Peck & Peck was a New York City-based retailer of private label women's wear prominently located at 581 Fifth Avenue.

Peck & Peck was known for its classic clothes. Like Bonwit Teller and B. Altman and Company's post–World War II fashions, Peck & Peck personified and flourished in the pre-hippie era in New York when WASP fashion ruled stores and fashion magazines.

To writers like Joan Didion, Peck & Peck was shorthand for a certain kind of fashion look. An example of a store classic was the simple A-line dress.

History

Founded by Edgar Wallace Peck and his brother George H. Peck, it began in New York in 1888 as a hosiery store, with an early location near Madison Square. At Edgar Peck's death, Time magazine reported that the brothers once had to pay rent every 24 hours to a distrusting landlord, but now had 19 stores. It grew to 78 stores across the United States.

Peck & Peck filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1974 and was purchased in 1976 by the Minneapolis-based retailing company Salkin & Linoff. Some specific store locations of the chain were sold by Salkin & Linoff in the mid/late 1980s to H. C. Prange Co. of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Salkin & Linoff closed their last five stores in January 1991, and the assets were sold at a bankruptcy sale. However, the brand was brought back again when Stein Mart reopened as an online retailer, which is not related to the former company.

References

  • 1990 Article on H.C. Prange Ownership
  • Salkin & Linoff Bankruptcy, History
  • Joint promotion with Capital Airlines
  • Second Capital Airlines Joint Advertising Promotion
  • Jim Peck, Lead Freedom Rider