Topic: Ohio Department Stores

[dfly]

A couple of recent posts have made reference to former department stores in various Ohio cities.  Each city used to have its own hometown department store, but through mergers and acquisitions, hardly any of the originals (at least by name) survive.  Since it has been mentioned and also the fact that I visited the massive Kaufmann's store in downtown Pittsburgh over the weekend, I decided to throw a list of former Ohio department stores together.  I’m not sure about some of these though, so make any corrects or additions.

Akron
Polsky’s - went out of business

Cincinnati
Shillito’s > Shillito-Rikes > Lazarus >Lazarus-Macy’s
McAlpin’s > Dillard’s
Pogue’s > L.S. Ayres - area location(s) closed
Mabley & Carew > Elder-Beerman - area location(s) closed

Columbus
Lazarus > Lazarus-Macy’s

Cleveland
May > Kaufmann’s
Higbee’s > Dillard’s
Halle’s - went out of business

Dayton
Rike’s > Shillito-Rikes > Lazarus >Lazarus-Macy’s
Beermans > Elder-Beerman - now part of Bon-Ton
Elder & Johnson > Elder Beerman - now part of Bon-Ton

Toledo
Lasalle & Eppstein's > LaSalle & Kock > Macy’s - area location(s) closed
Hudson’s [Detroit] > Marshall Field’s
Lion’s > Dillard’s

Youngstown
Strouss > Kaufmann’s

[Cincinnatus]

Akron's best dept. store was O'Neill's.  Polsky's also had a store in Canton.

Cincinnati had two earlier department stores:
Alms & Doepke on Central Parkway at Main St.  It went out of business sometime around 1950?  The building is still there, has been beautifully restored and houses the Hamilton County Welfare Dept.
Rollman's which was bought out by Mabley & Carew.  It was on the northwest corner of 5th & Vine.  Mabley's was originally on the northeast corner where Fountain Square is now.

There were some other Cleveland Stores too.  Sterling-Lindner?  One of the Clevelanders will correct me.

I think the big Toledo store was Lasalle & Koch with an h rather than a k at the end.

There was also another store in Youngstown called McKelvey's.

Springfield had Wren's.

There was an Otto Bros. store in Marietta I think and maybe in some other towns.

Also there was a store named Gregg's which was in Lima? and maybe some other towns.

[Jeff]

The person who posted on Middletown mentioned a local department store there, too.

Actually local department stores where quite big even into the 1970s.

In Louisville there was Stewarts (the flagship local deparment store), Bacons, and Ben Snyders, as well as Shilltoes and LS Ayres branches.  

I seem to remember a Blochs in the mall in Springfield in the late 80's...from Indianapolis, I think?

[dfly]

Thanks for all the info.  I remember my friend from Lima mentioning Gregg's.  I think is said it closed in the mid 80's after being open for over 100 years.

Block's was headquarted in Indianapolis and bought by Federated and coverted to Lazarus around 1987, I believe.  Didn't realize they had a location in Springfield.  I don't know too much about Springfield, but a quick search on Google turned up something about Block's and the Bushnell Building.

[BallHatGuy]

According to the book Cincinnati Observed, Alms & Doepke started in 1865 further north on Main Street.  In 1878 they built their first building on Main and Central Parkway with additions in 1888 (Or a new building; It isn't clear) and 1912.  It closed in 1953.

[Cincinnatus]

Middletown had a Mabley & Carew downtown at one time, but that closed long ago.  Mabley's had one in downtown Hamilton too, but it was replaced by Elder-Beerman.  

Ft. Wayne, Indiana had a nice store called Wolf & Dessauer.

Richmond, Indiana had The Hoosier Store and Knollenberg's, but now has an Elder-Beerman.

I didn't know Block's was ever in Springfield or that it was bought out by Federated.  Somehow I doubt that, but I'm not sure.  Block's was owned by a big chain, but I forget which one.  It wasn't Federated.  It may have been Allied Stores which owned Mabley & Carew before it was bought out by Elder-Beerman.  L.S. Ayres in Indianapolis and Pogue's in Cincinnati were owned by Associated Dry Goods which owned Lord & Taylor in New York and many fine stores around the country.

[dfly]

Block's was owned by a big chain, but I forget which one.  It wasn't Federated.  It may have been Allied Stores which owned Mabley & Carew before it was bought out by Elder-Beerman.  L.S. Ayres in Indianapolis and Pogue's in Cincinnati were owned by Associated Dry Goods which owned Lord & Taylor in New York and many fine stores around the country.

