Jordan Marsh

Jordan Marsh
Industry	Retail
Founded	1841
Founders	Eben Dyer Jordan ; Benjamin L. Marsh;
Defunct	1996
Fate	Bankruptcy, acquired by Macy's
Successor	Macy's
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts ; Miami, Florida ;
Products	Clothing ; footwear ; bedding ; furniture ; jewelry ; beauty products ; housewares ;
Parent	Federated Department Stores

Last updated January 07, 2024

Jordan Marsh (officially Jordan Marsh & Company) was an American department store chain that was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. It was founded by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh in 1841. The ownership of Jordan Marsh was transferred between several holding companies during its operation, including Hahn Department Stores in 1928, Allied Stores in 1935, and Federated Department Stores in 1988. The brand was retired and most stores were converted into the New York City-based Macy's in 1996.

History

Beginnings

In 1841, Eben Dyer Jordan left his job at a Boston dry goods store and went into business for himself, laying the foundation for the first Jordan Marsh. Ten years later, Jordan partnered with Boston merchant Benjamin L. Marsh.

They began by selling linen, silk, and other dry goods from Europe to wholesale customers in and around the city.^[1] As the business grew, it moved from one location to another and in 1861 Jordan and Marsh decided to begin selling directly to the public. They acquired a brownstone building at 450 Washington Street, in the heart of what is still Boston's downtown shopping district. After the American Civil War, Jordan and Marsh expanded into nearby buildings, offering an increasing quantity and variety of goods. Eventually the partners had established the nation's first "departmentalized" store and called it Jordan Marsh and Company. During the second half of the 19th century, Eben Jordan's son, Jordan Jr., and a new partner named George Mitton took over the company, turning it into a modern department store.^[1]

Jordan Marsh and Company, in addition to establishing the first department store, introduced the concept of “department shopping.” Jordan Marsh combined an elegant atmosphere with excellent personal service and a wide range of merchandise. With many different departments displaying wares from around the world, the store drew shoppers from the city as well from the growing "streetcar suburbs." Once at the store, consumers could do more than just shop. Jordan Marsh offered fashion shows, a bakery famous for its blueberry muffins, art exhibitions, and even afternoon concerts.^[2]

Jordan Marsh also pioneered new services for shoppers not available in more traditional specialty shops. Most important, it offered credit, usually in the form of charge accounts. It introduced the customer-is-always right policy, and offered money-back guarantees. Jordan Marsh was always known for implementing new technology as well, one of the first stores to feature electrical lights, glass showcases, telephones, and elevators. It also installed pneumatic tubes that delivered cash and credit information to individual departments.^[2]

In 1935, Boston's Jordan Marsh became one of the founders of New York City-based Allied Stores Corporation, a successor to Hahn Department Stores, Inc., a holding company founded in 1928.

Expansion

After World War II, the management of Jordan Marsh announced that it would build a new store in downtown Boston. Jordan's five older buildings would give way to a new building that would take up a full city block. Covering an area larger than Harvard Stadium, it would have two stories under ground; another 14 would rise into the air. It would have all the latest technology, including air conditioning, automatic doorways, block-long show windows, and radiant-heated sidewalks.^[1] After the addition of the "new building" in 1949, the Jordan Marsh Complex was split into four distinct units; the 1949 new store, the original main store,annex, and bristol building. The Boston Redevelopment Authority estimated the complex's total retail space at 1,700,000 sq ft (160,000 m²), which made it the largest retail venue in Boston. At the same time, the company began moving, along with its customers, into the suburbs. Jordan's constructed its first branch stores in older suburban communities in the 1940s, but by 1966 the branch stores accounted for half of all department store sales.

The shopping mall Shopper's World opened in Framingham, Massachusetts on October 4, 1951, making it one of the earliest suburban shopping malls in the country. Jordan Marsh stood at the southern end as the sole anchor. It was the first mall-styled Jordan Marsh in the country and was unmistakable for its large white dome. The dome was visible from the air and was used on aeronautical charts as a visual reporting point for aircraft approaching Boston's Logan Airport. It was reputed to be the third largest (in diameter) unsupported dome in the world after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The Shopper's World store quickly became the most recognizable Jordan Marsh outside the flagship store in Boston.

In 1956, the first store in Miami, Florida was opened with slogans such as "Florida's high fashion department store" and "the store with the Florida flair". Later, it was divided into a separate division of Allied then the Jordan Marsh of Boston with headquarters in Miami. With newcomers heading into the state, the store lost focus and decided to downgrade in order to compete. Jordan Marsh also opened a San Diego branch around the same time, occupying the former Sears store downtown. The branch did not do nearly as well as the Florida branches and the failed store closed in 1958. The Florida stores were disbanded in 1991, with several being merged with Maas Brothers, which later became Burdines, now Macy's.

