Kline’s Department Store Shutting Its Doors in Downtown Norwood-November 6, 1994

Anchor Store Closing Strikes Major Blow to Washington Street Business District

Kline’s Department Store, which has anchored the downtown shopping district for 21 years, will close next month. The shutdown is a major blow to nearby stores and to the customers who bypass bigger stores at malls because they find it more convenient to shop along Washington Street.

“I’m going to miss it,” Rita Lamothe of Walpole said at the going-out-of-business sale that started yesterday morning. “Kline’s isn’t too big. I don’t like 1,000 racks. Too much stock confuses me.”

But last week, the president of the Kline Companies said that the firm was losing money and that stores in 25 other communities across the country would close by the end of the year unless a buyer was found. Ten of the stores were sold, but not the three-level branch at 678 Washington St. in Norwood. Yesterday Norwood Kline’s President Harold Inlow announced the shutdown, and the store put everything on sale to empty the shelves. Thirty people will lose their jobs when the Norwood store shuts its doors for the last time sometime between mid-December and the first week of January.

Yesterday’s announcement ends months of rumors and speculation about the store’s future in Norwood. But now the downtown remains vulnerable without an anchor store, town officials and business community members said. “It’s a major loss,” said Aline Barrett, president of the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Many Kline’s shoppers yesterday said the department store is the main attraction on Washington Street in Norwood. That’s scary news for specialty stores that benefit from the department store’s foot traffic. As of yesterday, no business was slated to replace Kline’s. But Donald Malkin, who owns the building that houses Kline’s, has said he wants to find a tenant. Malkin is a member of a newly formed business group, the Norwood Washington Street Partnership. Some town officials and retail experts said the group now is needed more than ever to keep commerce alive in Norwood.

“The activities from that organization will help to combat any kind of closing,” Barrett said. Norwood is not alone in its quest to keep downtown vital. Many South Shore communities are struggling to keep their downtowns with main streets alive. In Quincy, city officials are brainstorming about how to fill a 5.5-acre parking lot the city owns. One plan calls for a shopping mall to revitalize downtown Quincy. In Kingston, a downtown revitalization group met for the first time in September, hoping to give the town’s old downtown district a boost.

Boarded-up storefronts in the suburbs south of Boston is disheartening, Barrett said. “But a lot of downtowns are organizing and working very hard to fill their areas, even with the malls and Wal-Mart and those major stores that are in the area.”

Yesterday, Kline’s opened its doors at 9 a.m. for a going out of business sale. By late afternoon, some of the store’s shelves already had been cleared by shoppers looking for a deal. In the basement, customers grabbed quilts, comforters, pillows, tablecloths, towels and children’s clothes. On the main floor, men and women bought jackets, perfume, jewelry and handbags. Customers also picked up deals on the third floor or “bargain attic.” Cash registers rang non-stop. There were lines of customers.

“We’re backed up to the wall,” said Marilyn Wolfson, the store manager.

Lamothe, who said she visited the store weekly, said she began shopping on Washington Street about 30 years ago when the Kline’s site was occupied by Parke Snow Department Store. Kline’s bought Parke Snow in 1972. Lamothe, who said she avoids malls and crowded discount clothing stores, said she doesn’t know where she will go to find quality apparel. “Kline’s has affordable, good quality merchandise,” she said.

Another shopper, Judi Martin of Norwood, said convenience is what drew her to Kline’s. “It’s close by. I’m sad to see it go,” said Martin, who also shops at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger