Posts Tagged ‘bloomingdales’
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Holiday Card 1904. Front Entrance
NEW YORK DEPARTMENT STORES – ABRAHAM & STRAUS
Abraham & Straus - Arial View - 1906
Founded in 1865 by Abraham Abraham and Joseph Wechsler in Brooklyn, New York, the company initially opened as Wechsler & Abraham on Fulton Street near Tillary. At this time, Brooklyn was a thriving community of its own; the Brooklyn Bridge had not yet been built. In the early 1880’s, the company bought and renovated an ornate cast iron building on Fulton between Hoyt Street and Gallatin Place. With continual expansion, the store eventually occupied the entire block. The building was equally ornate inside as depicted in some of the postcards shown below. A five-story courtyard with a skylight allowed daylight to show off the merchandise. Abraham & Straus became the retail showplace in New York. The last major renovation was between 1928 and 1930 when the architects Starrett & Van Vleck designed the new building facing Fulton Street in Art Deco style. This store still stands today but is now a Macy’s.
In 1893, the Straus family along with Simon Rothschild bought out the Wechsler interest in the company and the store was renamed Abraham & Straus. The Straus family also had controlling interest in R.H. Macy & Company in New York. The two retailers were not combined but did maintain a common buying office in Europe. During the 1910s, the Straus family separated their interest in the two stores, with Abraham & Straus going to one branch of the family, and Macy’s to the other. In April, 1912, Isidor and Ida Straus went down with the Titanic.
In 1929, Abraham & Straus, Bloomingdale’s, Filene’s and Lazarus (along with its subsidiary, Shillito’s) merged to form Federated Department Stores. At this time, Federated was located in Columbus, Ohio but later moved to Cincinnati. The merger gave each division the strength to weather economic storms and also created buying clout in the U.S. and Europe.
Family members ran Abraham & Straus until 1955. Walter Rothschild was President and Chairman until 1955, and was succeeded by Sidney Solomon, the first non-family member to lead the company.
In 1950, the company purchased the Loeser’s store in Garden City and converted it to Abraham & Straus. In 1952, the company built its first suburban store in Hempstead. That store was expanded over the years until it exceeded 400,000 square feet. The company continued expansion with stores in Manhasset, Smithtown, Babylon (later replaced), Monmouth (NJ), Paramus (NJ), White Plains (NY), Short Hills (NJ), King of Prussia (PA), Willow Grove (PA), and Manhattan.
Under the leadership of Walter Rothschild and Sidney Solomon, Abraham & Straus was the powerhouse of Federated Department Stores. The division contributed more earnings per share than any other division. For years it was known as the training ground for merchants for the retail industry. Many of the top retail CEO’s came from the A& S training program.
Unfortunately, Abraham & Straus also became the funding source for Federated Department Store’s divisions in the Sunbelt (Bullock’s, Burdines, Sanger-Harris, and Rich’s). Eventually the Brooklyn market declined as did Hempstead and Babylon. The new management team relied on a strategy of opening new stores to grow their way out of the problems created by the declining markets. New stores were built in White Plains and Short Hills, but neither was an immediate success. Then, A&S made the disastrous decision to open stores in the Philadelphia market (Willow Grove and King of Prussia). These stores worsened the situation. As a final fiasco, the division opened a new store near Herald Square in NYC, a store that never could be profitable. On top of all this, a new centralized distribution center was opened, intended to reduce expenses and to increase the selling space in each store. Through management bungling, this operation became a major problem as shortage increased dramatically chain wide. In addition, costs were far above projections and merchandise got stalled in the pipeline.
Outside Porte Cochere. 1909
The Court, Silver Department, 1904
What happened???
Atop all the management mistakes in the late 1970’s and 1980’s, the final blow came when Campeau, the real estate developer, bought Federated Department Stores and combined it with Allied Stores. This led to the combination of A&S with Jordan Marsh (Boston), operating out of the Brooklyn headquarters. In 1994, Federated Department Stores purchased bankrupt R.H. Macy & Co and in 1995, combined A&S with the Macy’s New York division, converting stores to the Macy’s brand or other divisions of Federated.
I first saw Abraham & Straus in the late 1960’s when it was a powerhouse. I was working at Bullock’s in Los Angeles and was asked to visit with A&S to gather information on some of their personnel policies and procedures. I was impressed. The customer traffic was unbelievable. The fashion displays were incredible as the volume justified the costs. I joined A&S in 1976 and it was then on a fast downhill slide. Management’s response was to take the business upscale. This new direction worked in Manhasset, Smithtown, Paramus and the smaller Garden City store but in the other stores the new direction was a disaster. In Brooklyn, for example, we added a Pappagallo shop and put $12 million into an upscale renovation of the Brooklyn store when in fact all that sold in front of the store were Jellies and incense on cardboard boxes. The employees lost confidence in management as customers objected to the new higher priced merchandise. Unions started organizing attempts because of separation of the associates from management. One day over 6,000 people demonstrated in support of the unions in front of the Brooklyn store. The store also became a magnet for criminals. Organized gangs came into the store to steal merchandise. One Christmas Eve a gang came into the jewelry department during business hours, broke all the cases and stole the majority of the merchandise.
