When downtown Rochester was lined with retail stores, Neisner’s was one of the cheapest places to shop.
Along with stores like Woolworth’s and Kresge’s, Neisner’s was known as Five-and-Cent. But there was plenty of money to be made from those nickels and dimes (although the prices were actually slightly higher) — Neisner’s record $100 million sales in 1968, for example.
Neisner’s relied on a trading policy of lower profit margins and large sales volumes. According to a 1978 Times Union story, the Neisner chain, which later included Big N stores, operated 192 stores across the United States when it peaked in 1967. And it all started in downtown Rochester.
New Hampshire brothers Abraham and Joseph Neisner opened their first store at 200 E. Main St. in 1911. A second store followed two years later in Worcester, Mass., and in 1915 a third in Philadelphia.
Neisner’s was never as flashy as its Rochester contemporaries like Sibley’s and McCurdy’s. Instead, it was a cozy spot to shop and grab a bite. The “five-and-cent” policy ended after World War I, when the top price range rose to a dollar, but thrifty shoppers continued to seek out Neisner’s for decades because of its low prices and wide variety of merchandise.
“The company now calls itself a ‘variety junior department store,'” according to a 1961 Times Union article noting the company’s 50th anniversary. “Even before 1925, when it was still called ‘Five and Dime,’ merchandise was slightly higher than merchandise in stores of the same category.”
Neisner emphasized a “family” vibe, and as Bob Marcotte noted in a 2010 Democrat-and-Chronicle story, longtime associates confirmed that the feeling was mutual. A 1951 Times Union story says Neisner pioneered retail employee profit-sharing, extended vacations, bonuses, and group insurance and retirement plans. A 1955 news article mentioned that 25-year-old employees were given $1,000 bonus checks, a lot of money at the time.
The East Main flagship store underwent major expansion and renovation in the late 1940s. A November 1949 Times Union story describing the seven-month remodeling project stated, “Today was Neisner Day on Main Street.” The article referred to an “eager crowd” who witnessed “one of the most modern and complete facilities of its kind in the country.”
The story’s headline called the Neisners “one of the nation’s largest trading companies.”
Neisner’s sold all kinds of goods. A full-page advertisement from 1949 listed the first-floor offerings, including a luncheon, a deli, candy, gloves, hair goods, jewelry, and “cut-up chickens”. On the second floor one could buy clothes, luggage and shoes or visit the beauty salon. The basement had a cafeteria, glassware, hardware, toys and a pet shop. The ad encouraged customers to “take the new escalators to the second floor.”
In Marcotte’s 2010 series on local five-and-dimes, readers recalled that in the 1950s the pet store had “little monkeys in a cage” and live chicks for sale at Eastertime — dyed in colors like pink, lavender, green and blue. The long-standing Neisner buyers remembered a piano player in the sheet music department and the “family discount shopping evening” that took place every year at Christmas for the employees.
Neisner’s was never big on national advertising, even though its retail empire spanned the entire United States. As Melvin Neisner, son of one of the founders, said in a May 1961 Times Union article, “Many Rochesterians, including some of our friends, do not know the scope of the business.”
A 1967 story noted that Neisner’s was the only one of the 15 largest chain stores in the United States to be headquartered in upstate New York (Neisner’s offices were on East Avenue). But as Neisner’s opened more Big N stores, his five-and-dimes struggled. By 1975, when the company had a net loss of $10.6 million, Neisner’s began closing stores.
Neisner declared bankruptcy in 1977 and closed 31 stores the following year. The chain operated under bankruptcy laws for nearly a year before being acquired by Ames, another retailer, and then McCrory’s. The East Main Street store, long a staple of downtown Rochester’s retail scene, closed in 1980.
The emotional response to the closure was not as heartfelt as the subsequent closures of Sibley’s and McCurdy’s. But, as Marcotte wrote in the 2010 series, Neisner’s has earned its place in local retail history.
“For many children,” Marcotte wrote, “the five-and-dimes is where they begin making the decisions—what to spend that allowance on—that are an integral part of it.”
What happened to…? is a feature about Rochester’s favorite places from yesteryear and is based on our archives.
Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in May 2014.