The amazing thing about that movie was how accurately it depicted the NE Ohio culture, even though it was supposed to be set in Gary, Ind.
My wife's hometown near Cleveland has a Bumpass pharmacy.
I lived near the Farkus family in my town nearby.
West Virginian immigrants to the Akron-Cleveland are are the object of many hick jokes.
The neighborhood was typical.
My parents used to take me downtown to see Higbees and window gaze at all the mechanical displays.
That movie brings back a lot of warm memories. It was very much like my NE Ohio childhood. (But I didn't get the BB gun till I was 13!).
My guess would be that people in places like Toledo, Ohio, South Bend, Indiana, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Buffalo, New York, Wheeling, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Detroit, Michigan would relate to "A Christmas Story" if they grew up in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.