T-Shirt
Object number2019.40.6
Manufacturer
Gildan
Date1985-2019
OriginHaiti
MediumCotton; Ink
Credit LineGiven in honor of the McGinnis Family
DescriptionBlue short-sleeve t-shirt. Size 2XL. Crew neck. Hems at cuffs and bottom of shirt. Front is undecorated. Back has white printed marketing message on top half about fish sandwiches.DimensionsHeight x Width (Width is between shoulder seams): 31.5 × 24.5 in. (80 × 62.2 cm)InscriptionsBack has white printed text on top half "Pittsburgh's / BEST / MCGINNIS / SISTERS / special food stores / fresh, never frozen, / hand breaded! / FRESH FISH SANDWICH! / only $6.99".
MarksTwo white fabric maker tags inside collar at back center:
top tag has printed blue and gray text on front "GILDAN / Ultra Cotton";
top tag has black printed text on reverse including "Made in Haiti / ... / Gildan Activewear...";
bottom tag has black printed text on front including "2XL / 100% COTTON PRESHRUNK / Made in Haiti"; and
bottom tag has blue printed care instructions on reverse.
Historical NotesThis t-shirt illustrates the McGinnis Sister's emphasis by the late 1980s and 1990s on the idea of fresh food, with identified sources. Fresh seafood became a McGinnis Sisters’ special focus, emphasized in the market’s television commercials, which would have been familiar to customers at that time. Although this t-shirt doesn’t say it, the “fresh, never frozen” line connected with the store’s relationship to their supplier, Foley Seafood, out of New Bedford, Massachusetts and Boston, Massachusetts one of the nation’s premier fish suppliers at the time. McGinnis Sisters commercials emphasized that the seafood was flown fresh daily from the Foley family to Pittsburgh via US Air. Part of the McGinnis Family Food Stores collection that encompasses materials related to the operation of a chain of family-run food markets that started in Pittsburgh’s South Hills Baldwin neighborhood in 1946. The first McGinnis market (variously referred to as “McGinnis Supermarket” or “McGinnis Food Market”) was started by family patriarch James Elwood McGinnis when he could not find a job after WWII. Beginning with a fruit cart, he eventually opened a grocery and deli at 2872 Custer Avenue in Baldwin that proved so successful it expanded to multiple stores, including one in Carrick/Castle Shannon and later Monroeville. The stores were operated by different family members. In 1985, three McGinnis sisters – Sharon McGinnis Young, Bonnie McGinnis Vello, and Noreen McGinnis Campbell – assumed operation of the main set of McGinnis Stores, rebranding them “McGinnis Sisters” markets. (Two brothers split off and started other stores not considered part of the chain.) With the three women serving as active spokespersons, the stores garnered more media attention during this period. For most of its operation, the chain was largely connected with stores that operated in the South Hills and Monroeville. Between 2008 and 2017, a McGinnis Sisters market also operated north of Pittsburgh in a shopping center in Adams Township/Mars, Pennsylvania. A series of events between 2017 and 2019 eventually brought about the closure of the chain. Objects in the collection were gathered from throughout the stores and consolidated at the final property, the McGinnis Sisters Special Food Store at 3825 Saw Mill Run Boulevard.
Previous owner
McGinnis Family Food Stores
(1946 - 2019)
Related person
James Elwood McGinnis
Related person
Sharon McGinnis Young
Related person
Bonnie McGinnis Vello
Related person
Noreen McGinnis Campbell
On View
Not on view
Gildan Activewear SRL
Gildan Activewear
Hanes
