Waltham's Classy Department Store

EDITOR’S NOTE: This column is a continuation of by .

Also, starting today, Watch City History will appear each Tuesday at 9 a.m. instead of its previous Tuesday, 2 p.m. time slot. Stick with Denise Dube's fantastic writings on the city's history.

During my childhood years, I never asked where the parades started. It appeared at Christmas and Easter and my sisters, my cousins and I were right there to enjoy the festivities.

Years later, when I was in the parade, I learned it started behind in the parking lot of Grover Cronin’s department store. Through the I learned a lot more about our favorite store, the one that sponsored those wonderful childhood memories.  

Although the store is long gone, its Art Deco front still sits on Moody Street, reminding us of Waltham's main and most important store. Condos and apartments now sit behind the facade, but every time I pass images of those old wooden clothing-filled bins that filled the bargain-style basement still pop into my mind.

While the store was still open, shoppers with more spending money stayed on the first floor or traveled to the top where items were pricier and far more breakable. Visits to the third floor were rare and usually just to use the escalator to back to the first floor and the candy counter that waited at the bottom. 

One day, after a brief visit to the top floor, I saw this little ditty written in ink on a white linen placard in front of the fine china.

Lovely to look at,

delightful to hold.

If you should break it,

we mark it sold.

It sure did stick, and I sure did stay away from that fine china, and the third floor. Did anyone else ever see that little card? 

I’ll end this with a bit of information about Grover Cronin – the man and the store — especially since the Cronins were responsible for the Christmas and Easter parades we enjoyed. He started them in the mid 1940s after World War II.

The Waltham Museum has a website with some information, but I’ll summarize it here.

Jeremiah Cronin started a small teashop in 1885. His son, Grover, had bigger visions. Grover took over the shop in 1912 and “within 20 years put the store in a class by itself,” according to the Web site.

I’d have to agree there and I’m sure that friends who worked there thought so too.

In 1931, a few years after the start of the depression, Grover changed the exterior into the Art Deco style we see today.

The museum information tells us that people from everywhere shopped at this incredible store  — one that preceded malls and chain department stores. I know shoppers from out of town felt the loss of the department store. Years later, I heard Lexingtonians lamenting its demise. Shoppers from Newton and Wellesley were equally saddened.

Grover died in 1953 and Helen, his wife, took over the store until their son Robert took the helm, but a new shopping trend would soon emerge. In the 1960s, the Framingham Mall made the first real impact on Cronin’s. More malls started cropping up everywhere and Cronin's felt the pinch. The department store celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 1985 and then closed four years later in 1989.

Information from the museum tells us: “Cronin’s wasn't just another cold department store, it was part of the fiber of the Waltham community. Its owners quietly devoted much of their time as members of charitable organizations, and their money on community projects.”

Yes, and, for many of us, those parades were the biggest contribution!