History of U.S. Department Stores
From the founding of the Republic, through the mid 1850's, shopping on main streets, central business districts, and in rural general stores is the norm.
Starting in the mid 19th Century, department stores are introduced in the U.S. The "Marble Palace" established by Alexander Turney Stewart on East Broadway in New York offers European retail merchandise at fixed prices for a variety of dry goods. In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy founds Macy's as a New York dry goods store. In Chicago, Marshall Field and Company establishes its department store along State Street.
1903 - Although first introduced in 1888, the 1903 Sears, Roebuck and Co. mail order catalog includes the innovative commitment, "our money back if you are not satisfied."
1933 - Sears enters the department store business in 1929, purchasing the Becker-Ryan Company store, later demolishing the building and constructing a new store in 1933 with a notable environmental innovation - the store is the first windowless department store, inspired by architecture exhibited at the 1932 Chicago World's Fair.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Sears Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward build freestanding stores with on-site parking, away from central business districts.
1993 - Reflecting modern trends in retailing, Sears decides to stop producing the general Sears catalog.
2005 - Federated Department Stores announces completion of its $17 billion acquisition of May Department Stores Co.
2007 - Federated Department Stores Inc. changes its name to Macy's Inc. reflecting the might and span of its dominant retail brand. Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc. operates more than 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names Macy's and Bloomingdale's.
2010 - Macy's makes a move into "fast fashion," with a new line, called Material Girl. Macy's is in venture with Iconix Brands Group Inc. (ICON), and collaborating with Madonna and daughter Lourdes on the Material Girl fast-fashion line.
2010 - J.C. Penney Co. creates in-store concept called MNG by Mango, in venture with fast-fashion retailer Mango MNG Holding SL (Barcelona, Spain). Mango is one of the hottest retailers in Europe where it operates hundreds of stores and its ads feature celebrities including Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson. The exclusive-to-Penney MNG by Mango brand launches initially at 77 stores.
2010 - The Sears department store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa (California), one of the top-performing shopping centers in the U.S., provides 3,700 square meters of its own store space to Forever 21, making the latter effectively a shopping center co-anchor within the same store. At the same time, in Tokyo's Ginza district, the Matsuzakaya department store leases parts of the first five of its floors to Forever 21, a combined space totaling about 4,000 square meters.
2010 - Von Maur department stores create a 4,200-square-foot fast-fashion concept store called Dry Goods, to open at Fox Valley Mall in Aurora (Illinois). The 138-year-old merchant known for its "white-glove service" says the Dry Goods store will carry a constant flow of trendy clothing and accessories but in a decor that evokes a vintage 19th century theme that is symbolic of Von Maur's early days as a dry goods store in Iowa.
