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Type | Private |
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Industry | Department store |
Founded | 1842Richmond, Virginia | in
Founder | William Thalhimer |
Defunct | February 1992 |
Fate | Merger with Hecht's |
Successors |
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Headquarters | Richmond, Virginia |
Area served | Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee |
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.
William Thalhimer immigrated to the Richmond area from Germany in the early 19th century. In 1842 he opened a dry good store which his grandson, William B. Thalhimer, transformed into Richmond's first department store. In 1978, the company, developed into a regional department store chain, was acquired by California-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores.
At one time, Carter Hawley Hale owned several notable department stores, including upscale Neiman-Marcus and John Wanamaker. After poor financial results throughout the 1980s, and saddled by the effects of leveraged debt from fending off two leveraged buyout attempts, in 1990, Carter Hawley Hale decided to concentrate on its West Coast department stores such as The Broadway, The Emporium, and Capwell's and sold Thalhimers to St. Louis-based May Company for US$325 million. [1]
The Winston-Salem, North Carolina store, housed in the Sosnik-Morris-Early Commercial Block, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. [2]
In February 1992, Thalhimers was merged into The Hecht Company (May's Washington, DC division), and nearly all locations were rebranded as Hecht's, excluding the two Charleston, SC stores and the Memphis, TN store which were sold to Dillard's, and the store at Lynnhaven Mall, which remained open as Thalhimers until May 1992. The Lynnhaven store became a second Hecht's location in November of that year. [3]
After Federated Department Stores acquired the May Company in 2005, in 2006 when Federated dissolved May's brands, while most of the Hecht's division became part of Macy's East, the Hecht's stores in much of the former Thalhimers territory became part of Macy's South along with the Macy's stores in Louisiana and most of the Foley's stores in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas (the latter excluding the El Paso area stores, which became part of Macy's West).
An addition to Thalhimers six-story flagship store at Seventh and Broad Streets was built in 1939. Its restaurant, the Richmond Room, was the source of many recipes still published today. The Richmond Room also had a fast food spin-off, the fried chicken chain Golden Skillet. For many years it and its main rival, Miller & Rhoads, were the fashionable retail anchors for downtown Richmond.
On February 22, 1960, a group of students from Virginia Union University, called the Richmond 34, staged a protest against racial segregation at the Richmond Room. All 34 protesters were arrested, the city's first mass arrests of the Civil Rights Movement. The case of Raymond B. Randolph, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1961) would test whether trespassing laws constituted a violation of free speech.
Along with several other Thalhimers locations, the downtown flagship closed on January 22, 1992, after purchase by the May Company. It had been the last major department store in the once-bustling retail corridor; Miller & Rhoads had closed in January 1990. The building remained vacant until it was demolished on June 12, 2004, to make way for a performing arts center.
The department store's history, along with the history of the Thalhimer family, has been chronicled in the 2010 book Finding Thalhimers by Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt, the great-great-great-granddaughter of founder William Thalhimer.
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.
Broadway Stores, Inc., was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home base and became in certain retail sectors a regional and national retailer in the 1970s and 1980s. The company was able to survive takeover attempts in 1984 and 1986, and also a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 1991 by selling off most of its assets until August 1995 when its banks refused to advance enough additional credit in order for the company to be able to pay off suppliers. At that point, the company sold itself to Federated Department Stores for $1.6 billion with the acquisition being completed on October 12, 1995.
John Wanamaker Department Store was one of the first department stores in the United States. Founded by John Wanamaker in Philadelphia, it was influential in the development of the retail industry including as the first store to use price tags. At its zenith in the early 20th century, Wanamaker's also had a store in New York City at Broadway and Ninth Street. Both employed extremely large staffs. By the end of the 20th century, there were 16 Wanamaker's outlets, but after years of change, the chain was bought by A. Alfred Taubman in late 1986, and added to his previous purchase of Woodward & Lothrop, the Washington, D.C., department store. In 1994, Woodies, as it was known, filed for bankruptcy. The assets of Woodies were purchased by the May Company Department Stores and JCPenney. In 1995, Wanamaker's transitioned to Hecht's, one of the May Company brands. In 2006, Macy's opened in the former Philadelphia Wanamaker's Department Store, now called Macy's Center City. The building is a National Historic Landmark.
