AM&A's

AM&A's was a Buffalo-based department store chain founded in 1867. Known for its Victorian-style Christmas window displays, it had locations in downtown Buffalo, Lackawanna, Cheektowaga, and Tonawanda. It closed its doors in 1994 after Robert Adam III, the grandson of the founder, died and was acquired by The Bon-Ton.

I couldn't resist taking photos of these old advertisements, walking through downtown Buffalo on a nice fall day last year, and wondering what the shop was like in the height of its popularity.

In retrospect, it all seems so much more romantic than my own department store experience growing up. Shopping at JC Penny's in the 1990's for three to four new school outfits, choosing from three variations of Arizona Jeans before picking up my sneakers for that year, converse or Roxy, it all seemed so sad.

But I like it this way, the nostalgia of a time that I never encountered. The love for a bygone aesthetic.