The main building of Boston's Jordan Marsh complex, an ornate brownstone edifice with a landmark corner clock tower designed by Nathaniel J. Bradlee in the 1860s, was torn down in 1975, along with its entire row of historic annex buildings. Local architect Leslie Larson founded a coalition called the City Conservation League to try to save the main building, which made way for a low modern brick structure that sits there today as Macy's. Some outraged customers cut up their credit cards in protest of the demolition. These protests and preservationist grassroots efforts led to the creation of the Boston Landmarks Commission.

In 1986, the Canadian Campeau Corporation acquired Allied Stores Corporation, which was reorganized under the merger agreement. In February 1987, Campeau merged D.M. Read Co. of Bridgeport, Connecticut, into Jordan Marsh, and merged Jordan Marsh Florida with Maas Brothers of Tampa, Florida, as the new Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh Florida division.

In 1988, Campeau Corporation acquired Federated Department Stores. To consolidate with Federated, Allied's New York headquarters moved to Cincinnati. Allied Stores: The Bon Marché, Jordan Marsh, Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh Florida and Stern's, operating in tandem with Federated: Bloomingdale's, Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Rich's, Goldsmith's, and Burdines.

Closing

In 1990, saddled by debt resulting from the highly leveraged Campeau takeover of Federated, both Federated and Allied filed for bankruptcy. Campeau Corp. U.S., Inc., was renamed Federated Stores, Inc. The operations of Jordan Marsh Florida and Maas Brothers were absorbed by Burdines in 1991.

In 1992, a new public company, Federated Department Stores, Inc., emerged in February. The former Allied Stores Corporation was merged into Federated. A consolidation of the A&S and Jordan Marsh divisions resulted in the A&S/Jordan Marsh division, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. In 1994, the A&S/Jordan Marsh division merged with Macy's East and the A&S stores were renamed Macy's in 1995. In 1996, Jordan Marsh stores in the Northeast U.S., already part of the Macy's East division, were converted to the Macy's nameplate.

Enchanted Village

From the 1940s until 1972—and again in the early 1990s—the Jordan Marsh flagship store in Boston's Downtown Crossing was home to the Enchanted Village, a lavish Christmas display which at its height took over an entire floor of the department store and was also spotlighted in its display windows. The centerpiece of the display, besides Santa, was an eight-set Lionel electric train display. From what started as a marketing gimmick, the Enchanted Village quickly became a legendary Boston tradition and an annual mainstay of the city's holiday season. Macy's discontinued the Enchanted Village in 1998 when it was moved to City Hall Plaza.^[3] More recently it has been housed in the Hynes Convention Center.

On June 16, 2009, the Enchanted Village, including all props and figures was sold at auction, as the City of Boston could no longer afford to be a major sponsor of the annual event.^[4] It was sold to Jordan's Furniture (which is a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and had no connection to the former Jordan Marsh), and is on display during the holiday season at the Avon, Massachusetts, location.

Related Research Articles

Macy's, Inc. is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito's. Bloomingdale's joined Federated Department Stores the next year. Throughout its early history, frequent acquisitions and divestitures saw the company operate a number of nameplates. In 1994, Federated took over the department store chain Macy's. Despite a long history of preserving regional nameplates, with the acquisition of The May Department Stores Company in 2005, they were retired and replaced by the Macy's and Bloomingdale's brands nationwide by 2006. Ultimately, Federated itself was renamed Macy's, Inc. in 2007.

Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It has been a sister brand to the Bloomingdale's department store chain since being acquired by holding company Federated Department Stores in 1994, which renamed itself Macy's, Inc. in 2007. It is the largest department store company by retail sales in the United States as of 2015.

Stern's was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chain was in business for more than 130 years.

Downtown Crossing is a shopping district within downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located east of Boston Common, west of the Financial District, south of Government Center, and north of Chinatown and the old Combat Zone. It features large department stores as well as restaurants, souvenir sellers, general retail establishments, and street vendors. The Downtown Crossing MBTA station lies in the center of the district.

Foley's was a regional chain of department stores owned by Federated Department Stores, later owned by May Department Stores (1988–2005) and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the division was dissolved and operation of the stores was assumed by Federated's Macy's West and Macy's South divisions. Foley's operated stores in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. On September 9, 2006 Foley's and all the regional May Co. stores names were phased out and rebranded as Macy's.

