https://www.bdma.org/tags/mall-retail/Recent content in Mall-Retail on BDMA.orgHugo -- gohugo.ioenbdma.orgTue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.bdma.org/post/spencer-gifts-mall-catalog/Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.bdma.org/post/spencer-gifts-mall-catalog/ <h2 id="a-catalog-that-started-with-eight-novelty-items">A Catalog That Started With Eight Novelty Items</h2> <p>Max Spencer Adler was flying as a bomber crewman in World War II when he was shot down over Hungary and imprisoned by the Nazis. Back home, <a href="https://thehustle.co/originals/how-the-weirdest-store-at-the-mall-survived-the-retail-apocalypse">The Hustle's history of the company</a> recounts, he expected a postwar boom and wanted to open a gift shop, but investors weren't convinced. So in 1947 he started alone, selling eight novelty gifts through a mail-order catalog because he couldn't afford a storefront. He called it <strong><a href="https://www.spencersonline.com/">Spencer Gifts</a></strong> because the name &quot;sounded good.&quot; Nearly eighty years later the company, now known simply as Spencer's, owns one of its longtime mall rivals.</p>