A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and the definition of service and luxury. Similar developments were under way in London, in Paris and in New York City (Stewart's).
A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The machine combines flavored syrup or syrup concentrate and carbon dioxide with chilled and purified water to make soft drinks, either manually, or in a vending machine which is essentially an automated soda fountain that is operated using a soda gun. Today, the syrup often is pumped from a special container called a bag-in-box (BiB).
See's Candies is an American manufacturer and distributor of candy, particularly chocolates. It was founded by Charles See, his wife Florence, and his mother Mary in Los Angeles, California in 1921. The company is now headquartered in South San Francisco, California. See's kitchens are located at its headquarters and maintained at its original factory in Los Angeles, where there are also retail shops. It also has an office in Carson, California. The company has been owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation since 1972.
Gimbel Brothers was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the company moved its operations to the Gimbel Brothers Department Store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It became a chain when it opened a second, larger store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1894, moving its headquarters there. At the urging of future company president Bernard Gimbel, grandson of the founder, the company expanded to New York City in 1910.
Graeter's is a regional ice cream chain based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1870 by Louis C. Graeter, the company has since expanded to 56 retail locations selling ice cream, candy and baked goods in the Midwestern United States. It further distributes its ice cream to 6,000 stores throughout the country. As of 2017, the company had 1,050 employees and $60 million in revenue.
Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acquired by Marshall Field & Company in 1929. By 1980, the Frederick & Nelson chain had expanded to 10 stores in two states. The company went out of business in 1992. Its former Seattle flagship store building is now occupied by the flagship Nordstrom store.
Bonwit Teller & Co. was an American luxury department store in New York City, New York, founded by Paul Bonwit in 1895 at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street, and later a chain of department stores.
Henri Bendel, Inc., established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances, chocolate and gifts. Its New York City store was located at 10 West 57th street. In 1985, when purchased by Limited, the new owner moved the store to 712 Fifth Avenue.
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.
Sanders Chocolates is an American brand of chocolates that was founded by Fred Sanders on June 17, 1875. According to company history, by the mid-20th century, the company operated 57 retail stores in the Great Lakes region, featuring counter service offering candy, fudge toppings, baked goods, light lunches and an assortment of desserts. Sanders is known for its bumpy cake and hot fudge cream puffs.
Steve's Ice Cream was an ice cream brand which began as an ice-cream parlor chain owned by Steve Herrell. He opened his first establishment at 191 Elm Street in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1973. Known as the Original Steve's Ice Cream, the business introduced the concept of super-premium ice cream and customized ice cream desserts using the mix-in.
The Marbridge Building is an office building at 1328 Broadway, on the east side of Sixth Avenue between 34th and 35th Streets in Herald Square, Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1909, an 11-story structure, utilized in part by men's clothier Rogers Peet. Until October 1910 it stood opposite the Alpine apartment house, which was at the northeast corner of Broadway and 33rd Street. The Alpine and old stores between 33rd and 34th Streets were demolished to make room for the $5,000,000 Hotel McAlpin near the end of 1910. On the other side of Broadway were located the Macy's Herald Square and Saks Incorporated stores, with the Gimbels store just below.
The Ladies' Mile Historic District was a prime shopping district in Manhattan, New York City at the end of the 19th century, serving the well-to-do "carriage trade" of the city. It was designated in May 1989, by the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission to preserve an irregular district of 440 buildings on 28 blocks and parts of blocks, from roughly 15th Street to 24th Street and from Park Avenue South to west of the Avenue of the Americas. Community groups such as the Drive to Protect the Ladies' Mile District and the Historic Districts Council campaigned heavily for the status.
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.
Loft, Inc. was the world's largest maker and seller of candy in the 1920s. It manufactured its own products and distributed them throughout greater New York City and Newark, New Jersey. Happiness Candy Stores, Inc., was controlled by Loft, Inc. Loft, Inc., merged with PepsiCo following an agreement of merger filed in Wilmington, Delaware in June 1941. Loft Candy Corporation was shortly spun off, acquired by Philadelphia retail magnate Albert M. Greenfield's City Stores Company chain. Rapid expansion followed, with Loft's 2,100 employees making 350 products that were distributed over fifteen states along the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest.
Herrell's Ice Cream is a chain of ice cream stores located in Massachusetts and New York, featuring over 400 homemade flavors.
Gem Spa was a newspaper stand and candy store located on the corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It opened under another name in the 1920s, and was renamed in 1957. It was open 24 hours a day, and was known for being commonly considered to be the birthplace of the authentic New York City-style egg cream, which its awning described as "New York's Best."
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.
The Phelan Building is an 11-story office building located at 760 Market Street in the Financial District of San Francisco, California. It has a triangular shape, similar to the Flatiron Building in Manhattan, New York City, with its tip at the meeting point of Market Street, O’Farrell Street, and Grant Avenue. It is a San Francisco Designated Landmark.
Retail in Southern California dates back to its first dry goods store that Jonathan Temple opened in 1827 on Calle Principal, when Los Angeles was still a Mexican village. After the American conquest, as the pueblo grew into a small town surpassing 4,000 population in 1860, dry goods stores continued to open, including the forerunners of what would be local chains. Larger retailers moved progressively further south to the 1880s-1890s Central Business District, which was later razed to become the Civic Center. Starting in the mid-1890s, major stores moved ever southward, first onto Broadway around 3rd, then starting in 1905 to Broadway between 4th and 9th, then starting in 1915 westward onto West Seventh Street up to Figueroa. For half a century Broadway and Seventh streets together formed one of America's largest and busiest downtown shopping districts.
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