A&S Rotunda .. 1904
Picture Gallery. 1907
The postcard collection primarily shows the store pre-1930 when it was grand. Like all the other cards in the Plummer Collection, I ask that you do not reproduce or copy any of these postcards without gaining my written permission.
Grocery Department. 1904
Grocery Department in 1907
I trust that you will feel comfortable to leave your comments about your history with A&S, either as a customer or as an employee. We need to preserve this important part of retail history.
Straus Family Summer Home. View 1 . 1907
Straus Family Summer Home . View 2. 1907
Anniversary Day Parade . Prospect Park. 1907 . Pub by A&S
Lawn Tennis Prospect Park . 1905 . pub A&S
Brooklyn Orphan Asylum . 1906. pub by A&S
A&S Rear View Showing Service Center 1904
Tags: A & S Alumni, A & S History, A&S, Abraham & Straus, Allied Stores, Associated Dry Goods, Beauty, big box retailers, bloomingdales, Brooklyn, carter hawley hale stores, City Stores, cosmetics, Department Store History, dina lokets, executive recruiting, executive searh fimrs, Fashion Institute, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, FIT, grand dames of retail, heidi plummer, john plummer, la times, macy's, Merchantile Stores, merchants, New York, New York Department Stores, New York History, New York Retail, nrf, NY Times, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, retail careers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail executives, Retail History, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, Specialty retail, stores magazine, susan gill, USC, wsj, WWD
Posted in NEW YORK STORES, Retail Postcards | 37 Comments »
Friday, March 18th, 2011
Hale Bros. San Francisco - Pre-1906
HALE BROTHERS – SACRAMENTO
In 1880 the Criterion Store was opened by Prentice Cobb Hale and his two brothers. This store was located in downtown Sacramento. The next year the store and company was renamed Hale Brothers & Company. In 1896, the company incorporated under the name of Hale Bros. In 1887, the company established a buying office in New York headed by Marshall Hale. This store was known for offering value priced merchandise.
Hale Bros opened large stores in San Francisco and San Jose and several smaller stores in California’s smaller markets. In those days some of the stores included groceries in their merchandise mix. Each store was managed as a separate entity as systems were not sophisticated enough to have chain wide merchandising. The Sacramento store was last located at 9th and K Streets. The San Jose store was at the corner of 1st and San Carlos. The San Francisco store was first located at 989 Market Street. After the earthquake, the company built a new store at 901 Market Street in a neoclassical building designed by the Reid Brothers. It lost that store in a 1944 lease dispute with the owners of the land upon which the store was built. As a result, J.C.Penney moved into this prime location and Hale Bros was forced to take over the former J.C.Penney location adjacent to the enormous Emporium store. The foolish negotiations by Hale Bros resulted in the company opening in an older building while paying a much higher rent.
In 1949, Hale Bros. acquired their Sacramento rival, Weinstocks Lubin & Co. In 1949, Hale Bros. negotiated an all-stock merger with Los Angeles based Broadway Department Stores, then the largest and most aggressively growing chain in Southern California. The result was Broadway-Hale Stores. Prentice Hale became the Chairman and Ed Carter (Broadway) became President.
All stores were closed by 1968. Hale Brothers was facing increased competition from the Emporium and aggressive specialty retailers. Consumers were moving to the malls while Hale Bros stores were in downtown markets. Since the Emporium was merged into Broadway – Hale in 1969, I have to believe they knew that Hale Bros stores would not be relevant in that combined company. At the time, the only people crying over the loss were the employees of Hale Bros. The store was not missed.
The Sacramento store has now been restored to its original look; the unsightly aluminum sheathing has been removed. The San Jose store now houses a building and loan office. The San Francisco store was empty for years after J.C. Penney left San Francisco. It now houses big box retail venues.
What happened????…. In the case of Hale Bros you cannot blame Carter Hawley Hale for its demise. Instead, blame goes directly to the company’s management. The loss of the San Francisco store lease killed that store. They ended up with a store that was old and in decline and they paid more in rent. They just could not compete with the more customer friendly Emporium next door. Customers were also looking for more fashion but Hale Brothers did not offer it. The biggest problem was that the customers were moving to mall shopping environments and Hale Bros stores were only located in downtown venues.
I was taken to the Hale Bros stores in both Sacramento and San Francisco. In Sacramento, the Weinstock’s store was far more exciting. In San Francisco, going to Hale Bros was torture in comparison to the Emporium, the White House, or the City of Paris. Then, when Macy’s San Francisco woke-up, it was all over for Hale Bros.
I hope that all of you who know Hale Bros better than I do will be able to tell your stories in the comments section below. I would especially like to hear more about how the real estate mogul, Louis Lurie, out foxed Prentice Hale.
Hale Bros. - San Francisco - Destruction by 1906 Earthquake and Fire
Hale Bros. - San Francisco - Rebuild after Earthquake and Fire
Hale Bros. - San Francisco - New Store on Market - 1927
Hale Bros. - San Jose - Scene from 1932
Hale Bros. - San Francisco - First Floor - no date
Hale Bros. - San Francisco - Pompeian Court/Restaurant - 1914
These Hale Bros. postcards are part of the Plummer & Associates collection. Please do not copy or reproduce without permission from John Plummer.
