The Starbucks Coffee at 334 Fifth Avenue, at 33rd Street, bit the dust earlier this year, reportedly a victim of the city’s insane commercial rents.
Now that the familiar green logo has been removed from the facade, the ghostly imprint of an older sign has come back into view.
Broadstreet’s, the faded outline reads on both sides of the corner storefront. But what was Broadstreet’s? It’s a mystery that needs solving.
A men’s clothing store chain called Broadstreet’s apparently existed in New York on Fifth Avenue from the 1940s to the 1960s, but this typeface doesn’t look like it goes back that far.
In any case, welcome back to Fifth Avenue, Broadstreet’s, albeit temporarily until a new retailer covers you up again.
Here’s another New York retail relic from the 1960s finally revealed when another Starbucks on Lexington Avenue closed up shop earlier this year.
Tags: behind the Starbucks sign, Broadstreet's Fifth Avenue, ghostly NYC store signs, old hidden store signs, Starbucks in NYC, Starbucks sign taken down, Vintage store signs
Ephemeral New York 
July 6, 2015 at 2:10 pm |
In the future, when you list an address, also list the cross streets, so we know exactly where it is located. thanks.
July 6, 2015 at 3:24 pm |
Reblogged this on Reading Other People.
July 6, 2015 at 7:22 pm |
The typeface for Broadstreet’s certainly could be from the 1960s… I am a graphic designer with 40+ years’ experience… 60s sure… 50s or 40s? nope… So maybe they updates the store image in the 60s
July 7, 2015 at 4:18 am |
I trust your expertise…thanks!
July 9, 2015 at 12:31 am |
This was definitely a branch of the men’s clothing store, which had its flagship store closer to Rockefeller Center on 5th and 47th. To slightly revise what aspicco said above, the typeface seems to have been in use by the chain in the mid-to-late 1950s, as evidenced by this photo of a store opening in Illinois in Spring 1957:
http://outlet.historicimages.com/products/dk179
(My apologies if the link doesn’t work correctly.)
July 10, 2015 at 3:55 am |
It works, and thank you for posting it! Mystery solved.
January 23, 2019 at 3:29 am |
Broadstreet’s was sold to Botany Industries in 1957, which also owned famous NYC haberdasher Weber & Heilbroner – so from then on they were “sister companies.” Here is a link to a W&H sign from 1929 that uses a very similar font. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/weber-and-heilbroner-sign-503-fifth-avenue-new-york-new-news-photo/901964686.
Here is a reference on Broadstreets, it notes that Broadstreets at its peak had a dozen stores in NY and Chicago: https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/10/nyregion/ralph-schneider-86-ex-clothing-executive.html
Since they had a bunch of stores in NYC, and this was a prime location near Empire State Bldg and Penn Station, I would not be surprised if this was one of their locations; and that maybe the Botany family of stores used similar fonts for their signs.
January 23, 2019 at 3:43 am |
Follow-up: I found a picture of that exact store at that location dated 1929! Sign looks different, but the font is the same. Thanks again to Getty Images: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/broadstreets-store-fifth-avenue-and-33rd-street-new-york-news-photo/901964228
January 23, 2019 at 3:50 am |
Another shot from 1929, different angle: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/west-33rd-street-south-side-new-york-new-york-1929-news-photo/901972778
January 23, 2019 at 4:59 pm |
Very cool John G, thank you for sending those links!
January 23, 2019 at 5:34 pm |
One more link, this is a NYC tax photo from 1940 showing the ghost sign when it was new. Personally I liked the 1929 version better!
http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/NYCMA~5~5~171210~504513?sort=borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code&qvq=q:BLOCK%3D834%20AND%20Lot%3D48;sort:borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code;lc:NYCMA~5~5&mi=0&trs=1