Great memory. Dahntahn (Pittsburgh) had Joseph Hornes, Kauffmans (sp?) & Gimbels multistory dept. stores within walking distance of each other. All with amazing holiday windows. Every year they’d each set up an area for kids to shop w/o their parents, cheap crap but we liked being so grown up.
When I was a kid, my parents would drive us into Manhattan to see the elaborate department store window displays and to see the big tree in Rockefeller Center. It was all really nice and festive.
Later, (early 1990s, I think) I visited the flagship FAO Schwartz store with friends. That was a really cool store. Some of the merchandise was similar or identical to the stuff you could get at Toys R Us, but the presentation was very nice. And some of the stuff was definitely upscale. So instead of generic stuffed animals, they had Steiff bears (for hundreds of dollars). And instead of those cheap plastic pedal-powered ride-on cars, they had little Mercedes cars sized for a toddler (for something like $10,000, though). They did have a really annoying jingle playing constantly in the store.
I don’t know that we ever bought much at them (and typing this I actually feel a little guilty about that) but I do miss them. It was always a special treat during December to visit the Big City and roam about looking at all the window displays; and come to think about it we often did the same before the 4th of July. I guess that is part of the resaon for still shopping so much B&M ------- seeing all the displays as I shop and the various little seasonal decorations they sometimes add.
I remember our family taking the El downtown to go to Fields at Christmas. This would have been in the late 50s-early 60s. We’d see the huge Christmas tree in the Walnut Room, check out all the window displays, and if the line wasn’t too long, get to visit Santa.
Strawbridge & Clothier hasn’t existed in over a dozen years. 
Their old building wouldn’t even be recognized as a department store anymore. I believe part of it is now a Burlington.
Wanamakers is long gone. The building is still there & is now a three-story Macy’s. with the upper floors being office space. There used to be a monorail all the way around the eighth (or was it ninth?) floor, which was the toy dept(!) where kids could ride & look over every toy they had. Pure. Marketing. Genius!
The “iggle” is still there, as is an updated light show, which was redone (LEDs, Julie Andrews narrating; but otherwise the same) after Macy’s eventually took it over.
As a child I would go visit Santa at the local Frederick & Nelson department store to get my picture taken. Ever so often we would go downtown and then we would stop at the downtown branch and have Frango milkshakes. We would also visit Bon Marche (since bought out by Macy’s) and Nordstroms (which only has clothes).
Frederick & Nelson’s went out of business in 1992 and supposedly someone else makes their Frango candies according to the same recipe. I don’t like them. I was given a recipe for a Frango dessert, which I’ve never made. Some things just aren’t the same.
Lovely thread. When I revisit my old home of London, I always make a point of visiting Selfridges, which has managed to buck the trend of most by being supremely fashionable and successful.
A few years ago, when I was setting up a new home after a gritty break up, I made a point of going to Liberty’s of London which has the most incredible Christmas shop. I spent an Eye-watering amount on baubles to make myself feel better about decorating my tree alone.
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In the UK, a lot of the old-style department stores, especially on small towns and outer metropolitan shopping areas, have gone, or are suffering badly (especially the stuffy and rather limited shops like the fictional “Grace Brothers”, which would have gone under twenty years ago).
Some in central London survive as either destinations in their own right, like those mentioned above, or as reliable brands, like John Lewis/Peter Jones or Harvey Nichols. There was a time when revamping themselves as something close to shopping malls was seen as the future but now they’re all struggling to work out how to cope with the cost of running city centre flagship spaces when online shopping cuts out so much of their bread and butter business. I think I read somewhere that that venerable Edinburgh institution Jenner’s (an archetype of what the OP is thinking of) is in trouble.
That’s what I miss most about them is their dedicated restaurants. Sometimes we’d go to Maas Brothers in Florida just to eat at their in-store restaurant. Before your meal they’d give you a plate with a great variety of mini-breads.