Tags: Allied Stores, big box retail, bloomingdales, Broadway Hale, California retail history, Carter Hawley Hale, City of Paris, City Stores, defunct department stores, Department Store History, department stores, dina lokets, emporium, Emporium Capwell, executive search firms, fashion, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, grand dames, grand dames of retail, Hale Bros, Hale Brothers, Hale Stores, heidi plummer, I.Magnin & Co, J Magnin, J.C. Penney Co, john plummer, la times, macy's, Merchantile Stores, Mervyn's, modesto, Modesto Bee, national retail federation, nrf, NY Times, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, POSTCARDS, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search firms, Retail History, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, sacramento, sacramento bee, Sacramento Retailers, san francisco, San Jose, SF Chronicle, Specialty retail, specialty retailers, stores magazine, susan gill, USC, value retail, Weinstock Lubin, weinstock lubin & co, Weinstocks, White House, Womens Wear Daily, WWD
Posted in CALIFORNIA STORES, Retail Postcards | 19 Comments »
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Emporium - Market Street - San Francisco - 1905 (pre earthquake)
THE EMPORIUM – SAN FRANCISCO – CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST AND AMERICA’S GRANDEST DEPARTMENT STORE…..
The Emporium in San Francisco was the first and later became the largest and for many years the most important department store in San Francisco. The store, because of its size and convenience to transportation, helped turn Market Street into a shopping Mecca. The store offered popular or value priced merchandise. It also had special events to draw customers such as band concerts every Saturday night under the glass dome.
The original store was started in 1872 as the Golden Rule Bazaar. At the time, it was the only large store on the West Coast and was designed to serve those following the gold rush. It grew to operate out of three different buildings. During those years the store was operated by the Davis brothers.
In 1893Adolph Feist leased a building on Market Street with plans to open a major department store through a partnership with one of the major retailers in the East. When the partnership strategy failed he rented out space in the building to various small entrepreneurs. In 1896, the doors opened under the name The Emporium. Soon after, Mr. Frederick W. Dohrmann became involved. He was a German immigrant who had come to the S.F. Bay Area in 1860 and had proven himself successful in flour milling and pottery merchandising. He understood the possibilities of the original department store plan and ended up leading the 1897 merger of the Golden Rule Bazaar and the Emporium into one entity in the space that Adolph Feist had leased. He then brought his son, A.B.C. Dohrmann, in as the president. The younger Dohrmann built the systems and procedures to allow the different departments to work together. The store quickly became successful under his leadership. He remained President until his death in 1914.
The Emporium suffered major damage in the 1906 earthquake and fire. While the store was being rebuilt, a temporary store was opened on Van Ness Avenue. A new building was built on Market Street. The new building had 775,000 square feet of floor space. It had a glass arcade, a glass dome, solid mahogany fixtures, and a new grocery department. The design was intended to make this store as glamorous as anything found in the East.
In 1927, the Emporium merged with H. C. Capwell & Co. based in Oakland. The new holding company was named Emporium-Capwell. The two different divisions operated independently for years only merging their New York and overseas buying offices. The Emporium started to grow with stores on the San Francisco Peninsula, Santa Clara County, Marin County, and Sonoma County. Capwell’s, on the other hand, opened stores in Alameda County and Contra Costa County.
The Emporium-Capwell company was acquired by Broadway Hale Stores in 1969. This put together Broadway (Southern California), Weinstock’s (Sacramento), Emporium (San Francisco) and Capwell’s (Oakland) into one holding company under the name Carter Hawley Hale Stores (CHH). CHH then went on a major acquisition binge which resulted in significant debt. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1991. In 1992, the Zell/Chilmark fund bought CHH and renamed it Broadway Stores as the company emerged from bankruptcy protection. In 1996, Broadway Stores was sold to Federated Department Stores and they closed all the various divisions and either converted the stores to Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, or sold the facilities.
The downtown San Francisco store has mostly been converted into a Nordstrom’s anchoring the San Francisco Center mall.
What happened???? The Emporium remained a dominant department store chain in the San Francisco Bay Area until the 1970’s. Then Ed Finkelstein and Phil Schlein led a rejuvenated Macy’s organization which took the market by surprise. The new Cellar department and the fashion forward Juniors and Young Mens departments captured the youth and early adult markets. Macy’s also put money into the look of their stores setting them apart from the Emporium which did not have capital available for the stores as the parent company had to service its debt. By the mid-80’s, Macy’s was clearly the dominant player. Because Emporium was a value priced department store chain, they also faced pressure from Mervyn’s which offered better values and more convenience. The explosion of good specialty retailers also took market share. During the construction of BART, the downtown San Francisco store suffered as Market Street was a mess and this drove shoppers to the Union Square area. In the end, it was the recklessness of the parent company that destroyed the Emporium and all the other divisions of CHH.
I knew the Emporium well both as a young customer and later as a competitor. When I was a young child, I came with my parents to shop in San Francisco. Modesto was just 80 miles away, but in those days it was a major trip. We had our car serviced before we made the drive and we stayed in a hotel for three days while we shopped for back to school, Christmas, and for Spring/Summer. Although we shopped in many stores (White House, City of Paris, Macy’s, and Hale’s), the Emporium was the targeted store. Not only did it have the merchandise we could afford, but it was also a grand place to take children. During the holidays the roof had a children’s playground/amusement park. There was a Ferris wheel ride that hung out over the front of the store looking straight down at Market Street. There was also a small Southern Pacific passenger train that kids could ride. (The last time I saw the train it was at model train store in the Sunset District.) In those days, the store had a pet department with live animals which was also a playground for the kids. We usually ate in the mezzanine cafeteria. In the mid-70’s I shopped the Emporium when I worked at Bullock’s in Los Angeles and later when I was at Mervyn’s. In those days you could see a lack of excitement in fashion apparel, a decline in customer service, and, most importantly, a decline in the maintenance of the facilities.