Carolina Place is a shopping mall located in Pineville, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. The 1,200,000-square-foot (110,000 m2) GLA mall, in the shape of a curve, is anchored by Belk, a Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy combo store, Dillard's, and JCPenney.
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.
Four Seasons Town Centre is a three-story shopping mall in Greensboro, North Carolina. Opened in 1974, it was the first enclosed shopping center in Greensboro. Currently it is anchored by Dillard's and JCPenney and it is the only indoor shopping mall within Greensboro's city limits; however, nearby Friendly Center, an outdoor shopping plaza, has many of the same tenants. It is managed by Brookfield Properties. The shopping mall is located at the I-40 interchange with Gate City Boulevard, southwest of downtown.
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.
Meier & Frank was a prominent chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, United States, and later bought by The May Department Stores Company. Meier & Frank operated in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006.
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.
Northgate Mall was a regional shopping mall located off Interstate 85 and Gregson Street in northern Durham, North Carolina, United States. The mall is in close proximity to Duke University and downtown Durham, between the Trinity Park and Walltown neighborhoods.
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.
Macy's Central, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a division of Macy's, Inc. It has stores in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The divisional flagship store is located at Lenox Square in Atlanta.
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. In 1987, Campeau purchased Miller & Rhoads and later sold it to Philadelphia developer Kevin Donohoe and store management before closing in 1990.
Citadel Mall is a regional 1,138,527 square feet (105,773 m2) shopping mall located in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It opened on July 29, 1981 and is located at the intersection of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and I-526. The mall features more than 100 stores. On September 1, 2013 the mall went into foreclosure after then owner CBL & Associates Properties defaulted on mortgage payments and it was purchased at auction by the lender in January 2014. After the auction, the mall was placed under the ownership of a holding company formed by the lender, 2070 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard Holdings LLC and as of January 2017 was under contract to be sold to an undisclosed buyer. The anchor stores are Target, Belk, Dillard's, Mixed Bag Productions, and Medical University of South Carolina.
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.
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.
Weinstock's, originally Weinstock, Lubin, and Co., was an American department store chain headquartered in Sacramento, California. It was founded by Harris Weinstock and his half-brother, David Lubin. The chain was purchased by Hale's in 1949, becoming part of Broadway-Hale Stores, later Carter Hawley Hale. In 1978, Weinstock's expanded into Utah by rebranding its sister chain The Broadway's location at Fashion Place in Murray into that name, with two stores later in Ogden and Salt Lake City. In 1991, Weinstock's operations were later assumed by its other sister chain The Emporium. In 1993, Weinstock's closed its three Utah stores, eventually bringing Dillard's to Utah for the first time with its first store in Murray's former location. The chain was later purchased by Federated Department Stores in 1995, resulting in most of the Weinstock's stores to be converted to Macy's. Some of the remaining stores were either closed or sold, with two of them to Gottschalks, at Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto and Fashion Fair in Fresno. This also brought Dillard's to California for the first time with its new store built on the former Weinstock's site at Weberstown Mall in Stockton.
River Ridge Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Lynchburg, Virginia. Opened in 1980, the mall features JCPenney, Belk, Dick's Sporting Goods, TJ Maxx, and Regal Cinemas as its primary anchors, with Jo-Ann Fabrics, HomeGoods, and Planet Fitness serving as secondary anchors. Three restaurant outparcels include Red Lobster, Taco Bell, and a local restaurant named Shakers, with a fourth outparcel being Salem, Virginia-based Kemba Roanoke Federal Credit Union. A Residence Inn by Marriott is the mall's first on-site hotel.