In the spirit of Boxing Day, I offer some pictures of boxes from 2 of my favorite Richmond, Virginia department stores: Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers. As I locate more through the years, I'll gradually add them to this story.
Christmas time at Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimer's was an idyllic time. From the gorgeous decorations, to the outdoor lights, to the fanciful display windows with automata and fashions, to the visits to the Legendary Santa, to beautiful music played by Eddie Weaver--such amazing memories of Christmas.
Miller & Rhoads closed in 1990; Thalhimers closed in 1992. I lived in Florida during both of these closures, which probably has fueled my nostalgia for them
Here are a couple of posts I've already written about this topic:
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Top left: Thalhimers Sweet Shop box, Thalhimer's Hand-Crafted Butter Mints tin
Bottom left: Thalhimers pencil and charge plate (what is now called a credit card)
Bottom right: a fairly-distressed purple striped hat box from The Amethyst Room, the millinery shop at Miller & Rhoads.
Left: This is a paper Thalhimers box, with the rope handle; it was my friend Marjorie's. Right: This pharmacy bottle was a really interesting find--I had no idea that they sold pharmaceuticals.
Additional Resources
- Smartt, Elizabeth Thalhimer, Thalhimers Department Store: Story, History, and Theory, 2005; retrieved from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1447