NOTE: I treasure my memories of this Grand Dame of Retail and hope you will too. Please feel free to leave your memories in the comments section below.
The Emporium - San Francisco - 1904 - Pre Earthquake
Emporium - 1910 - Note Earthquake Reconstruction on Roof Nextdoor
The Emporium - San Francisco - 1910
The Emporium - San Francisco - Holiday Greetings - 1910
The Emporium - 1911
The Emporium - Temporary Store on Van Ness - 1908
Emporium - Entrance Arcade - 1905 - Pre Earthquake
Ekmporium - Entrance Arcade - 1911 - Post Earthquake
Emporium - San Francisco - The Grand Staircase - 1915
The Emporium - Rotunda, Cafe, & Bandstand - 1908 - Pre Earthquake
The Emporium - Bandstand - 1906 - Note Sender's Comments
Emporium - Rotunda - After Earthquake Reconstruction
Emporium - Pre 1906 - Women's Cloaks & Suits
The Emporium - Juvenile Section - Pre 1906
The Emporium - Oriental Section - Pre 1906
Emporium - 1912- Cafe - Note Fire Sprinkler System on Ceiling
Emporium - Cafe - 1915
Emporium - 1908 Calendar - Sent from Temporary Store
The Emporium - 1908 Calendar - Sent from Temporary Store
Emporium - Postcard Calendar - 1909 - Sent From Temporary Store
The Emporium - 1920's - Gloves Trade Card
The Emporium = 1910
The Emporium - 1920's - Trade Stamp
The Emporium - 1906 After Earthquake and Fire
The Emporium - 1906 - Smoldering Fire
The Emporium - 1906 - After the Fire
The Emporium - 1906 - Another View After the Fire
The Emporium - 1906 - After The Fire Looking Through Former Entrance
Emporium - 1907 - Postcard Envelop Containing Earthquake and Fire Postcards
San Francisco City Hall
Emporium - Panorama of the City of San Francisco After Earthquake and Fire.
Emporium - 1906 Earthquake and Fire Burning the Metropolitain Temple
Emporium - 1906 Fire Destroys Concordia Club
Emporium - 1906 - Ruins of St. Ignatius Cathedral and College
Emporium - 1906 - Earthquake and Fire Refugee Camp
Emporium - 1906 - Refugee Camp in Cemetary
The Emporium - 1906 - The Entrance After Fire and Earthquake
These postcards are from the Plummer & Associates Collection. Please do not copy or reproduce without written permission from John Plummer.
Tags: 1906, 1906 earthquake and fire, Allied Stores, big box retail, bloomingdales, Broadway stores, BULLOCK'S, Bullock-I.magnin, carter hawley hale stores, CHH, Cisty Stores, City of Paris, defunct department stores, defunct retailers, Department Store History, DEPARTMENT STORE POSTCARDS, dina lokets, Earthquake, emporium, Emporium Capwell, emporium history, executive search firms, fashion, Fashion Institute, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, grand dame, Hale Co, Hale Stores, heidi plummer, I MAGNIN, john plummer, la times, Liberty house, Liebes, macy's, Market Street Retail, may company, May Company Department Stores, Merchantile Stores, Mervyn's, modesto, Modesto Bee, national retail federation, New york Times, Nordstrom, Northern california retail history, nrf, NYT, Oakland Tribune, plummer & associates, plummer and assocites, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, POSTCARDS, postcards of retailers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail lpostcards, retail postcards, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, sacramento bee, san francisco, San Francisco Earthquake, San Francisco Retail, San Francisco Retail History, SF Chronicle, Specialty retail, stores, susan gill, USC, Weinstocks, Womens Wear Daily, wsj, WWD
Posted in CALIFORNIA STORES, Retail Postcards | 13 Comments »
Monday, January 10th, 2011
HAHNE & COMPANY
Downtown Newark 1905
Hahne and Company was founded in 1858 by Julius Hahne. The first store was a specialty store and later grew into an up-scale department store known for catering to the carriage trade and for friendly service.
In 1906 a new store was built on Broad Street in downtown Newark. The 441,000 square foot building had four floors plus a basement. An atrium in the center of the building allowed sunlight into all the floors to compensate for the lack of good electrical lighting.)
To the delight of the children, the basement had a merry-go-round. The Toy department was also located in the basement along with Housewares, Small Electrics, Sporting Goods, Luggage, Televisions, and the Budget Store.
The store had two restaurants. The Pine Room, a wood paneled fine dining area on the street level, was formal and until the late 1970’s had a dress code for patrons. The Maple Room, located in the basement and offering counter service, appealed to downtown workers. It closed in the 1980’s when the basement selling floor was closed.
In 1929, the company opened the first suburban store in Montclair, New Jersey. Later, suburban stores were opened in Westfield, Livingston, Monmouth, Quaker Bridge, Woodbridge, and Rockaway.
