Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and The Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland.
Hecht's was founded and was operated for over a century (1857–1959) as a family firm. It was purchased in 1959 by The May Department Stores Company which in turn, was acquired by Federated Department Stores on August 30, 2005. On February 1, 2006, Federated dissolved the former May Company divisions, and the existing Hecht's stores were divided between Macy's East and Macy's South, with stores in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Northern Virginia going to the former and stores in North Carolina, Tennessee, and the rest of Virginia (roughly much of the former Thalhimers territory) going to the latter. The replacement Hecht's store in Chevy Chase, Maryland, took the Bloomingdale's name.[citation needed] On September 9, 2006, the Hecht's name was phased out in favor of the nationally known Macy's.
The Hecht Company was founded in 1857 by Sam Hecht, Jr. The Hecht family was Jewish and came from the little village of Langenschwarz (now part of Burghaun), Kreis Hünfeld, Hesse, Germany where Sam was born on December 10, 1830. His father Meyer (a.k.a. Meier or Maier) Hecht was a cattle dealer or driver who was drowned in Langenschwarz on June 12, 1835. Meyer's parents were Anschel (a.k.a. Anshil or Asher) Hecht who was a fur dealer and Güta (a.k.a. Giet) née Goldschmidt who was born in Bellersheim, Kreis Hungen, Hesse, Germany.
Sam's older brother Simeon arrived in America on the ship Agnes on September 2, 1844, listed as Sam Hecht, age 21. Meyer's widow Hannah or Hanne Miriam (née Bachrach) was probably born in Hesse, Germany in 1789 or 1790. She left Germany with Sam and his brother Reuben and immigrated to the United States; they arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 15, 1847, on the ship Schiller.
Sam's brothers Jacob, Moses and Raphael (a.k.a. Vogel) and sister Adelheid (a.k.a. Ettel or Edel) had arrived in Baltimore on the ship Albert on July 31, 1845, which departed from Bremen, Germany. There may have been another brother Ansel (a.k.a. Asher Ralph) who immigrated to Baltimore but he has not been found on any passenger lists. Asher Ralph appears in Baltimore city directories between 1844–1858; Ansel appears in New York City directories from 1858.
Sam Hecht, Jr. became an itinerant peddler selling his goods in and around Baltimore and on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. After a decade of itinerant peddling, he settled down and started what would become the Hecht stores. On Jan 5, 1854, Sam married Babette Wolfsheimer in Baltimore.
By 1870 this venture had moved to a more auspicious location at 519 South Broadway where the name 'HECHT'S RELIABLE STORES' could be seen carved in foot-high letters into the granite cornice above the third floor (now demolished). Clothing was added to the lineup in 1879 under the name of Hecht's Reliable.[1] Shortly thereafter a carpet and matting establishment was opened in Baltimore at 310 West Lexington Street.
Over the front of the new store on Lexington Street was a sign reading 'Samuel Hecht, Jr. & Sons,' reflecting the development of the firm as a family enterprise. Four of Samuel's sons eventually joined him in business. They were, in order of age: Emanuel (Manny), Albert S., Alexander (Alex), and Moses (Mose) S. Hecht.
Emanuel Hecht joined his father in business in 1880. In 1886, he and his brother Albert were listed as partners with their father. Alex and Mose came into the firm later and contributed to its success. Samuel Hecht., Jr. died on February 7, 1907, in Baltimore. His sons, and later his grandsons, carried on the business.
The growth of the firm continued in Baltimore with the opening of the Hecht Brothers store on Baltimore and Pine streets in 1885, the Hub store in Baltimore in 1897, and Hecht Brothers at Howard and Franklin streets in 1926. Hecht stores were also established in New York City and Easton, Maryland. There was also a branch in Annapolis, Maryland. However, the most important move was into Washington, D.C.
Washington stores
Former Hecht's department store located at 7th and F Streets NW in Washington, D.C. from 1924 to the 1980s.
The Hechts opened a store in Washington on March 20, 1896, which moved to a grand glass and marble store at the corner of 7th and F Streets Northwest, in Washington, D.C.'s downtown shopping district, in November 1925. Alexander Hecht directed the Washington part of the business for the family.[2]
Hecht's was the first store in Washington to offer national brands. It also boasted the first parking garage and first elevator. Its relatively open policies made it popular among African-Americans as well as the white populace.[3]
A tour of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings, intended to rally support for the Allied cause in World War II and the purchase of war bonds, premiered at the store in 1943.[4]
In July 1951, a mixed race group began to picket outside the store, protesting racial segregation in the store's cafeteria. The offending policy was changed in January of the following year.[5]
Hecht's moved its flagship store to a new building in downtown Washington in 1985.[6] The former Hecht Company main building, now across from the Capital One Arena, was extensively renovated and reopened in 2003 as Terrell Place, honoring Mary Church Terrell's role in desegregating that and other public accommodations in Washington.[3]
Hecht's operated the last local department store in downtown Washington, in a structure at the corner of 12th and G Streets NW built in 1985 and renovated in 2003. Converted to a Macy's location in September 2006, the building has a direct entrance to the Metro Center station of the Washington Metro.[6]
Into the suburbs
After World War II, Hecht Company began to build new stores in the suburbs around Baltimore and Washington. Outside the center of Baltimore, Hecht's opened a store in Northwood in September 1954, followed by another in Edmondson Village in October 1956, and a third in the then-new Reisterstown Road Plaza in January 1962.
