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.
Bala Cynwyd is a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, US. It is located on the Main Line in southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at US Route 1. It was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but is commonly treated as a single community. This came about when a single US Post Office served both towns using ZIP code 19004. The community was long known as hyphenated Bala-Cynwyd. Bala and Cynwyd are currently served by separate stations on SEPTA's Cynwyd Line of Regional Rail.
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 Albert Taubman, 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 Center City became the occupant of the former Philadelphia Wanamaker's Department Store, which is now a National Historic Landmark.
Lord & Taylor was an American department store chain, which has now become an e-commerce retailer. It was America's oldest department store, staying in business from 1826 to 2021. At the time of its closure, the company maintained 38 stores and one outlet store. The flagship store at the Lord & Taylor Building on Fifth Avenue in New York City operated from 1914 until 2019.
Boscov's Inc. is a family-owned department store with 49 locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. 26 of these stores are located in Pennsylvania. The company chairman is Jim Boscov, who took over after his uncle Albert Boscov retired. Corporate headquarters are in Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, near the city of Reading.
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.
Dillard's, Inc., is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company also has stores in 27 more states; however, it is absent from the Northeast, most of the Upper Midwest, the Northwest, and most of California, aside from three stores in smaller cities.
Gottschalks was a middle-tier American department store that operated 58 department stores and three specialty apparel stores in six western states ; some locations ran as Harris-Gottschalks stores. Prior to liquidation, it was the largest independently owned, publicly traded department store chain in the United States. On January 14, 2009, Gottschalks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This bankruptcy became a liquidation on March 31, 2009. At least five prime locations became Macy's stores, while several more became Forever 21 stores.
Foley's was a chain of department stores owned by May Department Stores 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 Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and New Mexico. On September 9, 2006 Foley's and all the regional May Co. stores names were phased out and rebranded as Macy's.
Strawbridge's, formerly Strawbridge & Clothier, was a department store in the northeastern United States, with stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. In its day a gracious urban emporium, the Center City Philadelphia flagship store added branch stores starting in the 1930s, and together they enjoyed annual sales of over a billion dollars by their zenith in the 1980s. By the 1990s Strawbridge's found itself part of May Department Stores until that company's August 30, 2005, acquisition by Macy's Inc. May had operated it under its Arlington County, Virginia-based Hecht's division. Macy's announced March 10, 2006, that the flagship store in Philadelphia would be closed on June 1, but it actually shut its doors on May 23, 2006.
The Harris Company was a retail corporation, based in San Bernardino, California, that operated a chain of department stores named Harris', all in Southern California. Philip, Arthur, and Herman Harris - nephews of founder Leopold Harris of what was once the large Los Angeles-based chain Harris & Frank – started the company with a small dry goods store in 1905, and the company eventually grew to nine large department stores, with stores in San Bernardino, Riverside, and Kern Counties.
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.
Exton Square Mall is a shopping mall located in the Exton census-designated place, in West Whiteland Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The mall features a parking garage and food court. It is located at "the crossroads of Chester County" at the intersection of U.S. Route 30 Business and Pennsylvania Route 100. The mall is anchored by Macy's and Boscov's retail stores as well as a Round One Entertainment arcade and bowling center. It also contains dozens of smaller stores plus a food court.
Charming Shoppes is a specialty and plus size clothing retail holding company based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania; a suburb of Philadelphia. Its subsidiaries include Lane Bryant, Cacique, Fashion Bug, and Catherines Plus. Clothes were sold from over 2300 retail stores in the United States, as well as numerous catalogs and online sites. In 2012, the company and assets were acquired by Ascena Retail Group.
Moorestown Mall is a shopping mall in Moorestown, New Jersey, owned by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. The mall has over 90 stores and is anchored by Boscov's, Five Below, HomeSense, Michaels, Planet Fitness, and Sierra Trading Post.
The Christiana Mall is a super-regional shopping mall located between the cities of Newark and Wilmington, Delaware, United States. The mall is situated at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Delaware Route 1/Delaware Route 7, near the Cavaliers Country Club, and close to the center of the Northeast megalopolis.
Plymouth Meeting Mall is a 948,000 square feet (88,100 m2) shopping mall in the community of Plymouth Meeting in Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania, approximately 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Center City, Philadelphia. It is located at Germantown Pike and Hickory Road, near the Mid-County Interchange between the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276) and the Northeast Extension/Blue Route (I-476). The mall was built by The Rouse Company in 1966. The mall features a fountain and a carousel.
Montgomery Mall is a two-story shopping mall located in the community of Montgomeryville in Montgomery Township, Pennsylvania near the borough of North Wales. The mall, owned by Kohan Retail Investment Group, is located along Pennsylvania Route 309 at the intersection with U.S. Route 202 Business, amidst other commercial development. It contains over 90 stores and eateries and is anchored by Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney, Macy's, and Wegmans.
Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania with the headquarters of five Fortune 1000 companies located within city limits. As of 2019, the Philadelphia metropolitan area is estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $490 billion, an increase from the $445 billion calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2017, representing the eighth largest U.S. metropolitan economy. Philadelphia was rated by the GaWC as a 'Beta' city in its 2016 ranking of world cities.
Insomnia Cookies is a chain of bakeries in the United States that specializes in delivering warm cookies, baked goods, and ice cream. Based in New York and Philadelphia, it was started in 2003 by Seth Berkowitz, a student at the University of Pennsylvania. The company has more than 200 stores, located throughout the continental U.S. Many stores are located in close proximity to university campuses and cater to students who want to order cookies late at night.