Hahne and Company was a founding member of Associated Dry Goods when the company formed in 1916. Other founding members included: H.B. Clafin & Co (NYC), Lord & Taylor (NYC), Stewart & Co (Baltimore), Heneger’s (Buffalo), and J.N. Adam & Co. (Buffalo). This grouping of companies helped each division secure needed financing and also helped combine buying power.
What happened???? The company became too focused on its downtown store in Newark. As a result, when the Newark retail market declined in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the business did not stand out in the New Jersey market. A&S, Lord & Taylor, and Bloomingdale’s moved into the better suburban markets in New Jersey and left little room for Hahne’s. In 1986, the parent, Associated Dry Goods, was sold to The May Company Department Stores. The downtown store closed in 1987 and the corporate headquarters were moved to the newly acquired store in Paramus. Since there was not much difference between a Hahne’s store and the May Company’s Lord & Taylor division, the decision was made to close the Hahne’s stores and replace some with Lord & Taylor stores.
In the late 1970’s while working for A&S, I visited many of the Hahne’s stores. One of my colleagues from Bullock’s had also joined the company. I found the stores to be wonderful up-scale stores with excellent customer service. However, the stores were never full of customers and you could see the facilities were in need of new investment.
Hahne & Co - 1906
Hahne & Co - 1906
Hahne & Co. - 1907
50th Anniversary - 1908
Golden Jubilee/50th Anniversary - 1908
Hahne & Co - 1910
Hahne & Co - Inside Atrium - 1910
Hahne & Co. - Santa Greetings - 1906
NOTE: These postcards are part of the Plummer Collection. You will need permission from John Plummer at Plummer & Associates to reprint or copy any of these postcards.
Tags: A&S, Abraham & Strauss, Assocaited Dry Goods, Bamburger's, bloomingdales, Department Store History, DEPARTMENT STORE POSTCARDS, department stores, executive search firms, fashion, Fashion Department Stores, fashion history, Fashion Institute, Fashion Retail History, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, Gertz, Hahne & Company, Hahne and Company, Hahne's Department Stores, heidi plummer, Lord & Taylor, macy's, may company, modesto, national retail federationstores, New Jersery Retail History, New Jersey Department Stores, New Jersey Retail, New York Department Stores, New York Retail, New york Times, Newark, Newark New Jersey, Newark Retail, nrf, plummer & associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, POSTCARDS, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search firms, Retail History, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, skywalker, Specialty retail, Specialty Retail History, susan gill, USC, WWD
Posted in NEW JERSEY STORES, Retail Postcards | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Plummer & Associates, Inc.
P.O. Box 607
New Canaan, Connecticut 06840
(800) 603 9981
www.plummersearch.com
Happy Holidays!
At this time of year we all think of our relationships, friends and family. We also like to review our successes and seek areas for improvement.
2010 has been a better year for all of us involved in retail. Although the economy has a long way to go to fully recover, there are significant signs of improvement indicating that the consumer is spending more. That bodes well for all of us!
At Plummer & Associates our commitment is to do a better job than we have before. During the deepest part of the recession, we spent time re-thinking our business model and how we serve our clients. We have always been proud of our success in recruiting top candidates who excelled with our clients, but we challenged ourselves to work more efficiently and at less expense to our clients. We as a team are proud of what we have accomplished.
We have now added a blog to our website: www.plummersearch.com/blog. Currently this blog covers topics related to talent development and information for candidates. In January, as part of our contribution to the retail industry, the blog will cover the evolution of downtown retailers for the prime period from 1880 to 1960. Our first blog will cover the stores of Southern California and the second will cover Northern California. Over time, we will cover all states and provinces in North America, utilizing our collection of over 10,000 retail store postcards.
For now, we thank you for our relationship and want you to know that we are honored to work with you. We trust we have earned your respect so that we may continue this relationship in 2011.
We wish you the best for the holidays and look forward to being in touch in the New Year.
Sincerely,
John Plummer
Susan Gill
Heidi Plummer
Dina Lokets
Kathy Brooke
And the Plummer & Associates Team
P.S. The Santa buttons above are from our collection representing retail stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the U.K.
Tags: A&S, Abraham and Straus, Allied Stores, Bambergers, Black Stores, bloomingdales, Bon Marche, Bon Ton, Boston Stores, broadway, buffums, BULLOCK'S, Burdines, capwell, Carson, Carson Pierie Scott, Christmas, City of Paris, City Stores, Davidsons, Department Store History, department store santa pinbacks, department stores, emporium, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, Filene's, food service, Gimbel's, Goldsmiths, Hambergers, happy holidays, heidi plummer, holiday greetings, holiday pinback, Holiday Season, I MAGNIN, J Magnin, J.W. Robinsons, john plummer, Lord & Taylor, Macy, macy's, Marshall Fields, May Company Department Stores, Meier & Frank, Merchantile Stores, modesto, national retail federation, Nordstrom, nrf, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, restaurants, retail careers, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, Retail History, retail holiday greetings, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, Rhodes, Richs, santa, santa pinbacks, Seasons Greetings, Specialty retail, store, susan gill, thalheimers, USC, Walker Scott, Wannamaker, wholesale, Woodward Lothrup
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, December 13th, 2010
In January, 2011, we will launch our blog which will show the history of retailing in downtown North America. We will employ our collection of over 10,000 postcards of these famous stores. Our purpose is to bring to life these Grand Dames that existed in major metropolitan areas as well as in small town America. We also want to make this interactive so customers and associates of these retailers can memorialize their thoughts in the Comments Section for the Blog.
