Bradford Peck prospered in his Lisbon Street stores and in 1899 opened the largest department store east of Boston on Main Street. Although critics predicted bankruptcy because they believed customers would not cross Main Street from Lisbon Street to enter, the impressive building featured a terra-cotta entrance arch, display windows along two sides, beautiful mosaic tiling, an elegant passenger elevator, a pneumatic-tube cash-carrier system, modern fire protection, and "The Great Department Store" occupied all five floors. Its window displays and Christmas decorations became famous, and children knew it as the store that hosted Santa Claus. Over the years the elaborate exterior was modernized, and competition from shopping malls forced its closure in 1982.