L. L. Berger

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

L.L. Berger, Inc. began in Buffalo, New York, in 1905, when Louis L. Berger opened a fashion store at 500 Main Street. It grew into one of the city’s prominent independent department stores: the sort of place built for an afternoon of dresses, shoes, cosmetics, and a little ceremonial retail theater.

On February 4, 1929, Berger’s opened its major downtown store at 514–518 Main Street. The expanded building made the business a genuine Buffalo institution, with departments spanning women’s fashion, millinery, juniors’ wear, accessories, and other polished necessities. Main Street got a new temple of fashion; the mannequins presumably approved.

The company followed its customers into the suburbs, opening at Thruway Plaza in Cheektowaga in 1953 and at Sheridan Plaza in the Town of Tonawanda in 1960. Further locations arrived from 1969 through 1989 in West Seneca, Amherst, Lockport, Clarence, Hamburg, Cheektowaga, and Buffalo’s Elmwood Village. Founder Louis L. Berger died on June 25, 1967, but the family business continued its expansion.

Our L. L. Berger collection celebrates Buffalo retail glamour from the era when a department store could be a destination, a wardrobe advisor, and a small downtown universe. L.L. Berger filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991; its 514 Main Street flagship later entered a new life as apartments and commercial space. The clothes moved on. The ghost stayed impeccably dressed.