The Big Store

That postcard (courtesy of Ephemeral New York) is a slightly – only slightly – imaginative view of the 1897 Siegel Cooper store at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street. It was eventually surpassed in size by, among others, Macy’s new flagship store, but it still feels very big.

Its grandeur, as a store, is what I thought of when I read Rain in the Doorway, in which a department store is a gateway to another world, full of magic.