In 1947, they opened a large three-story department store in Silver Spring, Maryland, just north of Washington, D.C. The wisdom of this move was initially questioned; however, within a few years, more room was needed, and a fourth story was added to the building. That store was closed in 1987 and was converted and expanded into City Place Mall, which opened in 1992 and which is now known as Ellsworth Place. The second suburban store opened on November 2, 1951, at Parkington in Arlington County, Virginia. It cost $6.5 million to construct the 300,000-square-foot (28,000m2) store and it was the largest suburban department store on the east coast at that time.[7] On November 2, 1958, Maryland Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin ceremonially opened the third suburban D.C. Hecht Company store at Prince George's Plaza in Hyattsville.[8] Gov. J. Millard Tawes did the honors on August 29, 1960, when he opened the fourth suburban D.C. location, the 168,000-square-foot (15,600m2) store at Marlow Heights Shopping Center.[9]
May Company
The Hecht chain was acquired by the May Company in 1959. At this time, the historic 1924 Bernheim-Leader store on the corner of Howard and Lexington Streets in Baltimore was renamed Hecht's, becoming its flagship store in the Baltimore area. It closed in 1988, one of the last department stores to remain in the downtown district. In 1998, it was declared a city landmark, and has since been renovated into apartments owned by Southern Management.[10][11][12]
Many other stores acquired later were also rebranded as Hecht's. In 1990, Hecht's acquired four Miller & Rhoads stores in Virginia.[13] That same year, the May company acquired the Thalhimers chain from Carter Hawley Hale Stores.[13] The following year it was announced that the Thalhimers stores would be folded under the Hecht's name.[14] When May took over ten Hess's stores, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, three of them re-opened as Hecht's and the others were operated by corporate siblings Kaufmann's and Filene's. Hecht's acquired Wanamaker's, based in Philadelphia, and Woodward & Lothrop, based in Washington, D.C., taking over 17 stores acquired in 1995 in joint acquisition with JCPenney. Fourteen stores were consolidated the same year. Thirteen of Strawbridge and Clothier's stores, based in the Philadelphia area, were acquired in 1996. Following the acquisition, S&C was renamed Strawbridge's. Their management consolidated with Hecht's the same year, but the Strawbridge name was retained and expanded to all the Philadelphia locations.
In the Nashville area, Hecht's took over selected former Castner Knott stores, which had been purchased from East Tennessee–based Proffitt's in 2001. Proffitt's previously acquired them as a result of the Mercantile Stores/Dillard's merger in 1998, and briefly rebranded them as Proffitt's locations.
The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many changes in the retail industry, the company merged with Federated Department Stores in 2005.
Wanamaker's, originally known as John Wanamaker Department Store, was one of the first department stores in the United States. Founded by John Wanamaker in Philadelphia in 1861, it was influential in the development of the retail industry including as the first store to use price tags.
Thalhimers was a department store chain in the Southern United States. Based in Richmond, Virginia, the chain at its peak operated dozens of stores in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and one store in Memphis, Tennessee. Thalhimer's traditions were most notable during the holiday season with visits from the sticker-distributing Snow Bear and, in later years, the arrival of Lego Land at the downtown Richmond store.
The Oxford Valley Mall is a two-story shopping mall, managed and 85.5 percent-owned by the Simon Property Group, that is located next to the Sesame Place amusement park near Langhorne in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Its department stores are JCPenney and Macy's.
Strawbridge's, formerly Strawbridge & Clothier, was a department store in the northeastern United States, with stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The Center City Philadelphia flagship store was, in its day, a gracious urban emporium. The retailer started adding branch stores starting in the 1930s and, by their zenith in the 1980s, enjoyed annual sales of over a billion dollars By the 1990s, Strawbridge's became part of the May Department Stores conglomerate until May's acquisition by Federated Department Stores on August 30, 2005.
Northgate Mall was a regional shopping mall located off Interstate 85 and Gregson Street in northern Durham, North Carolina, United States. The mall was in close proximity to Duke University and downtown Durham, between the Trinity Park and Walltown neighborhoods.
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. Following a series of ownership changes starting in 1967, Campeau Corporation purchased Miller & Rhoads in 1987 and later sold it to Philadelphia developer Kevin Donohoe and store management before closing in 1990.
