How Chain Department Stores First Started

Department stores revolutionized the way people shopped.

Jan Whitaker, author of "Service and Style: How the American Department Store Fashioned the Middle Class," stated department stores were the 20th century landmarks of urban life. They also were the landmark of rural America and served to tie the country together. The fact that women from Boston to Boise could purchase the same dress changed the way Americans shopped.

Macy's Department Store

Macy's opened in lower Manhattan in the mid-1800s. "The New York Times" declared in 1878 that you could buy anything at Macy's. By 1902, Macy's had moved into its current flagship location on Herald Square in Manhattan. Macy's began opening smaller versions of the store around the New York City area. During the 1920s it began buying other department stores, including Davison's in Atlanta. It continued buying other department stores until Macy's was purchased by Federated Department Stores in 1994.

Sears, Roebuck and Co.

The Sears company began in 1888 as a mail order company in Chicago. The first retail store opened in the Sears Tower in Chicago in 1925. That same year another store was opened in Indiana. Sears began buying other department stores and opening their own stores across the country.

Montgomery Ward

Montgomery Ward also started as a catalog business based in Chicago. Their first catalog was published in 1872. The first Montgomery Ward store opened in Indiana in 1926. By 1929, there were 531 Montgomery Ward stores in the United States. A Montgomery Ward advertisement first introduced Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The chain went out of business in 2000.

References

• Stores: The History of Department Stores
• Sears Archives: A Narrative History
• Funding Universe: Montgomery Ward Corporate History