John Wanamaker was an American merchant and religious, civic and political figure, considered by some to be a proponent of advertising and a "pioneer in marketing". He served as United States Postmaster General in the Benjamin Harrison administration from 1889 to 1893.
Marshall Field & Company was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its founder, Marshall Field, was a pioneering retail magnate.
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.
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.
Campbeltown single malts are single malt Scotch whiskies distilled in the burgh of Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. Once a major producer of whisky with as many as 30 distilleries, and claiming the title "whisky capital of the world", its production has markedly declined. Most of the distilleries have gone out of business and little trace of them remains. The reason for this decline was that the town was "churning out whisky in volume ... with little concern for quality", according to a 2018 book that covers the entire industry and its history.
House of Fraser and Frasers are a British department store chain with 25 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it was known as Fraser & Sons. The company grew steadily during the early 20th century and in 1936 began a period of growth through acquisition which would continue for over forty years. House of Fraser Ltd was incorporated in 1941 and first listed on the London Stock Exchange six years later.
G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) is the oldest and one of the largest private investment banks in the United States. In 1931, the merger of Brown Brothers & Co. and Harriman Brothers & Co. formed the current BBH.
Charles Dennis Barney was an American stockbroker and founder of Charles D. Barney & Co., one of the predecessors of the brokerage and securities firm Smith Barney.
Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company, it eliminated the A&S brand. Most A&S stores took the Macy's name, although a few became part of Stern's, another Federated division, but one that offered lower-end goods than Macy's or A&S did.
The Joseph Horne Company, often referred to simply as Joseph Horne's or Horne's, was an American department store chain based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The store was one of the oldest in the country being founded on February 22, 1849, but was often overlooked as it maintained only a regional presence. The chain ceased operations in 1994 after being merged with the Lazarus division of Federated Department Stores.
The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, commonly referred to as Penn Mutual, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1847. It was the seventh mutual life insurance company chartered in the United States. As of 2019, it had 3,140 employees, $3.7 billion in revenue, and $36.7 billion in assets.
Shreve, Crump & Low, a Boston, Massachusetts business, is the oldest purveyor of luxury goods in North America, responsible for trophies such as the Davis Cup and the Cy Young Award.
Chappell & Co. was an English company that published music and manufactured pianos. Founded by pianist Samuel Chappell, the company was one of the leading music publishers and piano manufacturers in Britain until 1980 when Chappell sold its retail activities to concentrate solely on music publishing.
Bailey Banks & Biddle was a retailer of jewelry and designer of US medals that was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1832.
The Crozer Building is a historic building at 1420–1422 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built as the headquarters of the American Baptist Publication Society, and is sometimes called the American Baptist Publication Society building.
The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the first theater in the United States built by entrepreneurs solely as a venue for paying audiences.
James Emott Caldwell was an American jeweler who founded J.E. Caldwell & Co. in 1839. While best known as a major fine jewelry institution of Philadelphia, over the years since its inception, the firm has also been known for its silver, china, crystal, and even stationery.
Fidelity Trust Company was a bank in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1866 as Fidelity Insurance, Trust, & Safe Deposit Company, the bank was later renamed Fidelity Trust Company, Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company, The Fidelity Bank, and Fidelity Bank, National Association. It was absorbed in 1988 in the biggest U.S. bank merger up to that point, and is today part of Wells Fargo.
Compton House is a grade II listed department store building located on Church Street in Liverpool, England. The building is noted as being one of the first purpose built department stores in Europe. As of today, it forms part of Liverpool's biggest retail areas centred around Church Street.