Yes.  Block's was owned by Allied Stores.  I believe they sold the Block's chain in 1987 to Federated.  Then in 1988 Campeau Corporation acquired Federated and Allied.  I really don't know much about this (other than this Campeau guy sounds like a fraud) so if anyone does, I would like to learn more about that.

Associated Dry Goods must have been acquired by the May Company because both L.S. Ayres and Lord & Taylor are owned by May.

[Cincinnatus]

I did a bit of research and found that Block's and Wren's were owned by Allied as was Mabley & Carew and Polsky's in the 1970s.   Probably they did what Associated Dry Goods did when they had the Ayres name put on Pogue's, and changed Wren's to Block's.  

Also, a correction concerning Alms & Doepke.  I checked Cincinnati Observed.  The original store farther north on Main St. was built in 1878.  The older or left side of my photo was built in 1888 by Hannaford and the right side was designed by Burnham and added in 1912.

Yes, that Campeau guy was a real estate mogul who made an enormous gamble in trying to take over Federated and Allied and the whole thing went bankrupt.  The present Federated emerged from that, but they sold off some of the old Federated's great names like Filene's in Boston and Foley's in Houston.  On the other hand, they later bought Macy's.  

Also, I think you are right that Associated was taken over by May's which owned Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh, May Co. in Cleveland, M. O'Neill's in Akron and Strouss in Youngstown, Famous-Barr in St. Louis etc.

[cincyimages]

Damn you guys know your department stores.  Elder-Beerman pulled out of Forest Fair Mall last year which turned into Cincinnati Mills.  I believe that was the last one.  Working in Dayton I have been through the one in Fairfield Mall and by the looks of selection, I give the chain another 5 years max.  It is a dated department store and I have no desire to shop there.

Lazarus-Macy's (Soon to be just Macy's) is a nice store.  It is basically like Famous Barr (May Department Stores) in St. Louis.

[buildingcincinnati]

The closest Elder-Beermans are Hamilton, Middletown and Dayton.  They also have a presence in the small/mid-sized cities: Alliance, Athens, Bowling Green, Chillicothe, Defiance, Findlay, Lancaster, Lima, Marion, Newark, New Philadelphia, Piqua, Sandusky, Springfield, St. Clairsville, Wooster and Zanesville.  They also have two Toledo locations.

[cincyimages]

They need to stay in the small locations because they suck.  They are on Sears level for clothes and who shops at Sears for clothes?  We all know Sears is only open because they make kick ass tools, appliances and batteries.  Kenmore, Craftman and Die Hard are the only reason why that store is still afloat.  Elder-Beerman even has a sh!tty name.  Sounds like an old drunk guy.  Macy's sounds prestigious hence why you will see all the Lazarus being changed to just say Macy's.

[dfly]

The need to stay in the small locations because they suck.

Yes, that is their strategy.  They choose markets that are typically too small for Federated, May, etc.  Also, they are opening smaller stores that are about 55,000 square feet, unlike the store's 212,000 square foot store in the Dayton Mall.  Elder-Beerman has been purchased by Bon-Ton, which has pretty much the same strategy--small to mid-size markets.  Obviously that's their niche.  Combined they have about 140 stores.  

They are on Sears level for clothes and who shops at Sears for clothes?

Completely disagree.  Is it as good as a Federated or May department stores?  No.  But it is much better than a Sears or JC Penney.  Sometimes I can be a snob when it comes to shopping, but even I stop at Elder-Beerman, although I do less now that they are not headquarted in Dayton, I still do.

Elder-Beerman even has a sh!tty name. Sounds like an old drunk guy. Macy's sounds prestigious hence why you will see all the Lazarus being changed to just say Macy's.

I've never really thought about the name.  I guess I've just been used to it all my life, but I never really though it was that bad.  Although Federated wants to leverage the Macy's name, a lot of people argue they are diluting the brand name.

[Robert Pence]

Ft. Wayne, Indiana had a nice store called Wolf & Dessauer.

Kind of wandering from the topic, but Wolf and Dessauer built the building now known as Renaissance Square in 1960.

They were bought out in the 1960s by LS Ayres, which also had the anchor store in Glenbrook Mall. I think about 1971 they closed the downtown location, leaving only the Glenbrook Mall Store in Fort Wayne. At one time, W&D had a store in downtown Huntington, Indiana, but I don't know of any other efforts to branch out.

