Before the proliferation of shopping plazas and malls in Holyoke and surrounding communities, the downtown central business district was the city's main shopping center. This is the story of Walter Majka and Wesley Swaikowski, retailers who operated discount stores before the suburban growth of chain-store competition.
Walter Alexander Majka was born in Holyoke in 1919, the son of Polish immigrants who arrived in the U.S. about 1910. He was raised and educated in Chicopee. At age 20, he was employed as a shipping clerk at a paper mill and, in 1944, a coremaker working in West Springfield. Mr. Majka served in the U. S. Navy during World War II.
Wesley Daniel Swaikowski, born on July 14, 1915, was a native of North Hadley. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and, post-war, resided at 211 Chestnut Street before moving to South Hadley around 1953.
In 1948, Walter Majka and Wesley Swaikowski partnered to form the Mill Outlet. The store concept was to purchase inventory directly from mills, buy out entire stores that were going out of business or from other distressed situations, and sell the goods at lower retail prices than competitors.
The Mill Outlet store opened in June 1948 at 393 Main St., at the northwest corner of Hamilton Street. Its early years featured clothing for men, women, and children, as well as clothing accessories. In the early 1950s, advertisements additionally promoted bedding, kitchen, and other household dry goods.
In 1951, the owners relocated the store to 321 Main Street, adjacent to the Majestic Theater. The owners continued to purchase inventory in large lots at low prices.
In 1953, the owners expanded by purchasing the System Company store in North Adams. The shop had been part of the Besse-Mills retail holdings. Around 1956, another store, Mill Outlet's Toy Town, opened at 261 Main Street.
The main store added hand tools and fishing gear to its lineup in the mid-1950s. During economic ups and downs, customers could shop for affordable items for family, work, or recreation.
In January 1959, Walter Majka sold his interest in the store to Wesley Swaikowski. Mr. Swaikowski was now the sole owner, as Mr. Majka was planning another business venture.
The Mill Outlet opened a Christmas Store in 1960 at 267 Main Street. The company had just purchased 10,000 boxes of Christmas cards at a steep discount, in keeping with its mission to buy in bulk and pass savings on to its customers.
The Mill Outlet held a going-out-of-business sale in February 1961. However, Mr. Majka, who left the company in 1959, maintained the buying-and-selling strategy and opened his own store, Mika's Discount Department Store, which is the topic of the following edition.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Genealogy Records and Price & Lee, Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
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