Store Front Remodeling on Main Street

Abstract

Since 1935, store front designs on Main Street have been shaped by an interplay of different design strategies and changing social, cultural, economic and technological forces. Store fronts have adopted vernacular versions of prevailing architectural styles, but more than anything else they have been remodeled to promote store identity, enhance store image and entice passers-by. In the 1930s Main Street modernized in response to the severely depressed economy. Later, remodeling took place as Main Street faced the mounting commercial challenge of auto-convenient shopping centers. An analysis of Sweet's Architectural File reveals rapidly changing trends in store front designs and remodeling materials since the mid-1930s. Not illustrated in Sweet's Architectural File, but prevalent on Main Street today, are so-called nostalgic facades which typically display a panoply of Early American motifs.