Epstein's closed the doors on it's Lexington Ave. store in 1991 after declining sales in part of what was once a downtown shopping hub of Baltimore. The store started its life as Brager Gutman in 1929-the first downtown store to have escalators. Though not much information can be found online about the time period Epstien's occupied the building, the history echoes through the now empty 9 story building.
Despite it's location, Epstien's remains almost untouched, its past sealed away from public view. Elevator cars remain stagnant in time and position, signs that once informed hundreds of shoppers hang covered in years of dust, merchandise shelving stored away beckon refill tags from long ago. I was surprised at how intact it was. In a city known for its crime and abandoned buildings in complete unrecognizable shape there was not even signs of homeless. Many of the original fixtures you wouldn't expect had been stripped out. The sale floors all had been stripped out and the basement cafeteria had been stripped of its original mirrored dome roofing, most likely by a company called "YoungWorld" that occupied the first floor floors for a short period of time after Epstien's closed.
We explored for around 3 hours but had to leave after we became dizzy from a strong gas leak in the basement after only being exposed to it for 5 minutes. We started from the top floor and worked our way down. The 9th floor holds the elevator mechanisms and all the utilities for the building as well as 3-4 gigantic water tanks. Down from the top floor is around 4 floors of office space and storage. The rest of the lower floors consist of retail floors and the basement that held the cafeteria and most likely clearance. I would have like to explore more of what was left of the basement had the gas leak not been as bad as it was.
There was another section of the store that was actually a completely different building that had been connected via metal sliding doors. In this section we found several rooms filled with old cash registers and filing cabinets. I assume this building was used for storage and overflow stock as well as expanded retail space to a kids department. We did not get to explore this building much as we heard dogs in the building that were removed by animal control later that night.
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