The Grand Lady of Main Street

By far the largest retail establishment in town, located at the corner of Town Square and Main Street, is the Emporium. The concept of a department store was first established in Europe, notably with Le Bon Marché (1838) and La Samaritaine (1870), both in Paris. Emporium brings that grand European tradition to the American Main Street, marking an era of prosperity and progress for the town.

Inside, the store is a bustling hub of consumerism. Shoppers here. Products there. Gas lamps mix with electric fixtures, as well as mechanical marvels like this train of baskets for money handling. Since the hired staff in such a large store weren't allowed to handle money themselves, they would place it in these baskets to be delivered to the accounting office. There, the purchase would be rung up and change would be returned to the customer in another basket.

High above the center of the store rises a grand dome of iron and stained glass. Look closely at the ironwork railing along the base of the dome, and you'll spot a series of "hidden" Mickey shapes worked into the design.

The elaborate stained glass panels which make up the dome support the story of the Emporium as a rich beacon of the town's new found prosperity, as well as the Main Street story of progress and innovation. The panels pay tribute to great American inventors, several of whom actually immigrated to America from Europe. There's Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), George Washington Carver (agriculture), George Eastman (mainstream photography), Orville & Wilbur Wright (airplane), Thomas Edison (light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera), Nikola Tesla (consumer electricity), Robert Fulton (steamboat) and Henry Ford (automobile assembly line).

Elsewhere in the shop are beautifully rendered murals, telling the story of how the Emporium has grown and expanded into a chain of stores on Main Streets across the country, each offering "Top Quality Goods." Look for references to shops in Orlando, Florida (established 1871, a nod to the 1971 opening of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World) and Los Angeles, California (est. 1855; Disneyland opened in 1955). In the case of that institution, listed as The Original Emporium, the proprietor is identified as none other than Walter E. Disney.