PETER BETZ
In 1920, Gloversville merchants did everything they could, including offering free trolley car rides, to keep shoppers buying local. (Photo courtesy of Peter Betz)
One doesn’t have to look back 100 years to remember when absolutely nothing related to Christmas gift-buying appeared in store windows and newspaper advertisements until after Thanksgiving, when there was no special shopping day called Black Friday or even a grey one, when few Fulton County shoppers ventured beyond their local Johnstown, Gloversville, and maybe Amsterdam stores to purchase gifts, and when there were also those three-pound Sears, Roebuck catalogs known as wish books to order from, with wonderful toy sections, the stuff dreams were made of for children of our old times, delivered by what must have been very tired, strong-backed mail carriers.