The downtown store as built had windows only on the street level, where they carried on their tradition of animated Christmas displays. The upper levels of the curtain wall were white brick. After the store closed, the building stood vacant for several years. In the mid-80s, Waterfield Mortgage bought it, gutted it, stripped the curtain wall, and put up a more up-to-date facade and installed all new mechanicals. They had offices in it until about 1990, when Lincoln National Life Insurance leased it. Lincoln's corporate HQ was located there until it moved to Philadelphia a few years ago. I worked for Lincoln in that building from 1990 until 2000. It still houses the Lincoln Museum (***** IMO), and is the temporary location of the Allen County Public Library until 2006, while the library building undergoes renovation and expansion.

The building has a 5-story atrium where the department store's escalators used to be, with a fountain at the basement level.

[Jeff]

The Elder Beerman at the Dayton Mall has a pretty good sportswear section...Nautica, Hilfinger, Polo, others....higher end sportswear brands.  As far as I recall thats not what Sears carrys.

I think Elder Beerman also owned the EL-Be shoestore chain, which was in towns that their department stores weren't in.

[Cincinnatus]

Thanks for the information about Wolf & Dessauer rob.  I wondered what had happened to it.  I never knew it myself, but remember my cousin who lived in Van Wert say that it was a nice store.  She compared it to Rike's in Dayton.  The transformation into an office building reminds me of what has happened to the last dept. store (the Elder-Beerman store on Courthouse Square) in downtown Dayton which has been transformed into an office building for Reynolds & Reynolds with windows punched into the face and it too was 4 or 5 stories.  Rike's was larger--8 to 10 stories taking up more than half a block--and it was imploded.  The site is now the Schuster Center for the Performing Arts and a highrise office/condo tower both designed by Cesar Pelli which is a great place, but I will always miss Rike's whenever I visit Dayton.  It was as good a dept. store as any I ever saw except maybe Harrod's or Bloomingdale's.

[preservationrestoration]

Middletown had a Mabley & Carew downtown at one time, but that closed long ago.  Mabley's had one in downtown Hamilton too, but it was replaced by Elder-Beerman.  

Before it was Mabley's in Middletown, it was the locally owned The John Ross Store.  Originally located at the southwest corner of Central and Broad, CG Murphy's (later Murphy Mart, and Ames) took over their location and John Ross moved across the street.  In the 60s, Mabley and Carew bought John Ross and operated a store their until Elder-Beerman's bought them and moved to the Towne Mall.

Also in Middletown was the locally owned The Central Store at Canal/Vertiy and Central.  It operated until the 70s.  After it closed, the Cincinnati-based Swallens occupied their site while their new 180,000 sqft store in downtown Middletown was constructed.  Swallens' closed in 1995.

Downtown Middletown also had a Sears (moved to the Towne Mall in the 70s), Penny's (closed in 1982) and a McAlpins (moved to the Middletown Shopping Center the 50s and then to the Towne Mall in the 70s).  

Does anyone else miss McAlpins???  Dillards sucks!

[dfly]

No surprise at all....

CINCINNATI | The Lazarus name, like Shillito Rike's and the Rike Kumler Co. before it, will disappear in January.

Federated Department Stores Inc. announced Monday that it will drop the local department store names next year and will operate chains coast to coast under just two brands, Macy's and Bloomingdale's.

Stores in the Dayton area and around the Midwest have been known as Lazarus-Macy's since May 2003.

Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer, called the name change "a bold and exciting step toward fulfilling our vision of Macy's as 'America's department store.' "

Lundgren added: "By focusing all of our efforts on Macy's and Bloomingdale's, two of the world's best known and most formidable retail nameplates, we will be able to maximize the incredible potential inherent in both of these brands through distinctive, consistent and far-reaching marketing initiatives."

Lundgren said the change blends the national reach of Macy's with the hometown values and service for which its regional stores are known.

In addition to Lazarus-Macy's, Federated's decision affects regional department stores that operate as Burdines-Macy's in Florida, Bon-Macy's in the Pacific Northwest, Goldsmith's-Macy's in Tennessee and Rich's-Macy's in the southeast.

These stores will begin operating exclusively under the name Macy's by the end of January.

Retailing analyst Jeffrey R. Stinson of FTN Midwest Research in Cleveland said dropping the local store brands indicates that shoppers are comfortable with national names.

"It's probably a move that's made sense for them to do for quite some time," Stinson said. "Historically, there was a lot of customer loyalty attached to those names. I think we've seen that change over the last decade."

The analyst said the popularity of giant vendors such as Target, Wal-Mart and other national brands has diminished the draw of local retail identities.

The managements, organizational structures and operations of the three divisions operating stores under these hyphenated nameplates will be unaffected by this announcement.

The 184 stores converting to Macy's will join the 239 department stores that operate under that name in 19 eastern and western states, Guam and Puerto Rico.

The company expects to install new outside signs beginning in January — a process that is likely to take several months.

