Over on the excellent Vintage shots from days gone by thread on the H.A.M.B., jalopy junkie recently posted this vivid photo of the grand opening of a place called Shoppers World. He didn’t provide any context, however, so we’re left only with what we see in the image itself to determine when and where the shot was taken. A quick googling turns up a chain store called Shoppers World (though it’s only been known as such since 1972), as well as a few shopping centers that went by the name Shoppers World – one in Framingham, Massachusetts, that opened in 1951; one in Brampton, Ontario, that opened in 1969; and one in Danforth, Ontario, that opened in 1962. Interestingly, the Danforth Shoppers World was built on the location of (and incorporated parts of) a Ford assembly plant built in 1921 that briefly served as a Nash assembly plant in 1953-1954. However, based on the red license plates, we’re not convinced this was taken in Ontario.
Anybody want to hazard a guess at where and when this photo was taken?
UPDATE (23.June 2011): We have an answer: As Richh99 pointed out below, the photo was taken of the grand opening of the Shoppers World location at 6211 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. From a writeup at Pleasant Family Shopping, we see that Shoppers World was a Chicago-centered chain of discount stores that led a brief life from 1956 to 1967. A Home Depot now resides at that address.