Of course, with the rise of the food courts, the days of the dining hall was limited in malls. And they were never crowded outside of the holiday season even outside of malls (and in the holiday season they were so crowded we never went there 
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I bought this book last year, Lost Tea Rooms of Downtown Cincinnati: Reflections & Recipes (American Palate). It’s all about the culture of the department store “tea room,” in Cincinnati anyway, with anecdotes and recipes. (BTW, I’ve never been to Cincinnati.)
It was a different time. Ladies wore gloves, hats and nice attire to luncheons at the Woman’s Exchange. Shillito’s provided a cosmopolitan environment for its patrons, while Mullane’s was the perfect place to sip and socialize. The popular Good Morning Show radio program hosted by charming Bob Braun, and later Nick Clooney, was broadcast from McAlpin’s Tea Room. Women gathered at Pogue’s and Mabley & Carew tea rooms to celebrate birthdays, as well as wedding and baby showers, over dainty tea sandwiches. Author Cynthia Kuhn Beischel brings the Queen City’s bygone downtown tea rooms back to life and shares more than one hundred beloved recipes.
The summer of 1973 my girlfriend worked in Filene’s Basement, a marvelous place. I bought a sweater from her IIRC. I’m not sure I ever went to the rest of the store, I couldn’t afford it.
If you find yourself in Paris in December, Galeries Lafayette has very nice window displays, and also a fantastic display under the dome. And if you go high enough, you’ll find the rooftop bar.
Sounds like Halle’s or more likely Higbee’s Silver Grille. I went there a time or two with Grandma. I don’t remember much except eating from real china and glass dishes.
Dennis
The Detroit version was Hudson’s
Torn down long ago, and finally new development on the old void.
My hometown, Bristol TN/VA, had three on the main downtown drag. Sears had toys on the third floor during the Holiday season, and also had a candy counter. Belk’s had a small toy department, but it wasn’t big enough to keep me occupied long when my Mom dragged me there. H. P. King was the scouting uniform/equipment supplier, so it was halfway interesting. The best part about all three was the mirrors where you could see your reflection from several angles. The mall killed downtown when it was built, but ironically the mall is now closed and downtown has enjoyed a bit of a resurgence.
My mom used to shop at the City of Paris when she lived in San Francisco in the 40’s. I had some of her old suits for years. She said they cost her $60 whole dollars! I can’t imagine what that is in 2019 money. I was kinda jazzed when I saw The Conversation decades ago, and I noticed that one of Gene Hackman’s stake-outs was on the roof of the City of Paris.
I have a copy of the Higbee’s Silver Grille cookbook. My mom would take me down there during the Christmas season and the kid’s meals were served in cardboard stoves with little doors that opened to reveal the dishes that were included in that meal. There was a fountain with a goldfish pond in the middle of the restaurant.
Higbee’s (which is now the Horseshoe Casino)
Downtown Cleveland Department Stores (Higbee’s, Halle’s, Bond, and May Co.)
There are still remnants of department stores in Canada, most of them have two stories instead of six. I’ve read places like Fifth Avenue are full of empty storefronts as people shop online. And Nordstrom Rack has just opened east of Central Park.
I can remember a time, though, when people got excited by beautiful window displays, department store Santa pictures, top floor cafes, bargain basements and snazzy perfume counters. The bigger Canadian cities still have a few fancy places, which recall simpler times.
The Frederick’s Santa supposedly went to the Bon Marche, which (as you mentioned) got bought out by Macy’s.
About a year ago, the top few floors of Macy’s were bought out by Amazon. Early next year, Macy’s will close entirely and the entire building will be turned over to become an Amazon office building, which is kind of a tangible metaphor for American shopping habits.
So can I. Eaton’s and Simpson’s in Toronto, both of which faced each other across Queen Street, used to try to outdo each other with windows at Christmas. Nobody ever won, but the windows were fascinating to us kids.
And the restaurants! I remember our family going to dinner at Eaton’s Round Room at the College Street location when I was a child. It was a Fancy Restaurant, and I had to be dressed in jacket and tie. I was maybe six years old at the time.
Eaton’s Queen Street was a multi-storey department store. It had elevator operators, who would call out the floors: “Third floor, ladies’ wear, men’s and women’s shoes, men’s suits…”