Burdines was an American chain of department stores operating in the state of Florida, headquartered in Miami. The original store opened in Bartow, Florida in 1896 as a carriage-trade shop. Over its nearly 110-year history, Burdines grew into a popular chain of department stores, known as 'The Florida Store,' decorated with palm trees in the center of the store, painted in pink and blue, and other subtropical colors and motifs. In 1956, the stores became a part of Federated Department Stores, Inc. On January 30, 2004, it was renamed Burdines-Macy's, and a year later, on March 6, 2005, the name Burdines was dropped altogether. The majority of the stores were rebranded as Macy's while a handful closed.

The Bon Marché, whose French name translates to "the good market" or "the good deal", was a department store chain launched in Seattle, Washington, United States, in 1890 by Josephine and Edward Nordhoff. The name was influenced by Le Bon Marché, the noted Parisian retailer.

Filene's was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-price sister store Filene's Basement in 1908. Filene's, in partnership with Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, and Shillito's, was an original member of the holding company Federated Department Stores upon its establishment in 1929.

University Mall, previously University Square Mall, is a shopping mall located near the University of South Florida, just north of the city limits of Tampa on Fowler Avenue. The property is located just east of I-275.

Maas Brothers was a leading Tampa, Florida department store founded by Abe and Isaac Maas in 1886 that grew from a small 23-by-90-foot store to a chain of 39 stores throughout the Gulf Coast of Florida. The Maas Brothers brand went defunct in 1991 when it was consolidated into the Burdines department store chain, which in turn merged with Macy's in 2005.

F&R Lazarus & Company was a regional department store with its retail chain operating primarily in the U.S. Midwest, and based in Columbus, Ohio. For over 150 years, Lazarus was influential in the American retail industry, particularly during the early 20th century as a founding partner in Federated Department Stores, and continued until the nameplate was retired on March 6, 2005, in favor of Macy's.

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.

Oglethorpe Mall is a super-regional shopping mall on the south side of Savannah, Georgia.

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.

Edward John DeBartolo Sr. was an American businessman. In 1971, his Ohio-based corporation was ranked as 47th among the nation's top 400 construction contractors. In 1983, DeBartolo was included on Forbes magazine's first Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.

Read's Department Stores was a Bridgeport, Connecticut-based retail chain founded in 1857 by D. M. Read. Known for its classy, upscale merchandise, the flagship store was once hailed as New England's largest department store. It expanded to several other locations in the 1950s and 1960s, but these closed progressively through the 1980s and 1990s.

Coastland Center is a shopping mall located in Naples, Florida. Opened in 1976, it features Macy's, JCPenney, and Dillard's as its anchors. It hosts a food court and many other specialty stores. The food court is the main attraction. The mall itself is situated on just one floor, but all of the anchor stores have two floors. In 2019 the former Sears got demolished and rebuilt to a new movie theater CMX CinéBistro and Uncle Julio’s opened in 2022 in the former Sears parking lot with Twin Peaks sport bar and restaurant in 2023.

Altamonte Mall is a super-regional shopping mall located in Altamonte Springs, Florida, United States, a suburb of Orlando. The mall features the traditional retailers JCPenney, Dillard's, and Macy's, in addition to an 18-screen AMC Theatres. The mall features prominent specialty retailers such as Apple Store, Volcom, Cotton On, Sephora, and White House Black Market.

Edison Mall is an enclosed, super-regional shopping mall in Fort Myers, Florida. The mall opened in 1965, and has been expanded three times since. Edison Mall is owned by Washington Prime Group, which took over the mall in 2014. The mall is named for inventor Thomas Edison, who owned a winter residence and laboratory in Fort Myers. The mall's anchors are Dillard's, JCPenney, and two Macy's stores, and also includes 133 stores and a lifestyle center section. The mall itself is situated on just one floor, but all of the anchor stores have two floors.

References

1 2 3 "Jordan Marsh Announces New Store". Mass Moment.
1 2 Benson, Susan Porter (1986). Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores . University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252060137.
↑ Viser, Matt (November 29, 2006). "Enchanted Village is a broken spell". Boston Globe .
↑ Filipov, David (June 16, 2009). "Magical memories up for bid: Auction could be salvation of Enchanted Village". Boston Globe . pp. A1, A12.

External links

42°21′19″N71°03′38″W / 42.355142°N 71.060462°W / 42.355142; -71.060462

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[massmoments.org-1] 1 2 3 "Jordan Marsh Announces New Store". Mass Moment.

[Counter_Cultures_1986-2] 1 2 Benson, Susan Porter (1986). Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores . University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252060137.

[3] Viser, Matt (November 29, 2006). "Enchanted Village is a broken spell". Boston Globe .

[4] Filipov, David (June 16, 2009). "Magical memories up for bid: Auction could be salvation of Enchanted Village". Boston Globe . pp. A1, A12.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]