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Mirons'Ethan Allen Gallery was one of several high-end Plainfield stores to move to Route 22 in the 1960s and 70s. (The Google photographer must have known I would use this pic.) |
Ethan Allen Furniture Galleries on Route 22 West in Watchung (near the entrance to the Watchung Mall) is going out of business.
The store is now company-owned but for many years it was "Miron's Ethan Allen Gallery" and outfitted the homes of two generations of suburbanites following World War II.
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Some Ethan Allen furnishings As I said, tastes changed. |
In the 1970s, in New York, I worked for an import firm known as Nora Fenton, Inc. The company's specialty was what is called "decorative accessories", which they imported -- primarily from Portugal, Italy and India -- to sell to the furniture trade.
Miron's was one of Nana Nora's larger customers, and she and Estelle Miron would always "do" the New York and High Point furniture shows, where Miron would place large orders.
It was only after I moved to Plainfield in 1983 that I learned that Miron's got its start as "Miron's Furniture" and became one of Plainfield's legendary retail destinations (it was on East Front Street, next to Suburban Jewelers).
I also learned that Estelle Miron was the sister of S.I. Newhouse, the legendary owner of the Star-Ledger, Random House publishers, and Condé Nast magazines (see her obituary here).
Now, after about a hundred years, the business is coming to end, partly a result of demographics (Millenials have different tastes) and market forces (the Internet is causing many retail businesses to rethink or abandon their brick-and-mortar stores).
It was a good run while it lasted.
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