Our first series will be about the stores in Southern California. We will feature Los Angeles stores such as Goodman’s Department Stores, Coulter’s, Hamburger’s, May Company, Broadway, Bullock’s, Bullock’s Wilshire, I Magnin & Co, Desmond’s, Mullen & Bluett, and others. San Diego stores will be Marsten’s and Walker-Scott. Harris Stores in San Bernardino is another.
The second series will cover Northern California. This will include San Francisco Bay Area stores such as: City of Paris, White House, Gump’s, Emporium, Capwell’s, Kahn’s, Rhodes, Hale Stores and more. The Sacramento store, Weinstock-Lubin, and the Fresno’s Gottschalk’s will be included.
During the year we will continue to post blogs on other states and provinces in North America.
Collecting the postcards for these Grand Dames has been enormously satisfying. I don’t want this important part of retail history to be forgotten. I hope you will have as much fun reviewing this collection and adding your comments and memories of these institutions in the Comments/Leave A Reply section below. If you have postcards of any of these stores which are different from my collection I would be honored to have the opportunity to post your card on the Blog.
Elmira, New York
Note: Elmira, New York, like most small towns has variety (five & dime) stores next to local department stores. Sometimes they also had a chain department store such as J.C. Penney, Sears, and/or Montgomery Ward. The variety stores always had excellent real estate in the busiest part of downtown. The local department store catered to both value-oriented and upscale customers with their good, better, and best merchandising program. The rest of the stores included a local drug store, a millinery store, a gift store, a hardware store, an automotive tire & battery store, a cinema/theatre, a candy/soda fountain, a cigar/tobacco/news store, a feed/farm store, a cafeteria, auto dealerships, a barber shop, and a restaurant or two. Of course, there was always a grocery store.
Downtown areas in major metropolitain areas were different as the stores were bigger. Department stores were what we today would call a shopping center. They were large and catered to different customers (budget, moderate, and luxury).
Tags: A&S, Abraham & Straus, Associated Dry Goods, Atlanta Stores, auto dealerships, Balitmore Stores, barber shop, Best & Co, Birmhingham Stores, bloomingdales, Boise Stores, Bon Marche, Boston Stores, Bridgeport Stores, Broadway stores, BULLOCK'S, Burdines, Carter Hawley Hale, CHH, Chicago Stores, Cincinnati Stores, City of Paris, City Stores, Cleveland Stores, Columbus Stores, Dallas stores, Dayton Stores, department stores, Desmoines stores, Dillard's, downtown retailers, Downtown Stores, dry goods, Eaton's, executive search firms, Famous Barr, famous department stores, Fashion Institute, fashion stores, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, Filene's, FIT, Florida Stores, Foleys, Fresno Stores, Gimbel's, grand dame retailers, Hale Stores, hardware store, Harris Bros, Hartford Stores, heidi plummer, holt renfrew, houston Stores, Howland's, J.C. Penney, john plummer, Kentucky Stores, Kress, Lord & Taylor, los angeles stores, Louisville Stores, macy's, Manhattan Stores, Marshall Fields, may co, May Company Department Stores, Meier & Frank, Merchantile Stores, modesto, Montgomery Wards, Montreal Stores, Nashville Stores, New Orleans Stores, New york stores, Newberry, Nordstrom's, Oakland Stores, Oklahoma Stores, Philadelphia Stores, Phoenix stores, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, Portland Stores, postcards of retailers, R.H. Macy CO, retail blog, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, Retail History, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, Rhodes, Richmoond Stores, Sacramento Stores, sak's, sak's fifth avenue, San Diego Stores, San Francisco Stores, Sanger Harris, Sears, Seattle Stores, skywalker, St Louis stores, Steinbach's, Stix Baer & Fuller, susan gill, Tacoma Stores, Tennessee Stores, tire store, Toronto Stores, Tuscon Stores, USC, Vancouver Stores, Variety Stores, Washington Stores, Woolworth
Posted in Retail Postcards | 26 Comments »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has declared that the recession is officially over. For retailers, the question is how robust will the economy be in the next couple of years. Most economists and Mr. Ben Bernanke, Chairman – Federal Reserve, are forecasting a slow recovery. Why? The economy still needs to work through consumer debt and the consumer needs to find ways to increase their income so that they can spend again. In the recent past, consumers spent wealth gained through the inflated housing market. Unemployment is still high and will take time to recover. And, the baby boom generation is moving into retirement which means that this big population bubble will be spending less.
