Fulton Mall/Downtown Brooklyn, Ghost Sign, Retail

London Character Shoes

453 Fulton Street between Jay and Lawrence Streets, Brooklyn, New York.

London Character Shoes, established in 1920 in New York, were a chain of men’s shoe stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In 1937 they were acquired by the Commonwealth Shoe and Leather Company of Massachusetts. It appears by the late 1970s they were no longer in business.

I was able to find a surprising amount of photos of the exterior of this store as well as other NYC locations online. A good amount can be found on The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Collection.

  • 1960 (Source: The Center for Brooklyn History, formerly the Brooklyn Historical Society; photo by John D. Morrell)
  • 1959 (Source: The Center for Brooklyn History, formerly the Brooklyn Historical Society; photo by John D. Morrell)
  • Circa late 1950s (Source: parkslopian.com)
  • 1948 (Source: Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress)

They advertised numerous publications like The New York Times; even the 1937 World Series Program!

1937 World Series Program ad.
Ad in The New York Times, March 20, 1951.
An “Report on Men’s Wear” Advertorial in The New York Times from 1973 with featuring London Character Shoes among others.

Their shoes must have been pretty special—a pair has made their way into The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Collection. The pair you see above is from 1975.

If you are interested in having a pair yourself a seller on Etsy is selling a vintage pair from 1940s.

And a bit of ephemera I found for sale online was this medal from 1922 to a Charles C. Carroll for “2nd Highest Award for Pairs of Shoes Sold in One Day.”