Cincinnati-based Federated is one of the nation's largest department store retailers with annual sales of $15.2 billion and more than 450 stores in 34 states.

[Cincinnatus]

^No, no surprise.  Monte will be happy, but I liked the old original names for all the stores and the individual qualities which each had because they all had separate buyers and they tailored their merchandise for their individual markets.  Now, it's the one size fits all Sears, Roebuck approach yuck!

Thanks for the full account of the Middletown retail scene preservationrestoration.  I had forgotten about the McAlpin's there and never heard of John Ross for some reason.  Agreed about Dillard's.  It stinks like the old Armco plant in Hamilton did.

[LocutusOfBoard]

People in Toledo sobbed about the Lion store for a while, but then they realized that Dillards offers better prices and better sales.  Few people in Toledo miss Lion's to tell you the truth.

The Dillard store at the Southwyck mall sees very little demand.  They discount high quality merchandise very rapidly, and it stays on the racks for a long time.  That's where I get all my Tommy Hilfiger shirts, most of them for less than $20.

[conovercourt]

Thanks grasscat. Macy's just bumped Goldsmiths from their Memphis area stores.

My mom worked at Sterling Linder in Cleveland during WWII, and I think it was Sterling Welch&Linder. I'll call her later and check.

West side Cleveland had its own dept store on W. 25th St. called Fries and Schueles.(Pronounced Freez and Sheelees) I spent many hours riding up and down the elevators until the operators got tired of me(then I'd move to the stairs). I believe I have read that Fries and Schueles is now condos. But one elevator has been preserved for a mail room.

Damn Dillards, I miss Higbees. Christmas has never been the same ...

[smackem81]

Baker's Department Store at 1001-1015 Euclid Ave right next to the bank on east 9th in cleveland, now a vacant building going for 3 million any takers?

[metrocity]

Stern and Mann - Original Downtown store in Canton...and actaully survived  until the late 80's or early 90's downtown and with branch stores at Belden Village Mall in N Canton and Fairlawn Plaza in West Akron.  It tried to be very upscale...but small and limited in the selection. 

Random thoughts about other Ohio Dept stores from my memory:

Halle's was not only in Cleveland, they had branches at Belden Village and Summit mall in west Akron...also an old Halle's store building still sits west of the SW quadrant of Shaker Square.   

Downtown Youngstown had a Higbee's, Strouss and Carlylisle's(sp) as recently as the 80's.  I think Carlyisle's was the last Youngstown mainstay that is now closed.

Anyone from the NE Ohio area has to remember the commercials on tv that always said "At May Company and O'Neil's" before they became all became May Co then Kauffmann's.

Joseph Horne's - A Pittsburgh store that had branches in Cleveland...at Randall Park, Severance, Westgate

Why stop at department stores...what about aplliances...Sun TV...Northeast(no lemon pledge)...Fretter...
discount stores...Silverman's...Uncle Bill's...Clarkin's...Gold Circle
grocery...Fazio's...Fisher's...Finast

Arrgh...to many memories

[RiverViewer]

Where were the O'Neill's stores?  That names been nagging at me for a couple days now, but I can't remember if it's because mom used to talk about going there, or if it's something else...

[Cincinnatus]

The only one I know about was a large store in downtown Akron (on S. Main St. I think) and the building is still there.  It was remodelled into an office building.  I think they probably had suburban stores too, but I'm not sure exactly where.  Maybe a N.E. Ohioan will be able to help.

[metrocity]

O'Neil's was a big store in Downtown Akron...plus I think 4 suburban Akron mall stores, 2 Canton mall Stores, and one in Mansfield and I think one in Coshocton.  They remodeled the Downtown store in the 80's but then closed it in 1989 when they took on the May Company name.  A law firm is in the building now...but my Mom says that they still decorate the windows at Christmas.

From the Beacon Journal:

1876 -- Michael O'Neil, a young Irishman traveling from New York to St. Louis, steps off the train in Akron. He decides it's perfectly suited to his new concept -- a department store.

1877 -- A year later he and a partner open O'Neil & Dyas on East Market Street, a multipurpose store that would replace dozens of tiny, immigrant-run shops on Howard Street.

1880s -- O'Neil moves his store out of town even farther, to Main Street along the canal. The store becomes simply O'Neil's. It remains on Main Street for more than a century.

1912 -- O'Neil's is purchased by the May Co. of St. Louis, becoming one of the company's 11 department store chains.

1960s and 1970s -- The M O'Neil Co. expands its locations to nearly a dozen malls and shopping centers in the area.