So, why is now the best time to bring on strategic hires? First, let’s define strategic hires as executives who can do significantly more than the incumbent. More importantly, let us define a strategic hire as someone who will help change the course of your business. This will be someone who is more strategically oriented to:
• Analyze the customer base to refine the definition of the targeted customer and then develop marketing programs to communicate with the newly targeted customer to increase traffic, sales, and margins;
• Create a store environment which matches/exceeds the targeted customer’s expectations and allows you to build a brand through the retail experience;
• Seek ways to find basis point improvements in operations efficiencies while also improving customer service;
• Build a culture which meets/exceeds customer expectations and recruit and develop exceptional talent;
• Build a merchandising program which excels at providing the merchandise expected by the targeted customer, which constantly reviews new products and categories while rationalizing existing sku’s, which excels at making money through effective merchandising and consistently finds margin basis point improvements, and which creates excitement for the merchandising program throughout the company;
• Lead a finance team which is more than a recorder of numbers to one dedicated to helping the organization by providing the analytics and instructions for the merchants to understand the financial impact of their decision making and for the other functional areas to understand the best return on investment strategies. This is a Value Creator!;
• Build a supply chain program which results in reduced inventories with the same or better levels of customer service while also reducing logistical expenses;
• Build systems to support the operational, marketing, and merchandising program enhancements; and
• Develop strategies to expand the company in new markets internationally.
In these times when the nation is still ‘over stored’ and, with so many competitors offering the same or similar goods, those retailers who will excel in the next few years will be those who have some advantage, whether it be perceived value by the consumer or operational, marketing, financial, and/or human resources strengths. It will be up to the retailers who want to excel to find a way to create this differentiation in the market place and this is best done by hiring strategic executives who can create and maintain the differentiation.
How do you find these strategic hires? Strategic hires require a major investment. In this market it can cost $100,000 to $150,000 or more to relocate an executive. In addition, you have costs related to the time it takes the executive to learn the company and become comfortable in the new role. These costs represent an investment you cannot take lightly and you definitely cannot afford to make a mistake. This means the process for identifying and recruiting candidates must not be taken lightly and also requires an investment.
Yes, in this employment market there are many executives who are desperate for employment and who are available on job boards. Although these may be top caliber executives, the important questions are: (1.) Are they the right executives for your strategic role? and, (2.) Do they have the best skills and experience as well as possess the strategic mind set? Your organization can interview dozens of these looking for the right individual. The important question is whether you are interviewing from dozens to hope for the right person or are you interviewing and selecting from a slate which has several candidates with the most appropriate skills, experiences, and personal characteristics to make sure you are getting the best strategic player for your team.
It may seem self-serving, but I strongly believe the best return on your recruiting investment for a strategic player is accomplished by engaging a search firm which specializes in serving the retail industry and which has a track record of recruiting strategic players which have proven to make a difference over both the short- and the longer-term. When you consider the cost of making a mistake, this approach is your best investment.
How do you select the right executive search firm? Based upon my years of experience in the recruitment of senior retail executives, I strongly recommend you take careful time and put in significant energy to choose a retainer based search firm to manage the recruitment of strategic hires. I recommend you interview at least four firms before you make your choice. Questions you should ask include:
-Does the search firm and the consultant who will work with you on your assignment truly understand the definition of a strategic executive and know how to determine if candidates have the experience that you require? Keep in mind, you are not asking who the search consultant knows, but, instead, what companies should be targets and why executives in those companies have the specific experience required. You are looking to guarantee a strong slate of candidates from which to select. Feel free to ask the search firm to provide you with a list of targeted organizations (along with reasons why) with their proposal to conduct the search assignment;
-Does the consultant know how to select a strategic versus a tactical executive? I recommend you have the search firm as part of its proposal prepare a position specification fully describing the position and the candidate. Instead of providing the search firm with the details of the position and the candidate, I suggest you have the search firm do it so you can assess their understanding of the position and your needs.
-Does the search firm have the resources to invest into the search assignment to determine all possible talent pools to find the best candidates? In my opinion, it is not in your best interest to have the search firm only identify the most obvious and visible executives. You require a firm which has a research group and which has databases available to identify all appropriate talent banks.
-Does the search firm have relationships with the obvious target companies to prevent them from contacting potential candidates in those target organizations? Why should you engage the search firm which recruits for the targeted organization as this means the search firm will be barred from recruiting executives from this organization to yours; and,
-Will the consultants working on your assignment have the time available to do the work? If the lead consultant is handling too many assignments at a time, it is likely he/she will not have the time to do your assignment justice.
First and foremost, you are in charge of your company’s future. You are not lucky to have a particular search firm working for you. Instead, you are smart to choose the right firm to do this strategic assignment. In my opinion, by following this process you should be able to build a team which will make a difference.
Tags: ahold, big box retail, bloomingdales, brinker group, careers, catalog, catalog retailers, Chicos, chili's, darden, department stores, dina lokets, direct marketing, e-commerce, ecommerce, employment, executive search firms, fashion, fashion careers, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, Finance, HEB, heidi plummer, home depot, IT, john plummer, kroger, la times, Limited, Lord & Taylor, lowes, macy's, modesto, national reail federation, nrf, nrf stores, Operations, pizza hut, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Publics, Publix, retail, retail careers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, retailing, safeway, shop TV, skywalker, Specialty retail, strategic hiring, supermarkets, Supply Chain, susan gill, taco bell, the gap, USC, wholesale, winn dixie, Womens Wear Daily, wsj, WWD, yum, yum brands
Posted in Talent Development/Education | 11 Comments »
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
There is no doubt that running a retail business is complex and demands executives with more education. On the other hand, fashion retailing is also a creative art form and requires executives with passion for color, design, and texture. As we bring in executives with more business skills, are we losing the creative senses so required for fashion? If so, what do we need to do as an industry to recruit and develop those with the creative talent to create uniqueness, important differentiation, and stimulate the emotional triggers that are the foundation of the fashion business?