The Mall at Prince George's, formerly known as Prince George's Plaza, is an enclosed regional shopping mall located in Hyattsville, Maryland, at the intersection of Belcrest Road and East-West Highway. It is served by a Washington Metro station, Hyattsville Crossing. This station is on the Green Line. Located across Belcrest Road from the Mall is the University Town Center mixed-use development.
Garfinckel's was a prominent department store chain based in Washington, D.C. that catered to a clientele of wealthy consumers. Its flagship store at 14th and F in the city's F Street shopping district is listed on the National Register. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 1990 and ceased operations that year.
Deptford Mall is a major shopping mall in Deptford Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey. Owned and managed by Macerich, it is the county's only indoor regional shopping center.
The Mall in Columbia, also known as the Columbia Mall, is the central shopping mall for the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, United States. It has over 200 specialty stores and the anchor stores are AMC Theatres, Lidl, Main Event Entertainment, Barnes & Noble, JCPenney, Macy's, and Nordstrom. Restaurants include PF Chang's, Maggiano's Little Italy and The Cheesecake Factory. It is located in the Town Center area of the city and attracts shoppers from surrounding counties in Maryland.
Springfield Mall is a 589,000-square-foot (54,700 m2) regional shopping mall located approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Philadelphia in Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located just off Interstate 476 along Baltimore Pike, near its busy intersection with Pennsylvania Route 320. It is serviced by a number of SEPTA bus lines as well as the mass transit system's light rail Media–Sharon Hill Line at the Springfield Mall station, a rarity for suburban Philadelphia shopping malls, many of which are served solely by bus routes.
Lynnhaven Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. It opened in August 1981. At 1,170,000 square feet (109,000 m2) of gross leasable area, it is the largest mall in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of southeastern Virginia and one of the largest malls on the East Coast. The mall contains more than 180 stores, including Dillard's, JCPenney, and Macy's as main anchor stores. Other stores and junior anchors at the mall include Apple, Barnes & Noble, Dick's Sporting Goods, L.L. Bean, XXI Forever, H&M, and Old Navy. Dave & Busters is also a recent addition to the mall and region. An 18 screen AMC Theatres complex anchors an open-air pedestrian plaza. The mall is managed by Brookfield Properties of Chicago, Illinois.
Westfield Montgomery is a shopping mall in Bethesda, Maryland. Major tenants include Macy's, Macy's Home, and Nordstrom, as well as specialty brands such as Fabletics, Madewell, Vineyard Vines, and Untuckit.
Christiana Mall is a shopping mall located in Christiana, Delaware between the cities of Newark and Wilmington. The one-level, enclosed super-regional mall is situated at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Delaware Route 1/Delaware Route 7 near the center of the Northeast megalopolis.
Peninsula Town Center is an open air mixed-use development located in the Coliseum Central Business improvement district of Hampton, Virginia in the Hampton Roads region. The Town Center is located on the site of the original Coliseum Mall, an enclosed facility constructed in 1973 by Mall Properties Inc. of New York, its only owner. At 991,000-square feet, Peninsula Town Center is the largest redevelopment project in Hampton's history. Mall Properties has teamed with Steiner + Associates, which developed Easton Town Center in Columbus; Zona Rosa in Kansas City; The Greene Town Center near Dayton; and Bayshore Town Center near Milwaukee to create Peninsula Town Center.
Ballston Quarter is one of the first major suburban shopping centers built in the Washington metropolitan area. It opened in 1951 as Parkington Shopping Center and was the nation's first shopping center built around a multi-story parking garage. It is located at the intersection of Glebe Road and Wilson Boulevard in the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia, two blocks from Ballston–MU station on the Washington Metro's Orange and Silver lines. It was remodeled as Ballston Common Mall in 1986 and again in 2019 as Ballston Quarter.
Regency Mall is an enclosed shopping mall outside of Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County, Virginia, United States. Opened in 1975 as Regency Square, the mall features a food court and more than 60 tenants, currently with no anchors. Macy's, which had two locations at Regency Square, closed in spring 2016, Sears closed in summer 2017, and JCPenney closed in fall 2020. Forever 21 closed in early 2020 as part of that brand's restructuring plan.
The Harford Mall is a shopping mall owned by CBL & Associates Properties that is located near the junction of Maryland Route 24 and U.S. Route 1, about 32 miles (51 km) north of Baltimore, in Bel Air, Maryland, United States. Its anchor is Macy's. It is the only shopping mall in Harford County, Maryland. The mall was built on the previous site of the Bel Air Racetrack.
↑ "Romances of Washington Stores: The Hecht Company First Hecht Store Opened in Capital Only 29 Years Ago". The Washington Post. November 8, 1925. p.F11.
Longstreth, Richard W. "The mixed blessings of success: the Hecht Company and department store branch development after World War II," in Hudgins, Carter L. and Cromley, Elizabeth Collins eds., Shaping Communities: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, VI: University of Tennessee Press (Knoxville). Originally a 1995 monograph published by the Center for Washington Area Studies at George Washington University.
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