Join Miami historian Seth Bramson as he relates Burdine's storied history, when the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor perused elegant displays and customers frequented the tearooms for a slice of the famous--and decadent--pecan pie. There will never be another store quite like Burdine's."

On November 17, 2011, The Herald's Luisa Yanez wrote an article on Bramson's book; which, not surprisingly, was prominently being featured at that year's Miami Book Fair International.  I could not help piping in, again (my letter to The Miami Herald, 11/17/11):

Dear Sir/Madam:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Luisa Yanez' story--"'The Florida Store' memorialized in book" in Tuesday's Local & State section.  I cannot wait to get a copy of Seth Bramson's book on the history of Burdines Department Store.

Back in 2005, Elaine Walker wrote a piece on the imminent name change.  I was inspired to write the following:

(The text of "You Are My Sunshine".)

My question still stands.  I wonder if Bramson has his own box?

Thank you for making sure that Burdines is one of the standouts at this week's Miami Book Fair International!

Sincerely,

Georgina Marrero

This time someone at The Herald took note (I don't have PDF converter to MS Word, but I can assure you that the blurb below was published in The Miami Herald on 11/21/11 on page 14A, in the Letters to the Editor section):

CHILDHOOD TREAT

Thank you so much for writing about Seth Bramson's new book on Burdines.  From the time I was a child in the early '60s through its closing in March 2005 I looked forward to all my visits to the store.  It was a treat.  I was sad when it all came to an end.

Georgina Marrero

HOORAY!!!

It pays to think outside the box (as well as to take a peek inside) ;-)!

On a partly cloudy, breezy—yet, sunshine-filled—Miami Sunday, I hope this finds you in the midst of an eventful Passover season/joyful Easter!