Figure 1.--The Stern Brothers Department Store in New York was founded by the sons of German Jewish immigrants that began selling dry goods in Buffalo, New York. From these humble beginnings the Stern Brothers s became an important merchandising family in New York City. The store carried both luxury goods and merchandize for the working classes. It was an elegant store noted for its fashionable clothes. This enterprise was distinguished by its elegant door men in top hats. Here are some fashions from the Stern 1890 Fall-Winter catalog.

HBC has developed information on the following department stores, clothing retailers, and mail order companies. We are just beginning to gather information on the individual stores. HBC would be interested in reader comments about the stores in their countries. We are interested in childhood memories as well as the current status of the stores.

(La) Redoute (France)

La Redoute is an important Paris department store. The store was especially noted for its mail order catalog. One French reader has mentioned the "La Redoute" catalog was well known throughout France. The clothing offered is a good indicator of styles that were widely worn in France and by French people in overseas locations. The some styles were also widely worn in Belgium. Redoute was especially popular in the 1970s.

Rogers & Hargrave (United States)

Rogers & Hargrave seems a typical American menswear store, msany of which had a boys wear department. Usually this did not include little boys clothing which mothers bought elsewhere. The dividing line varied from store to store, but was often the age at which boys began wearing proper suits. The store was located in Kearney, Nenraska. We are not sure about the chronology of the store, but they seemed to have been active in the 1910s-20s.

Rogers, Peet & Co. (United States,1874-1985?)

Rogers, Peet & Co. was founded as a result of a 1874 merger of the clothing firms of Marvin N. Rogers and Charles Bostwick Peet (1837-1902). Both men were wholesale clothiers who operated stores n Broadway in downtown New York during the 1860s. The first Rogers, Peet store was located at 487 Broadway on the southwest corner of Broome St. and Broadway. The company gradually expanded. The company at the peak of operations had 12 stores in New York. A store at 16 E. 42nd and at 479-481 5th Ave. was opened in 1915. This proved to be the last surviving Rogers, Peet store, which finally closed in the mid-1980s. Rogers, Peet was respmsible for several important innocatuons in the menswear industry. They began attaching tags to garments informers their clientelle of the fabric composition. This was not required by the Government, but a decision the compsny took on it own. They introduced price tags which were placed on each item. The common practice at the time was for clerks and buyers to haggle over price. They gave buyers a money back guarantee. Rogers, Peet specialized in men's and boys' wear (suits, coats, jackets, pants, shirts, hats, neckties, underwear, gloves, socks,and belts. Later in the 20th century they added women's apparel (coats, slacks, sweaters). The boys' wear ads we have seen suggest clothes with a strong British look. This would suggest a toney, affluent clientelle.

Saison Group

Saks Fifth Avenue (United States)

Saks is one of the major high-end department stores in the United States. The company competes in the high-end department store market in the United States with compasnies like Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus. Saks is headquartered in New York City. The company traces its roots back to a store founded by Andrew Saks (1867). Saks incorporated in New York as Saks & Company (1902). Saks died (1912). Saks & Co. merged with Gimbel Brothers, but ciontinued to operate as separate stores (1923). Horace Saks and Bernard Gimbel opened the flagship Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City (1924). The flagship New York store is famous for one of the three most notable holiday windows. (The other two being Macy's and Lord & Taylors.) The Saks windows tend to be more contemprary than the other two. Saks has the most dramatic setting of all the New York City department store. They are located next to St. Patrick's Cathedral (on 50th Street) and face the Rockefeller Center promenade and with its spectacular Christmas tree. Bernard died unexpectedl (1926). His cousin Adam Gimbel became President of Saks Fifth Avenue. Adam began to pursue national aspiratiions for the company and began to build a chain. The very first branch store was opened in trendy Palm Beach, Florida (1926). It was a scaled down resort store to supply vacationers. One report suggests the compasny opened a Birmingham store, but we are not sure about the date. Another resort store was opened in Southampton (1928). The company opened its first full-line year-round Saks store in Chicago (1929). Another Another resort store was opened in in Miami Beach, Florida. The Depression slowed dowen the compsny's expansion. The company reached the West Coast (1938). They opened a store in Beverly Hills, California. The compsany had 10 store by the end if the decade, including resort locations (Sun Valley, Mount Stowe and Newport). More full-line stores followed in the 1940s, including Detroit (1940) and Pittsburgh after World War II (1949). Further expansion beginning with the 1960s into Texas, the Midwest, and the South.

