Peck & Peck
| Location | New York, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°45′25″N 73°58′42″W / 40.75682°N 73.97826°W |
| Address | 581 Fifth Avenue |
| Opening date | 1888 |
| Closing date | January 1991 |
| Goods sold | Clothes |
Peck & Peck was a New York-based retailer of private label women's wear prominently located at 581 Fifth Avenue.[1]
Peck & Peck was known for its classic clothes. Like Bonwit Teller and B. Altman and Company's post–World War II fashions, Peck & Peck personified and flourished in the pre-hippie era in New York[2] when WASP fashion ruled stores and fashion magazines.[3]
To writers like Joan Didion, Peck & Peck was descriptor and shorthand for a certain fashion look.[4] A store classic was the simple A-line dress.
History
Founded by Edgar Wallace Peck and his brother George H. Peck,[5] it began in New York in 1888[6] as a hosiery store, with an early location near Madison Square.[7] At Edgar Peck's death, Time magazine reported that the brothers once had to pay rent every 24 hours to a distrusting landlord,[8] but now had 19 stores.[9] It grew to 78 stores across the United States.
Peck & Peck filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1974[10] and was purchased in 1976 by the Minneapolis-based retailing company Salkin & Linoff.[11] Through a combination of poor management and widely decentralized locations, the chain was basically shut down and sold off in pieces.[11] Some specific store locations of the chain were sold by Salkin & Linoff in the mid/late 1980s to H. C. Prange Co. of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Salkin & Linoff closed their last five stores in January 1991, and the assets were sold at a bankruptcy sale.[11]
Other fashion retailers that grew in the wake of the closure of Peck & Peck were Ann Taylor and Talbots. Since 2008, the Peck & Peck trademark is owned by Stein Mart for its line of woman's clothing.
References
- ^ "581 Fifth Ave". WhatWasThere. Enlighten Ventures, LLC. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- ^ Book review on In The Place To Be by Guy Trebay. ISBN 1-56639-208-X
- ^ Gadfly Online article detailing Peck & Peck's devotion to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
- ^ Essay titled On Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion Archived 2008-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NYT Wedding Notice of Dorothy Peck, granddaughter of founder
- ^ Search on Peck & Peck Trademark Registration
- ^ Essay titled Fifth Avenue - The Best Address by Jerry E. Patterson
- ^ "Milestones", Time, November 5, 1928
- ^ Milestones Time magazine column noting Edgar Peck's 1928 death
- ^ Barmash, Isadore (July 23, 1974). "71-Store Peck & Peck Seeking Reorganization". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Salkin & Linoff". St. Louis Park Historical Society. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
External links
- 1888 establishments in New York (state)
- 1976 mergers and acquisitions
- 1991 disestablishments in New York (state)
- Clothing companies of the United States
- Commercial buildings in Manhattan
- Fifth Avenue
- History of New York City
- Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1974
- Retail companies established in 1888
- Shops in New York City
- Retail companies disestablished in 1991