Editor’s Note: Retro Retail Review is a new video feature that publishes weekly on kansascity.com. Join us for a lighthearted look back with The Star’s Randy Mason as he shares his takes on the advertisements that filled the paper’s pages all the way back to its earliest days.

Two hundred years of independence were on everybody’s mind on July 4, 1976. That day’s edition of the Star was full of ads featuring fireworks, Uncle Sams and bicentennial blowouts.

There was even a large display ad pointing out how newspaper ads had played a large role in the process.

Not surprisingly, Janie from Milgram’s was there. She was everywhere. Also an ad for phones that makes some of us who actually used such devices feel even more like dinosaurs.

And look, not just one, but two big concerts were coming soon at Royals Stadium. Gotta say Summerjam II looks underpowered compared to Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, and Al Green at the Kool Jazz Festival.

Hey, am I the only one who didn’t realize that Macy’s had a coin and stamp department? Third Floor, Numismatists and philatelists.

Oh, and apparently the Shriners were coming, which inspired a bunch of pretty fez-tastic shoutout ads from car dealers and so forth. My favorite though… down here in the corner…

Hmmmmm… Let’s just say, what happens in River City stays in River City

We call it Retro Retail Review, from the Kansas City Star.

Retro Retail Review

Steak or pasta under a dollar at Italian Gardens? See vintage Kansas City ads from 1934

Get unlimited digital access

#ReadLocal