A typical sale (supported by advertising and covered by the local newspapers) would find the contents of an entire distressed or overstocked out-of-town clothing store bought up and dumped in random piles on tables and counters.
stoar..."[6] An annual sales stunt in the early twentieth century was "originashun day" (the anniversary of the founding of the store), featuring the arrival of Uncle Eph from South Station in a hay wagon drawn by oxen, along with his hillbilly band and various rural vaudeville characters.
[5] [2] Unkle Eph (pronounced "Eef" and short for Ephraim) was based on a real person, Congregational minister Harvey B. Eastman of Slatersville, Rhode Island.
[3][7] There were at times also satellite stores in Arlington, Dedham, Lynn, Malden, Quincy, Methuen, and Waltham.
But sales fell badly at the new site, and Raymond's lacked the capital to complete the project (Woolworth's stepped in and completed and occupied the building and had the back office operations of National Shawmut Bank take space on upper floors).