Smart marketing isn’t a recent innovation. Merchants were just as eager to get the customer’s attention 160 years ago as today. The top news story of that day was the Mexican War (1846-1848).
Local African American businessman William Goodridge used the interest in the war as the “hook” in the ad he ran in the Gazette during the winter of 1847-1848 to entice customers to check out his wares:
We know York Countians have had a long love affair with the oyster. Start digging near the site of any old tavern, such as the Golden Plough, and you are likely to turn up remnants of long-ago oyster shells. Crushed oyster shells might be far under the streets you travel daily, since they were used as an early paving material.
With its proximity and trade orientation to Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay, oysters have always been popular here, especially in the months with an “R” in them. Why are oysters still mostly consumed in those months, September through April? There seems to be several reasons: Oysters reproduce during the summer months, keeping up a good supply of oysters; in the old days refrigeration wasn’t available, leading to spoilage in hot weather; and the quality is said to not be as good in the summer.
We just wish the prices were the same as those in the following Gazette ad for Bozman’s Oyster House on South George Street 110 years ago, in the fall of 1897:
One hundred fifty years ago Yorkers were just as eager to spend their money on snack and drinks as they are today, as shown in a sampling of ads from the Gazette:
Christian Pfahler caught your eye with the large letters “L. I. P.” You had to read further to find it referred to his “Liquor, Ice and Pop business, at the old stand of Charles Hay, No. 44 South George Street, York, Pa. His stock of Liquors are of the CHOICEST BRANDS, AND VARIETY.”
The favorable character of the last season has enabled him to secure a full supply of Ice of the very best quality, which can be had at his residence or will be delivered as heretofore.
The ad continues:
That’s what the York County Shopping Center (now York Marketplace) on East Market Street was offering in celebration of its Second Anniversary fifty years ago.
Does anyone know who won the brand new 1958 rear-engine Renault Dauphine automobile? It was a 4-door, 4-passenger sedan and you could enter the giveaway every time you visited the shopping center that October. It was a reasonably priced car (around $1,650) and reportedly got over 39 mpg. But, who cared in those cheap-gas days?
You can get a good idea of the cost of living in 1957 by comparing the following specials offered by other York County Shopping Center merchants:
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