Vintage Stern’s Department Store Charge Card

In 1867 Isaac, Louis and Benjamin Stern began selling dry goods in Buffalo, New York. The brothers soon decided to leave Buffalo and moved to New York City to open a small one-room store.  As the business grew, they soon outgrew their space. In 1879, Stern Brother’s built a flagship store on 23^rd Street in New York City.  By 1913, they moved and constructed a new flagship on Fifth Avenue and 42^nd Street.  By 1925, the Stern family no longer controlled the company.  It was owned by a banking consortium that issued stock and took the company public.  In 1951, Allied Department Stores acquired Stern’s.

As their middle-class customer base moved from the city to the suburbs, so did Stern’s.  It closed its NYC store and moved its headquarters and flagship to the Bergan Mall in Paramus, New Jersey. The company expanded throughout New Jersey.  In 1982, Allied consolidated its Long Island, NY-based Gertz division into Stern’s, which marked the company’s return to the New York market.  

In 1986 Allied was acquired by Campeau Corporation and two years later was consolidated into Federated Department Stores,  acquired by Campeau in 1988. Federated’s 1994 merger with bankrupt Macy’s resulted in Stern’s return to Manhattan when Federated decided to consolidate its A&S Division into Macy’s.  Stern’s assumed control of the A&S location at Manhattan Mall.  In 2001, Federated chose to close the less profitable  Stern’s  Division, and stores were either converted to Macy’s or divested.

This charge card was issued in 1986 when Stern’s was “A Unit of Allied Stores,” as indicated on the card.  It’s a “princess-style” card without a magnetic strip.  The card is signed and shows heavy signs of usage.