S. Klein On The Square, or simply, S. Klein, was a popular priced department store

Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...

 chain based in New York City that is now defunct. The flagship stores (a main building and a women's fashion building) were located along Union Square in Manhattan

Union Square (New York City)

Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...

; this location would combine with the 1920s idiomatic catch phrase "on the square" (meaning "honest and straight-up") to provide the subtitle. S. Klein positioned itself as a step above regional discount stores of its time (Two Guys

Two Guys

Two Guys was a discount store primarily operating in the New York City metropolitan area and headquartered in northern New Jersey until the early 1980s. It was founded in 1946 in Harrison, New Jersey by brothers Sidney Hubschman and Herbert Hubschman as Two Guys from Harrison...

, Great Eastern Mills), more fashion aware than E. J. Korvette

E. J. Korvette

E. J. Korvette, also known as Korvette's, was an American chain of discount department stores, founded in 1948 in New York City. It is notable as one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions of anti-discounting statutes. Founded by World War II veteran...

, and a more affordable option compared to traditional department stores like Macy's

Macy's

Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

, or Abraham & Straus

Abraham & Straus

Abraham & Straus was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, in 1929 it became part of Federated Department Stores, which eliminated the A&S brand shortly after its 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company...

. S. Klein stores were full-line department stores, including furniture departments, fur salons, and full service pet departments.

Suburban growth

S. Klein started to build new suburban stores in the 1960s but in an unusual way. Instead of being an anchor store

Anchor store

In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....

 in the regional malls being built at the time, S. Klein would often build as an outparcel near, but not connected to the mall itself. Most stores were located in New York and New Jersey in the greater New York City area. S. Klein operated stores as far south as Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

 and at Beltway Plaza

Beltway Plaza

The Beltway Plaza mall is located in Greenbelt, Maryland. It was developed by the late Sidney J. Brown and First National Realty. It was originally composed of a massive S. Klein department store separated by a large parking lot from an A&P Supermarket located in a strip shopping center along with...

 in Greenbelt, Maryland

Greenbelt, Maryland

Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Contained within today's City of Greenbelt is the historic planned community now known locally as "Old Greenbelt" and designated as the Greenbelt Historic District...

.

Gradual decline

By the mid-1970s the parent company of S. Klein, Meshulam Riklis' Rapid-American Corp. (also owner of the McCrory Stores

McCrory Stores

J.G. McCrory's or McCrory Stores was a chain of five and dime stores in the United States based in York, Pennsylvania. The stores typically sold shoes, clothing, housewares, fabrics, penny candy, toys, cosmetics, and often included a lunch counter or snack bar...

 dime-store chain), seemed more interested in the real estate the company held than the retail operations (a fate Two Guys would fall to in 1982), and it started to close the stores in clusters. By 1978 the last of the chain's stores would close.

Traces of S. Klein today

While there is little trace of S. Klein today, a significant part of the signage is still in place at its former location in downtown Newark, NJ. This location has sat vacant since the store was closed in 1976, and the neon sign that proclaims, "S Klein, On The Square" complete with their neon carpenter's square logo is still largely intact as of 2010.

In popular culture

Due in part to its reputation for bargains, S. Klein was known as the store to pick through racks and bins searching for the ultimate find. In the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

, Ethel Mertz

Ethel Mertz

Ethel Roberta Louise Mae Mertz is one of the four main fictional characters in the highly popular 1950s and 1960s American television sitcom I Love Lucy, played by Vivian Vance. Ethel is the main character Lucy's middle-aged landlady - supposed to have been born about 1905, and raised in New Mexico...

 often mentioned "pawing through racks" at either S. Klein, or the bargain basement at Gimbels. In the 1970s sitcom All In The Family

All in the Family

All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...

, S. Klein was mentioned as Edith Bunker

Edith Bunker

Edith Bunker is a fictional 1970s sitcom character on All in the Family , played by Jean Stapleton. She was the wife of Archie Bunker , mother of Gloria Stivic, mother-in-law of Michael "Meathead" Stivic, and, after 1975, grandmother of Joey Stivic...

's favorite store. In the Musical Guys & Dolls song "Marry The Man" lyrics mentions three department stores..."At Wanamaker's and Saks and Klein's..."