It was a cute moment, and it happened a few years ago. Volunteers were putting together a Christmas display in the old Globe store on Wyoming Avenue in downtown Scranton. Brittany Boyer was with Newswatch 16 at the time, and she would be doing the story. Brittany is a sharp kid, but she was one of our youngest staffers. Photographer Dave Jones and I had to give her a quick backgrounder on why it was a big deal, and how nice it was to shop in a downtown before the malls arrived. Brittany was not alone. People of her era, unfortunately, do not know a world where downtowns were the center of the retail universe. She picked up the concept rather quickly.
Going back even further, it was a family tradition back in the day. After Thanksgiving dinner, we'd go downtown to look at all the store windows because Thanksgiving night was traditionally the first night the displays would be lit.
The Scranton of today has bright spots, but it can also be rather bleak. Most of the stores are gone, and that means the window displays are gone as well.
There is a bank at North Washington and Spruce Streets that does Christmas rather well, and those photos are featured today.
By the way, I wonder if we will eventually have to explain to young people of the future what it was like to shop in a mall.
