Any Cities Left With Downtown Multi-Story Department Stores Thriving?

[Jerry52]

Odd question I suppose, but I'm in my early 50's and still remember the days (before Wal-Mart) of thriving downtowns, which were relatively safe, and the wonderful old high-rise department stores with everything- restaurants, toy departments, antiques, furniture, shoe repair, old coins, you name it...not merely overgrown clothing stores.

Sure, Chicago and New York still have a few. I think there's only one left in downtown Chicago, Macy's in the former Marshall Field's building. At one time State Street (the Great Street) in Chicago was lined by at least SIX huge department stores.

I'm just wondering if anywhere in the USA, especially in small or mid-sized downtowns, there still are any large department stores going strong? I'm more interested in the four, five, six floor types, rather than those that might be of "boutique" size in downtown shopping malls. I'm talking about the stand-alone department stores.

Possibly it's happening more in Canada or Mexico. I sincerely doubt there are many cities with healthy downtown "flagship" department stores in the USA.

I remember the days of two department stores across the street from one another in Dayton, Ohio's center city, an old-world department store in Reading, PA and another one in Johnstown, PA. I'm sure all four of these are gone now. And they call it progress!

Jerry

 

[ratboycom]

Well, the Bon Marche used to be a very popular (and successful) department store in the northwest, but slowly it was bought out by Macys and is more blech than ever. Nordstroms is still going strong though.

 

[StevenRocks]

Macy's still has stores in several downtowns including Washington, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Houston and Miami. Boscov’s has downtown stores in Binghamton, NY and Wilkes-Barre, PA. Saks, Lord & Taylor, and Nordstrom have downtown stores in selected cities also.

 

[vaclava krishna]

Did the people turn, away in , confusion ?

 

[Tokyo Slim]

high-rise department stores with everything- restaurants, toy departments, antiques, furniture, shoe repair, old coins, you name it...

What immediately comes to mind is Tokyo... in which you can find upwards of 50 multi-story stand-alone department stores as you describe to some extent or another within the metro limits. I'm sure thats not exactly what you meant though.

 

[ratboycom]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

What immediately comes to mind is Tokyo... in which you can find upwards of 50 multi-story stand-alone department stores as you describe to some extent or another within the metro limits. I'm sure thats not exactly what you meant though.

Well Slim I was gonna say the same thing but he said in the USA. SO I tried to relate it with anything I knew in the area.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

I know... but thats all I could think of.

 

[Augustus Medici]

Downtown Dallas, while the absolute pits, still has the flagship HQ for Neiman Marcus. It's a beautiful store right in the middle of downtown that is six-stories high, I believe.

Are you a big fan of malls and retail centers? I am too, if only to see the people that mill around them. This weekend was tax-free weekend on clothing items, so every retail outlet was packed. I went to an outlet mall called Grapevine Mills, and the enormous crowds milling around were truly stunning. I could spend my entire life touring malls and be content.

 

[tonylumpkin]

Lazarus built a new store in downtown Pittsburgh within the past 10 years but closed it about three years ago. Their parent company has since converted the old 10+ story Kaufmanns store into a Macy's. Saks still operates a three floor store downtown.

 

[Jerry52]

Thanks for your replies. It seems pretty much as I feared, that there are very very few mid-sized cities with old-fashioned department stores here in the USA. Canada and Mexico weren't mentioned by any posters, so I don't know how things are there. I did visit St. John's Newfoundland back about 15 years ago. It's the biggest city in the remote province of Newfoundland, but had then a thriving downtown, picturesquely set on the water. At the time, there was a huge Woolco department store (division of FW Woolworth) downtown, but the entire Woolworth chain is now defunct. Eaton was the "national" upscale Canadian department store, but that too is gone. They never were in Newfoundland. I know nothing about Mexican department stores. But life in general is pretty tough for the traditional department store, with even Montgomery Ward folding.

Yes, it's understood that in places like Japan or England, there would still be more department stores, because the downtowns are stronger.

Do I like malls? Not too much. Yes, they are great for people-watching and from a practical standpoint, they're convenient as a centralized place to shop. But that was the exact description of most downtowns in the 1950's and 1960's! The downtowns offered the various architectural styles of many generations standing side-by-side, whereas shopping malls are built in one phase, generally-speaking, so offer no real cultural marvel like the mix of styles in an older downtown. Again, European downtowns would offer the most dramatic examples, because Europe is so many centuries older than the USA. Another practical DISADVANTAGE of the regional shopping malls is that, because they charge exhorbitant leases, it's more difficult to find bargains in the stores.

I understand that B. Dalton Bookseller is another slowly-dying casualty of "mega stores" like Borders and Barnes & Noble, not to mention the internet. At one time there were around 400 or more B. Dalton Bookseller stores, now that number is well under 100, and more close all the time as their leases come up at the shopping malls.

Jerry

 

[bryce330]

Originally Posted by Jerry52

I understand that B. Dalton Bookseller is another slowly-dying casualty of "mega stores" like Borders and Barnes & Noble, not to mention the internet. At one time there were around 400 or more B. Dalton Bookseller stores, now that number is well under 100, and more close all the time as their leases come up at the shopping malls.


B. Dalton is owned by Barnes & Noble.

 

[mack11211]

Due to decades of pretty good planning of the commercial center, Minneapolis has a strong downtown with Daytons, etc.

 

[Jerry52]

Originally Posted by bryce330

B. Dalton is owned by Barnes & Noble.

This is true. Nevertheless, IMO Barnes & Noble could be well-served keeping the B.Dalton name and philosophy alive. It would be a useful, established name and the answer in smaller markets where a full-scale Barnes & Noble wouldn't be justified.

At one time, B.Dalton was owned by Dayton-Hudson Corporation, the department store conglomerate that included Daytons, Hudson's and Marshall Field, as well as Target discount stores. Now, only Target survives...

 

[Jerry52]

Originally Posted by mack11211

Due to decades of pretty good planning of the commercial center, Minneapolis has a strong downtown with Daytons, etc.

Yes, because of the inclement weather, their downtown Nicollet Mall and skywalk system is famous. Unfortunately, the Dayton name has not existed in five or more years. If in fact there is still a downtown department store there, it will be Macy's.

 

[SoCal2NYC]

Originally Posted by Jerry52

Yes, because of the inclement weather, their downtown Nicollet Mall and skywalk system is famous. Unfortunately, the Dayton name has not existed in five or more years. If in fact there is still a downtown department store there, it will be Macy's.

Yah the old Dayton's in Downtown Minne is a Macy's and there is an Off 5th Saks Outlet (previously a full line store) and a Neiman Marcus (not too bad with Brioni, Isaia, Oxxford in terms of tailored clothing) and then the men's store Hurbert White...other than that everything else is in The Mall of America or some women's stores in Edina like Monique Lhuillier.