Saks Incorporated (United Sttes)

(La) Samaritaine (France)

It's either the earliest or at least one of the earliest department stores ever built. Situated in the historic center of Paris, between the Louvre and Châtelet and opposite the Ile de la Cité, the famous department store got its name from the ???. La Samaritaine has always been something of a poor relation in the department store stakes but since it has been acquired by the LVMH group (owners of Le Bon Marché) this is probably due to change. You can find just about anything in the chaotic four-store complex, from fashion to household goods, a large linen department and a big toy department. Building two has a faded charm with wonderful art nouveau details, a superb Seine location and a great view from the rooftop terrace. The view is also excellent from the fifth-floor restaurant Le Toupary.

Sears Canada Inc. (Canada)

Sears, Roebuck and Co. (United States)

Sears operated both department stores and a huge mail order business. It was one of the first department stores to establish foreign subsidiaries. At this time our Seas and Wards page is combined, but we will soon separate it.

Seibu Department Stores, Ltd.

Selfridges plc (United Kingdom)

Selfridges is a major British department store. There are large stores in both London and Birmingham/Manchester. The store was founded by Gordon Selfridge. He pened his store on Oxford Street, London, in 1909. Selfridges was not one of the early English department stores, but it was an inovative stores at the time. Selfridge opened a store with carpets rather than linoleum floors. His idea was to genuinely welcome people into his new store. Even brousers who bought nothing were welcomed. Selfridge encouraged his customers to "make a day of it" at his store. He clearly recognized the importance of women shoppers. From the beginning there was a major emphasis placed on cosmetics and beauty products. Selfridge took pains to make them feel at home. Selfridges in 1927 Selfridge's produced a series of children's books, as far as we know the only department store ever to do so. There was Selfridge's Schoolgirl's Story Book. Presumably there was a comparable boys volume.

Stern Brothers (United States)

The Stern Brothers Department Store in New York was founded by the sons of German Jewish immigrants that began selling dry goods in Buffalo, New York. From these humble beginnings the Stern Brothers s became an important merchandising family in New York City. The entire family worked in this store, which carried both luxury goods and merchandize for the working classes. It was an elegant store noted for its fashionable clothes. This enterprise was distinguished by its elegant door men in top hats and by the generous and friendly service of the Sterns themselves. It eventually was taken over by Federated Stores and the various Stern stores were converted into Bloomingdakes and Macey stores.

Takashimaya Company, Limited (Japan)

Tietz

Oscar Tietz in 1882 borrowed money from his his uncle, Hermann Tietz to establish the Hermann Tietz Button, Thread, Embroidery, Linen and Woollens Store in Gera. Tietz's firm in 1896 was renamed a department store--Warenhaus Hermann Tietz. The flagship store was located in Berlin, but there were also stores in other German cities like Düsseldorf ( built by by Olbrich in 1906-08). Like the Tietz Department Store shown here, many of the first department stores like Tietz offered services that only the wealthy had previously been able to afford before. Prices were fixed and comparitively low. Customers could browse and goods could be returned with out question. Mothers could not only buy cloths, but also have their photographs taken at Tietz. Therewere many store brands like Eltag phonograph records. The stores were also known as Hertie a nick name for the founder--Hermann (Hertie) Tietz. As Tietz and other important German department stores were Jewish owned thy were targets after the NAZIs seized power in 1933, first from boycotts and then the Aryanization program. I do not yet have details on what happened at Tietz during the NAZI era. Hertie absorbed by Karstadt effect from 1999.

Tokyu Department Store Co., Ltd. (Japan)

Value City Department Stores, Inc.

(Otto) Versand (Germany)

Otto Versand ( Otto-versandhaus ) appears to have been a major Germany mail order company. They had important catalogs in the 1960s. The Otto Versand Haus was founded about 1954 after World War II in Hamburg, Germany, by Werner Otto. We do not know of an actual store. This may b a purely catalog company. The company is apparently still in business and we note a website just for Otto. We had thought that Otto was a first name, but it may wll be the founder's last name. The Otto website includes this refereced a Micharl Otto, "Die Michael-Otto-Stiftung für Umweltschutz verfolgt als Ziel den Schutz und den Erhalt der Lebens-grundlage Wasser."

Wal Mart (United States)

Wal-Mart started out with modest-sized stores in mostly rural areas that could not support large K-mart stores. They have since become the largest discount chain in the world with locations throughout the United States as well as many other countries around the world.

Wal-Mart de México, S.A. de C.V. (Mexico)

Wal-Mart de Mexico has become the largest marketer of clothing in Mexico.

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Created: 12:26 AM 10/4/2004
Last updated: 5:47 PM 4/8/2009