Following is an article we published in 2009 which shows the trend towards highly educated CEO’s in fashion retail.
———
Higher education grows as a key to CEO success in fashion retailing.
The second report in a series of retail industry surveys conducted by Plummer & Associates reveals that 60% of the Chief Executive Officers in the top 50 fashion apparel retailers hold a bachelor’s degree. Of this group 26% also hold advanced MBA degrees.
As expected, 34% of the CEOs in fashion apparel retailers have advanced directly through the merchant ranks. It is also significant to note that the remainder of the CEOs developed through the financial and operating sides of their businesses.
While this survey showed no trend toward any one school producing today’s CEOs, CEOs with advanced degrees tend to hold degrees from Harvard, Columbia, George Washington University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, New York University and Darden at the University of Virginia.
A similar study ( http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2298774.htm) conducted earlier this year by Plummer & Associates shows that fashion apparel retailers lag behind CEOs of other major retailers for bachelor’s degrees. Out of the top 100 retailers, 85% of the CEOs have bachelor’s degrees as compared to only 60% of fashion retail CEOs.
CEO EDUCATION
TOP 50 Fashion Retailers
Bachelor Degrees 60%
MBA Degrees 26%
Top 100 Retailers (all segments)
Bachelor Degrees 85%
MBA Degrees 28%
JD Degrees 6%
The researchers fully expect the trend toward advanced degrees for fashion apparel retail CEOs to continue. As the retail industry consolidates and business demands become more complex, CEOs will need all the intellectual tools a formal education provides.
While working from the cutting table to the top may have been a viable career path in the past, the constantly evolving and complex nature of today’s retail landscape requires that executives must couple their ground up experience with the sophistication and strategic vision gained through earning a college degree.
Retailers have consolidated from regional companies led by founding families into massive, complex businesses requiring sophisticated tools to manage them effectively. This new breed of retailers is intensely competitive and constantly looking for cost and marketing advantages to secure their market position.
Some of the complexities facing retailers today demand a command of following disciplines:
Marketing – Sophisticated reporting systems have elevated the ability to forecast demand, to measure customer buying pattern changes, brand awareness and customer loyalty, and to help build brand value. Each retailer now operates through more than one channel, (retail, e-commerce, catalog, direct marketing) requiring that the decisions made for each channel are highly strategic.
Supply Chain Management/Logistics – Today there are tools available to help retailers secure significant cost advantages throughout the supply chain while simultaneously improving customer service. This gives retailers significant competitive advantages.
Merchandise Management – Advanced technologies are now required to source merchandise for product development, assortment planning, SKU rationalization, customer knowledge, trend analysis, and inventory and category management. The most important part is utilizing these technological advances to increase profitability.
Finance – This function has quickly progressed from recording history to active involvement in creating value through analytics and is now vital in allowing a retailer to compete for capital against all other industries.
Legal – Our society has become more litigious making larger businesses more of an attractive target. The complexity of new regulations has resulted in an increase in legal staff. A retail leader is now required to be more involved and responsible for setting the tone of legal strategies.
Human Resources – Once considered just a major expense, Human Resources managed effectively must now create differentiation versus competition. A company’s culture and devotion to the customer are now more important than ever.
Information Technology – In the past, technology seemed to be the sole domain of the IT department. . With advanced POS systems, the retailer has learned the power of information and no longer relies solely on market information provided by the vendor. Leading edge IT departments now interrelate with the entire organization by providing useful information to aid in decision making, control costs, forecast and analyze. Companies are now operating enterprise wide systems and the CEO must know the capabilities of these systems to ensure the company gains a competitive edge.
Global Reach –The days when retailers only operated stores in the U.S. with product only secured from U.S. sources are gone. The implications of the global activities are enormous.
In the late 60’s and 70’s the retail industry started recruiting top students from colleges and graduates from MBA programs. These forward-looking retailers saw the need for talented executives and brought highly educated executives into the retail industry. The top leaders at that time were: Federated Department Stores, May Department Stores Company, Allied Stores, J.C. Penney and Company, Sears Roebuck and Company, and The Gap. These recruiting programs produced many of the CEOs of today’s most successful retailers.
It is clear that fashion retailers need to compete in the market place to bring the brightest talent superior intellectual tools and education to manage the business for the future. And, it is also clear that college recruitment programs need to be continued and expanded so that fashion retailers can maintain an edge over competitors.
Tags: big box retailers, bloomingdales, careers, college graduates, department stores, dina lokets, direct marketing, drug store news, ecommerce, employment, executive seearch firms, fashion, fashion careers, fashion retailers, fashion talent development, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, heidi plummer, john plummer, Lord & Taylor, macy's, MBA, modesto, national retail federation, nrf, Operations, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, plummerblog, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, retail, retail careers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail opportunities, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, retailing, shop TV, skywalker, Specialty retail, specialty retailing, supermarkets, susan gill, the gap, USC, wholesale, Womens Wear Daily, WWD, yum, yum brands
Posted in Candidate Information, Talent Development/Education | 4 Comments »
Brooklyn Orphan Asylum . 1906. pub by A&S
