Sam Gold converted his family's Queen Street men's clothing store to a variety store in 1961. The store carried a wide assortment of goods, from magazines and groceries to stationery and cigarettes. 21 years later, the franchise had expanded to seven Gold's Variety stores in the city and one in St. Catharines. Despite the numerous locations, it remained a family-run enterprise.
A proposed development for a new Ministry of Tourism building on Queen Street meant the original location would have to close. There was speculation about whether Gold's would relocate to another address on Queen Street. However, by 1988, all of the Gold's Variety stores in Niagara Falls had been sold.
The Ministry of Tourism never moved into the site, and today the building houses the Downtown Board of Management.
Niagara Falls Public Library. 2017. Niagara Falls - Then & Now: A Photographic Journey Through The Years. [Gold's Variety / Hatch Building Downtown BIA].
Niagara Falls Then and Now
A collaborative project
Niagara Falls Museums - Niagara Falls Public Library - Dept. of Geography and Tourism Studies,Brock University.
Original newspaper series by
Sherman Zavitz, Official Historian for the City of Niagara Falls from 1994 - 2019.
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