Upstate Legends! Photos of Bresee’s Department Store (Oneonta)

This is another in our ongoing series of Upstate Legends.  This time we are looking at one of the great, classic retail stores in Central New York:  Bresee's Department Store in Oneonta.

There are many huge, venerable department stores in the big cities of Upstate New York that are gone, but remembered with fondness.  Go ahead and pick your favorite from the past in Syracuse, Binghamton, Buffalo, Utica, Kingston, Troy, or other cities.

But Bresee's Department Store in Oneonta (Otsego County) really was quite different.  Located in a city of between only about 10-15,000 residents over the years, the store was a model of big city excellence.  It covered 75,000 square feet of retail space, had one of the first escalators in Central New York, was owned by a single family the entire 95 years of its existence, and had perhaps the most beloved lunch counter of them all.

In November of 1949, the national magazine, Collier's, came to Oneonta to see what the fuss was all about.  The published a full color, multi-page spread on the store declaring it akin to Macy's or Gimbels in New York City.

This gallery is full of photographs and memories of this wonderful store.  From its fondly remembered animated Christmas characters in the windows, to the "ride the pony" at the foot of the escalator, there are enough memories in this gallery to make many of us yearn for a quick trip back to the good old days.

(Although often referred to as the Oneonta Department Store, we reference it in this gallery as Bresee's Department Store)