Gee Bee Department Stores began in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1906 when the Glosser brothers opened a small one-room shop in the Franklin Building. The chain branched out in the 1960s with the opening of the suburban Gee Bee discount stores. Most of the stores, including the original, which retained the full Glosser name, remained open into the late 1980s- early 1990s. The chain operated 23 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia at its peak in the 1980s. The Franklin Building was redeveloped in the mid-1990s. The Gee Bee locations were sold off over the years to other chain stores.
After the Glosser Brothers company was purchased by Value City Department Stores in May 1992, Many Gee Bee Stores were converted to the Value City format.
A Gee Bee Junior clothing store existed in Upper Yoder, Pennsylvania, also a suburb outside Johnstown. That store closed in 1993.
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thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jing by gee by gosh by gum”
—E.E. (Edward Estlin)
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she incites all to evil,
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like a bee in flight.”
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“In the great department store of life, baseball is the toy department.”
—Los Angeles Sportscaster. quoted in Independent Magazine (London, Sept. 28, 1991)
“When their stores are full, idiots are considered wise.”
—Punjabi proverb, trans. by Gurinder Singh Mann.