Franklin Simon & Co.

Last updated

Franklin Simon & Co.
Industry Retail
Founded1902
Defunct1979
FateBankruptcy
Headquarters New York, New York
Key people
Franklin Simon, founder
ProductsFashion apparel, shoes, accessories, and cosmetics
Parent City Stores Company

Franklin Simon & Co. was a New York City-based department store chain specializing in women's fashions and furnishings. The store was conceived as a collection of specialty shops rather than a traditional U.S. dry goods store. Each "shop" had a specialty product line, such as ready-to-wear apparel for women, misses, girls, boys, men, young men and infants. [1] When the chain closed in 1979, there were 42 stores. [2]

Contents

History

The chain was founded in February 1902, as Franklin Simon Specialty Shops by Franklin Simon (1865-1934) and his business partner Herman A. Flurscheim. [3] Leroy C. Palmer became president of the company in 1934 at the death of Franklin Simon, and Benjamin Goldstein was the head of Franklin Simon until 1963. The store's concept was "to import much of his merchandise [from Europe] with a view to selling the imported goods as cheaply, if possible, as the domestic." [4]

In 1936, the chain was purchased by Atlas Corporation from the Simon family for $2 million. [5] In 1945, Franklin Simon & Co. was acquired by City Stores Company of Philadelphia. Oppenheim Collins & Company, Inc merged with Franklin Simon, but the two chains continued to operate under separate trade names and as separate divisions under the newly formed City Specialty Stores. In 1961/1962, City Stores changed the name of the Oppenheim Collins & Co. stores to Franklin Simon. City Stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 1979. Under the reorganization plan, City Stores closed the 42 Franklin Simon stores. [2]

In 1993, Dover Books on Costume reissued the "Franklin Simon Fashion Catalog for 1923". [6]

Flagship store

The main store was established in 1903, at 414 Fifth Avenue at 38th Street, the former home of Carrie Schermerhorn Astor, sister of John Jacob Astor, and her husband Marshall Orme Wilson. It was the first big Fifth Avenue store above 34th Street. The store closed in 1977. [7] A 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) building st 19th and Broadway, built in 1868-1877 as Arnold Constable Dry Goods Store, later became its flagship, and of W. & J. Sloane, another subsidiary of City Stores.

Branch stores

In 1932, Franklin Simon & Co. opened its first branch store in Greenwich, Connecticut. [8] Other early branch locations were at Westport, Connecticut, on the Boston Post Road, near the intersection of South Compo Road, and Manhasset, New York (on Long Island). There were also stores in The Swifton Center Cincinnati, Ohio, in the Highland Plaza shopping center in Memphis, Tennessee; Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, New York; the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers, New York; Central Avenue in East Orange, New Jersey; and Livingston Mall, in Livingston, New Jersey. Founder Franklin Simon also operated a resort shop at Palm Beach, Florida, in 1932. Branch stores also operated in the Buffalo, New York, area. [9] Stores operated in the greater Cleveland area as well, on the West Side and at Shaker Square. When the chain closed in 1979, there were 42 stores. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. W. Woolworth Company</span> Retail company

The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ShopRite (United States)</span> Supermarket chain owned by Wakefern Corporation

ShopRite is a retailers' cooperative of supermarkets with stores in six states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Carson Pirie Scott & Co. is an American department store that was founded in 1854, which grew to over 50 locations, primarily in the Midwestern United States. Sold to the holding company of Bon-Ton in 2006, but still operated under the Carson name, the entire Bon-Ton collection of stores, including Carson's, went into bankruptcy and closed in 2018. Bon-Ton's intellectual property was quickly sold while in bankruptcy, and the new owners reopened shortly afterwards as a BrandX virtual retailer.

L. S. Ayres and Company was a department store based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and founded in 1872 by Lyman S. Ayres. Over the years its Indianapolis flagship store, which opened in 1905 and was later enlarged, became known for its women's fashions, the Tea Room, holiday events and displays, and the basement budget store. As urban populations shifted to the suburbs, Ayres established branch stores in new shopping centers in several Indiana cities. Ayres also acquired retail subsidiaries in Springfield, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Louisville, Kentucky. Ayr-Way, the Ayres discount store subsidiary, became the first discount store launched by a full-line department store. By the end of the 1960s Ayres had become a diversified merchandising business with retail department stores, a chain of discount stores, specialty clothing stores, a home furnishings showroom, and a real estate holding company. A long-time Ayres slogan, "That Ayres Look", promoted the company as a fashion leader, and by 1972 it had become the oldest continuous retail slogan in the United States.

Fortunoff is a New York-based retailer of outdoor furniture and jewelry.

The Famous-Barr Co. was a division of Macy's, Inc.. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Railway Exchange Building, it was the flagship store of The May Department Stores Company, which was acquired by Federated on August 30, 2005. On February 1, 2006, it was subsumed into the newly created Macy's Midwest division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Associated Dry Goods</span> American department store chain

Associated Dry Goods Corporation (ADG) was a chain of department stores that merged with May Department Stores in 1986. It was founded in 1916 as an association of independent stores called American Dry Goods, based in New York City.

Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928. In 1935 Hahn's was reorganized into Allied Stores.

Miller & Rhoads was a Virginia-based department store chain. Throughout its 105-year lifespan, the store played an active role in the Richmond, Virginia community, along with its friendly cross-street rival Thalhimers. The Richmond flagship location was known for its "SantaLand" upstairs attraction, which has since become an attraction at the Children’s Museum of Richmond. In 1987, Campeau purchased Miller & Rhoads and later sold it to Philadelphia developer Kevin Donohoe and store management before closing in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. Altman and Company</span> Department store in New York City

B. Altman and Company was a luxury department store and chain, founded in 1865 in New York City, New York, by Benjamin Altman. Its flagship store, the B. Altman and Company Building at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, operated from 1906 until the company closed the store at the end of 1989. Branch stores were all shuttered by the end of January 1990.

Herman Adolph Flürscheim was a pioneer dry goods merchant and art collector. He was one of the first merchants to move to Fifth Avenue.

Franklin Simon, was the owner of Franklin Simon & Co., a department store in Manhattan, New York City. The store was founded in February 1902, when Simon partnered with Herman A. Flurscheim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hahne and Company</span> United States historic place

Hahne & Company, commonly known as Hahne's, was a department store chain based in Newark, New Jersey. The chain had stores located throughout the central and northern areas of New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oppenheim Collins</span>

Oppenheim Collins was a major women's specialty clothing store, headquartered in New York City, New York.

Lion Store was a Toledo, Ohio department store chain. Mercantile Stores operated the chain from 1914 until its 1998 acquisition by Dillard's, which retired the Lion nameplate in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CSS Industries</span> Company that designs, manufactures, and distributes greeting cards and novelties

CSS Industries, Inc., was founded in 1923, as City Stores Company. Its headquarters is at 1845 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with showrooms in New York City, Memphis, Tennessee, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Hong Kong. The company designs, manufactures, and distributes seasonal and everyday greeting cards and novelties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bond Clothing Stores</span> Mens clothing company

Bond Clothing Stores, Bond Clothes, Bond Clothiers, or Bond Stores, was a men's clothing manufacturing company and retailer. The company catered to the middle-class consumer.

John A. Brown was an Oklahoma department store chain. It operated under that name from 1932, when its founder bought out its predecessor and renamed the chain for himself. After Mr. Brown died in 1940, his widow took over management until her own death in 1967, forcing a change in ownership. Dayton-Hudson, another retail company, continued operating the chain under the Brown name, until 1984, when Dayton-Hudson sold the Brown chain to Dillard's, another national chain, which combined all of the Brown stores under its own name. The flagship store on West Main Street was closed in 1974 and was subsequently razed as part of an urban renewal project. The project was supposed to result in a new shopping center known as the Galleria. However, the project was never completed, so the Brown chain never returned to downtown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Constable & Company</span>

Arnold Constable & Company was a department store chain in the New York City metropolitan area. At one point it was the oldest department store in America, operating for over 150 years from its founding in 1825 to its closing in 1975. At the company's peak, its flagship "Palace of Trade" in Manhattan – located at 881-887 Broadway at East 19th Street, through to 115 Fifth Avenue – was acknowledged to be the store which took the largest portion of the "carriage trade", in New York, serving the rich and elite of the city, such as the wives of Grover Cleveland, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt.

References

  1. Franklin Simon & Co., 2003 photograph of fading outdoor sign at 16 W. 38th Street, New York, with company history. (retrieved September 1, 2008).
  2. 1 2 3 CSS Industries, Inc. - Company history (retrieved Sep 1, 2008.
  3. "H.A. Flurscheim Dies". The New York Times . August 20, 1914. Pioneer Dry Goods Merchant and Art Collector Was 63 Years Old. Flurscheim wed Miss Bella Goldsmith, of this city, in 1876. She died four years ago leaving five children who now survive him. They are Mrs. Ansel Strauss, Mrs. Otto Loeb, Mrs. Harry Cowen and Bernard and Harry Flurscheim.
  4. "Franklin Simon". The New York Times. October 5, 1934. Against a great name in the mercantile history of New York 'the fatal asterisk of death is set.' The long and successful business career of Franklin Simon, from its humble beginnings up, was marked by keen intelligence, persistent enterprise and absolute integrity.
  5. "Storekeeping Atlas". Time . October 12, 1936. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  6. DoverPublications.com link for 1923 Franklin Simon catalog (retrieved Sep 1, 2008). Archived April 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Trager, James (2004) The New York Chronology: The Ultimate Compendium of Events, People, and Anecdotes from the Dutch to the Present, HarperCollins (p. 736). ISBN   978-0-06-074062-7
  8. "Fifth Avenue to Greenwich". Time. April 4, 1932. Archived from the original on September 8, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  9. Rizzo, Michael F. (2007) Nine Nine Eight: The Glory Days of Buffalo Shopping Lulu Enterprises, Inc.; Morrisville, North Carolina. ISBN   978-1-4303-1386-1.