Shayne's Emporium

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Cloth label "C. C. Shaine Manufacturer New York"

Shayne's Emporium was the largest retail fur establishment in the

6th Avenue. The business' retail establishment was at 124 and the wholesale facility was at 126.[1] The owner, Christopher Columbus[2]
Shayne, known as C.C., had removed his firm from 103 Prince Street, before opening the new building.

Fur dealer

Cape of birdskins and mole fur, manufactured by C. C. Shaine, 1895 (Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Shayne devoted a large amount of his time to his work and was rewarded with a reputation of honesty which extended worldwide. All the emporium's space was used, being filled with the skins of every kind of fur-bearing animal to be found on earth. No imitation furs were sold by Shayne and each of the hides was bought directly from wherever they were collected.

Interior of edifice

The new structure was four stories tall with a frontage of fifty feet and a depth of one hundred feet. It possessed a robe department in its basement. In the rear of the retail and wholesale departments was an amphitheatre which measured forty feet by fifty feet. This structure was extremely well lighted with rows of windows and very large skylights. This enabled customers to make the best selections possible, with their chances to have detailed looks at the furs they perused. The amphitheatre was unique, the only one like it in the United States in 1893.

The upper floors of Shyane's Emporium were reserved for the processing of the furs, from preparing of the pelts to the finished products, fully and attractively lined furs. When the items were ready they were taken to the sales floor downstairs.[1]

Life and death of owner

Shayne was enmeshed in the political and business life of

Cincinnati, Ohio and secured employment with C.B. Camp & Company, fur dealers. He learned the business but sold out his interest in the company, moving to New York City in 1873. He opened his own business, first on Broadway
, and afterward at Prince Street. He experienced bankruptcy in 1873, recovered, paid his creditors off, and built his business again.

Shayne was a strong supporter of the

Republican National League of the state of New York in 1895. He campaigned in many states and worked several states for Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley
.

When Shayne died on February 22, 1906, he left a stock of furs in his emporium valued at $1 million. He was stricken after being diagnosed with a weak heart. He collapsed and died at the Piedmont Hotel in

Atlanta, Georgia, while he was traveling with his wife, Margaret.[2]

References

  1. ^
    New York Times
    , October 3, 1893, pg. 5.
  2. ^ a b C.C. Shayne Dies Suddenly At Atlanta, New York Times, February 23, 1906, pg. 9.
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