(written by FHC Curator Dana Ricciardi, excerpted from the exhibition “Shoppers’ World 1951-1994)
Shoppers’ World opened on October 4, 1951. Fearing that a World Series game would keep visitors away, Huston Rawls assembled a group of girls with banners reading “Ask Me”, equipped with transistor radios, so that they were ready to update visitors on the score throughout the afternoon. He need not have worried, as 25,000 attended the opening ceremony, and estimates range from 50,000 to 200,000 for the entire day. The largest crowd ever to visit an attraction in New England came to see the “glittering structure of glass, chrome and masonry” as described by Hal Clancy, in the popular magazine Coronet.
During the opening ceremony, Massachusetts Governor Paul A. Dever unveiled a fence to reveal the 2,400 names of those who worked on Shoppers’ World in construction, planning or finance. Other featured speakers included President of National Suburban Centers Huston Rawls, Chairman of the Framingham Board of Selectmen Victor Galvani, and President of Jordan Marsh Edward R. Mitton.
In addition to the spectacular layout and 44 stores, shoppers found a number of unprecedented amenities on the premises: a bank (a branch of Framingham Trust Company), Sharaf’s Restaurant ready to serve up to 800, the first self-service drugstore in New England for over-the-counter products, beauty salons, interior decorators, a Gulf service station, and an on-site radio studio for WKOX. There was a mall-wide loudspeaker system to announce the names of children or adults who became separated from family or friends, and even a uniformed Shoppers’ World police force. Every one of the 400 doors in the center had been calibrated to the precise leverage required for a healthy woman to open it. And wheelchairs were available on request for the disabled.
The exhibition Shoppers’ World 1951-1994 is on view thru December 20, 2013 at the Edgell Memorial Library, 3 Oak Street, Framingham. Open hours are Wednesday – Saturday, 1-4 pm. $5/person; FHC members visit free.