1989 -- The O'Neil's store in downtown Akron closes and all O'Neil's stores are switched over to the May Co. name.

1993 -- All the May Co. stores switch over to the Kaufmann's name. Kaufmann's, based in Pittsburgh is one of May Co.'s most valuable chains.

2005 -- The merger of May Co. with Federated Department Stores of Cincinnati is announced. It will create the country's largest department store chain, with 1,000 stores. All Kaufmann's stores are expected to switch to the Macy's name.

[RiverViewer]

Any idea where the "suburban Akron" stores were?  I tried a little googling but didn't find much, and I know we didn't go to downtown Akron (my family lived in Brook Park and then Hinckley)...

[MayDay]

^I *believe* that they may have been at Summit Mall and Chapel Hill Mall.

[metrocity]

The ones I remember were

Akron: Chapel Hill, Rolling Acres, Summit Mall, Stow/Kent(freestanding store like the old May on the heights)
Canton: Belden Village, Canton Centre(Mellett Mall), 30th St Plaza
Mansfield:  Richland Mall

[RiverViewer]

Ah, it must have been Summit Mall - and then it became the May Company, and then Kaufman's, right?  I'll have to ask mom about O'Neill's...I definitely remember it going from May Company to Kaufman's...

Thanks to both of you!  This was driving me nuts...

[conovercourt]

Uncle Bill's ?
Haven't heard that name in years!

A site I love (not updated enough) with a decent Ohio section is

                        www.deadmalls.com




                Cleveland Westside pride

[conovercourt]

Just checked to make sure my link worked, and discovered alot of updates at the deadmalls.com site!

Check it out : three Cincinnati malls, one Dayton, and one Columbus. Your excellent additions to this website would be appreciated. certainly there are other malls you guys cruised that have seen better days. I remember when Randall Park Mall was the biggest in the world (briefly before MOA and the one in Edmonton)   with eight anchor stores!
Parmatown had a cineplex!

The malls are accessed through mall features tab on upper left.

Enjoy, and report back please ...


                    Cleveland Westside Pride ...

[Y-CityGuy]

Downtown Zanesville had several multi-level department stores before the Colony Square Mall. These included JC Penney (3 stories), Sears (4 stories), Bintz Brothers (4 stories), Montgomery and Ward (4 stories), AJ Nader's and Son's (4 stories), Kresge's (this became K Mart), cousins and Fearn, Starrs (3 stories), Webbers (3 stories), and many other stores. My mom recalls that the elevators were ran by operators. The mall opened in 81 with JC Penney, Sears, Elder Beerman, and later, Lazarus. Lazarus closed here like it did in many other places, but the site will soon be a large 12 screen stadium seating theater!

[spiritseeker31]

We have a website called History of Akron & Summit County (www.akronhistory.org) that has the local history. This July Akron will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of several buildings including O'Neils and Polsky's Department Stores. I am currently working on the history of both buildings and they will be up by mid to late May (2006). Check it out, it may answer any questions or maybe you can add some of your memories or info about Polsky's, O'Neils or anything else on the website.

[MyTwoSense]

Thanks grasscat. Macy's just bumped Goldsmiths from their Memphis area stores.

My mom worked at Sterling Linder in Cleveland during WWII, and I think it was Sterling Welch&Linder. I'll call her later and check.

West side Cleveland had its own dept store on W. 25th St. called Fries and Schueles.(Pronounced Freez and Sheelees) I spent many hours riding up and down the elevators until the operators got tired of me(then I'd move to the stairs). I believe I have read that Fries and Schueles is now condos. But one elevator has been preserved for a mail room.

Damn Dillards, I miss Higbees. Christmas has never been the same ...

AMEN TO THAT.  DOWN WITH DILLARDS!!   

[MikeFromDayton]

Hi, this is my first post on this board. 

There was one other department store from Toledo: Lamson's.

This store was located in both the Southwyck Mall and the Franklin Park Mall.  Both stores closed around 1976.  The Franklin Park location became a Jacobson's (now demolished for the new section to the south), and the Southwyck location became "Lion for the Home" to complement their existing Lion store there -- it eventually became a Dillard's home store, and closed a few years ago.  Both stores called themselves "Lamson's of Toledo", and used parallel escalators rather than the common criss-cross arrangement.  There was also a downtown flagship store; I think that closed about 1969.

I had heard that Lamson's was sold to Value City.  Indeed, a store would later open up at the corner of Secor and Dorr called "Lamson's Value City".  That store, along with the rest of the shopping center, has been razed for an expansion of the University of Toledo campus.

Funny how all three homegrown Toledo department stores began with L: Lamson's, LaSalle's and Lion.