photo by Ed Sijmons, flickr
I'd not been able to find any photos of the old shop. But then Ed Sijmons of Amsterdam got in touch to share some wonderful shots he'd taken of Shackman's on a trip to New York back in 1980.
photo by Ed Sijmons, flickr
Shackman's had been selling toys and gifts since 1898. The "B" in B. Shackman stood for Bertha, who was killed by a car on Amsterdam Ave. in 1925.
photo by Ed Sijmons, flickr
You can still find a number of vintage Shackman items on Etsy--paper dolls, miniatures for doll houses, dolls, and cards.
photo by Ed Sijmons, flickr
You can also see many more shots of Mr. Sijmon's 1980 trip to New York on his Flickr page.
What year did it close? Also Jeremiah, read your older post on Gordon's Novelty. I remember trying to go in there around 1992 when I worked nearby. There was always a guy on a stool behind a rope and he always told me that it was closed to the public. Was there another entrance, I think he told me that it was for costumes only?
ReplyDeleteShackman's was a marvel. They shipped their items all over the USA. I used to buy their dollhouse miniatures as a child in Chicago. When I moved to NYC it was a thrill to discover that there was a real store. I worked on 5th Ave. and 17th Street and stopped in at Shackman's all the time.
ReplyDeleteThere was a wooden floor, and floor-to-ceiling shelves of tiny oddities - like the Sheep's shop in Alice in Wonderland.
Shackmans! Thank you for this memory.
ReplyDeleteActually, I remember a series of stores, (smaller than Shackmans) that contained all kinds of charms and findings for fantasy toy-scapes and Swiss Villages. This was on the edge of the great fabric district a little further uptown and westerly. Buttons, bows, beads, string, feathers, oddities---store after store. Some of these were still there several years ago. (Note to self---go see them before they vanish.)
But Shackmans was the best and had a mail order business too. Therapists loved it for stocking their sand trays.
Kitty Cucumber!
ReplyDeleteI loved Shackman's! When my kids were little it was a real treat to take them in there - to maybe get a piece of tiny furniture for the dollhouse, or a paper animal mask. I remember the very expensive stuffed animals kept behind glass that we couldn't possibly afford but liked to look at. It was a treasure house.
ReplyDeleteShackmans was such a great store. I used to buy my Christmas presents there since they had such one-of-a-kind gifts and novelties. My gift of a Christmas Nativity display w/ all the requisite animals and shepherds still finds a prominent place in my sisters home during the holidays thirty years later. Such a loss. I wouldn't set foot in a Restoration Hardware store, however.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED B. Shackman's growing up! They used to have lots of dollhouse furniture there, when my childhood bff, Lisa, & I were majorly into trying to build a dollhouse for our Sunshine Family dolls (and their assorted doll kin folk). I spent *many* a Christmas and birthday gift checks there for several years! Still miss it.
ReplyDeleteMy first real job was at Shackman's, in the mid-1970s. A bunch of us from my neighborhood, and friends, provided much of the order picking crew in the back, for the mail order department. The toys were fun, the vintage notecards and publications (Merrimack) interesting, but the doll house furniture and furnishings were the coolest thing. Teeny marble top bureau with working drawers! Wallpaper! And great people to work for!
ReplyDeleteThe company B. Shackman still exists! They still sell to stores all over the world. You can find many of their products on their website (www.shackman.com).
ReplyDeleteI sell over 100 Shackman items on Etsy and eBay. I love vintage art, paper, ephemera, and photo's. I do pretty well with this line. It's a look into a simpler time like when everyone was 'gay'. The term is used in many of the greetings on the product. LOL I am listed as circa1959 on eBay and easily sent on Etsy.
ReplyDeleteHello! I live in California and enjoy collecting all sorts of interesting pieces of ephemera. I recently bought two cute B. Shackman Kitty Cucumber tin boxes. Being into origin stories and whatnot, I'm wondering what-all the lovely people in this thread might be able to tell me about the Kitty Cucumber imprint. Why, for starters, is s/he called Kitty Cucumber? Was s/he based on a real kitty? Whatever info you have to provide would be awesome. Many thanks!
ReplyDeleteB. Shackman! I was up all night trying to remember the name of that wonderful store! Thank you. When I was in law school in the early 80s I used to spend a few hours in the store every few weeks, as a kind antidote to the terrible thing that was happening to my brain (being emptied of childhood!) It was so old world, charming, non-commercial.It made me nostalgic for dollhouses I never had! I miss old New York.
ReplyDeleteShackman's...oh my goodness, such warm memories. I had a pen friend in the old days, a lady in the UK. And we corresponded for years, before e.mail was even invented. I used to go to Shackman's (they had a revolving door, I think..?) I'd splurge on Kitty Cucumber stickers; these were so hugely popular that you could get the cat characters dressed for Easter, Christmas, in ballet costumes, in wedding dresses - you name it. Also, I remember their tiny tea sets, dollhouse items, "flip books", where you'd flip the pages and it created a moving figure. And kaleidoscopes! Oh, I know what you mean about being emptied of childhood. Mustn't let that happen...Thanks for a lovely trip back to what was likely a gentler, happier time... for all of us.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea they were closed. When I lived in NYC, I'd always stopped by for Christmas, Valentines, and just when I was in the neighborhood to look at the vintage standup cards, dollhouse furniture which I always bought for a dollhouse that no longer existed. There was just something about going in that store that reminded me of my years as a child and as a young actress in NYC. A glimmer or lost memory would be brought forth by a vintage sparkling standup Santa Clause with a beautiful doll at his feet, a card that my mother gave before she died. Everything was unique and special. I wish I had gotten the porcelain tub and sink for my niece as you can't find that in Charleston, SC. Maybe sometimes on eBay or Etsy, but it's not the same. Anyway, she is now too old, or at least she thinks she is, at age 10 to be playing with dolls. Technology has taken over her young life. Maybe too old for her, but not for me. This Christmas, I will get out all my doll furniture from Shackman's and create several scenes under the tree in honor of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteThe photos are a gift. Especially the one of the storefront circa 1980; three years before I moved to NYC. Who would think I'd have nostalgia for the '80s? But there was still a lot of old NY left in the city, especially the 1st half of that decade. And my memories of childhood treats from the store are connected with a growing understanding that my parents, who did not have the equipment for what would now be called love or much in the way of anything beyond rote childrearing, showed their love with wonderful children's books, records & toys on birthdays, Xmas, & when my navy father returned from tours that took him overseas. Some were from B. Shackman. The physical store Should have been kept around as a historic landmark. Tx!
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