Oppenheim Collins

Last updated
Oppenheim Collins & Company, Inc.
Industry Retail
Founded1871 [1]
Defunct1979 (closing of stores);
1961 (name retired and folded into other divisions);
1945 (takeover by City Stores)
FateBankruptcy
Headquarters35 W 34th St, New York, New York
Key people
Albert D. Oppenheim, Charles J. Oppenheim, founders, and Isaac D. Levy
ProductsFashion apparel, shoes, accessories, and cosmetics.
Parent City Stores Company

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

Contents

History

Founding

Oppenheim Collins & Company, Inc. was founded by Albert D. Oppenheim and Charles J. Oppenheim, and was later joined by Isaac D. Levy. [2] Their first store was opened in 1901 in downtown New York City. [3]

Branch stores

In 1905, a branch store opened at 534 Main Street, in Buffalo, New York. [4] The store expanded to include the Miss Vincent's Tea Room and was remodeled in 1935 and in 1951.

By 1915, the firm had stores in five cities, including New York City (Brooklyn and Manhattan), Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Newark. The flagship was the 34th Street store in Manhattan. [5]

In 1922 there were seven stores. The branch on Fulton Street, Brooklyn, was expanded to (100,000 square feet (9,300 m2)), making it the largest branch of the seven stores at that time. It occupied the full block from Bridge Street to Lawrence Street. Despite its size, Oppenheim, Collins clarified that it was not a department store, but a women’s specialty store. [6] [7]

In 1956, a suburban Buffalo location opened at Thruway Plaza in Cheektowaga, New York. The "Top of the Town" restaurant operated out of the Downtown Buffalo store. The Buffalo area stores closed in 1979, along with others in the Franklin Simon & Co. chain with the bankruptcy of City Stores. Later expansion in the 1950s, led to the first store outside of New York. In 1958, Oppenheim Collins opened a location in the new Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

Unionization

In 1944, Local 1250 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, CIO won a new contract with Oppenheim Collins that included a closed shop, a $2.00 pay increase, and elimination of "free" overtime work during peak sales and inventory periods. [8]

In 1948, Oppenheim Collins employees, represented by Local 1250 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, CIO, struck against the company. [9]

City stores

A majority interest in Oppenheim Collins was purchased by City Stores Company in 1945. In the 1950s, the store was merged with Franklin Simon & Co. although the two stores operated for several years under their original trade names. [7] The Oppenheim Collins stores were finally renamed Franklin Simon & Co. in 1961. [7] [10] The parent company went bankrupt in 1979, and all the Franklin stores closed (including former Oppenheim stores). [7]

Presidents

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department store</span> Retail establishment; building that offers a wide range of consumer goods

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holt Renfrew</span> Canadian department store

Holt, Renfrew & Co., Limited is a Canadian luxury department store chain founded in 1837 by William S. Henderson. The original William Ashton & Co. store in Quebec City, Lower Canada operated as a fur shop. The company serviced the greater North American and European markets with its mail order catalog beginning in the late 1800s, and was appointed Furriers in Ordinary to several members of the British royal family from 1886 to 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulton Street (Brooklyn)</span> Street in Brooklyn, New York

Fulton Street is a long east–west street in northern Brooklyn, New York City. This street begins at the intersection of Adams Street and Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights, and runs eastward to East New York and Cypress Hills. At the border with Queens, Fulton Street becomes 91st Avenue, which ends at 84th Street in Woodhaven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gimbels</span> Defunct American department store

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brentano's</span> American bookstore chain

Brentano's was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonwit Teller</span> Defunct American luxury department 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham & Straus</span> Former New York City department store

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.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AM&A's</span>

Adam, Meldrum & Anderson Company (AM&A's) was a chain of department stores based in Buffalo, New York. It was an institution to generations of shoppers in the Buffalo area. The company remained family owned until its sale to The Bon-Ton in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">57th Street (Manhattan)</span> West-east street in Manhattan, New York

57th Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan, one of the major two-way, east-west streets in the borough's grid. As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided into its east and west sections at Fifth Avenue. The street runs from a small park overlooking the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in the west. 57th Street runs through the neighborhoods of Sutton Place, Midtown Manhattan, and Hell's Kitchen from east to west.

Lesso Home New York is a planned mixed-use development center located in Westbury, New York, on Old Country Road and Merchants Concourse, currently owned by Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. The center is being built inside the mostly unoccupied Mall at the Source, which was named for its former anchor store Fortunoff operated until June 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin Simon & Co.</span>

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. When the chain closed in 1979, there were 42 stores.

Isaac D. Levy was a co-founder of Oppenheim Collins & Company, Inc., a ladies' skirt manufacturer and, later, department store in Manhattan. The store was founded before 1890 and was located on 34th Street W.

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

Sakowitz was a men's clothing store which grew into a small chain of family-owned high-end department stores based in Houston, Texas. It operated from 1902 until 1990. Sakowitz was responsible for launching many of the now-famous European fashion designers in America - among them Andre' Courreges, Yves St. Laurent Rive Gauche, Zandra Rhoades, Givenchy, and Erminegildo Zegna. The Sakowitz catalogues were mailed to all fifty states and abroad.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Point (Brooklyn)</span> Mixed-use development in Brooklyn, New York

City Point is a mixed-use multi-building residential and commercial complex in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. City Point is, by square footage, the largest mixed-use development in the city. City Point III, standing at 720 feet in height, is currently the second tallest building in Brooklyn as well as the fourth tallest on Long Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offerman Building</span> Building in Brooklyn, New York

The Offerman Building is a historic building at 503–513 Fulton Street in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Danish architect Peter J. Lauritzen in a Romanesque Revival style, the eight-story building was built between 1890 and 1892 as a commercial structure, housing the S. Wechsler & Brother department store. Although the lower stories remain in commercial use, the upper stories were converted into a 121-unit residential complex in the 2010s. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

  1. H. Wilson, compiler, Trow's New York City Directory (New York: John F. Trow, 1872), 881.
  2. New York Times, "Albert D. Oppenheim Dead," December 9, 1914, p. 13.
  3. Unsourced newspaper clipping: City Stores Co. $2,000,000 Deal is Completed.
  4. 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.
  5. "Oppenheim, Collins & Co (AD)". The New York Times. 1915-06-13. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  6. "Oppenheim Collins Brooklyn". The Standard Union. January 1922. p. 15.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Building of the Day: 471-479 Fulton Street | Brownstoner". www.brownstoner.com. 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  8. Department Store Employee, January 28, 1944, Local 1250 Wins New Contract At OC.
  9. Jean Maddern Pitrone (January 2003). F. W. Woolworth and the American Five and Dime: A Social History. ISBN   9780786414338.
  10. New York Times, "Oppenheim Collins Is Merging Into the Franklin Simon Chain; Retailing Chains in Consolidation," December 20, 1961, pg.47.
  11. New York Times, "Bolger Heads Store," October 3, 1934, p. 30.
  12. New York Times, "Kinz to Resign Store Post," October 20, 1945, p. 26.
  13. New York Times, "Get High Posts With Oppenheim Collins," June 26, 1947, p. 33.
  14. New York Times, "Elected to Presidency Of Oppenheim, Collins," October 19, 1949, p. 45.