Industry Retail Defunct 1979 Founded 1902 Parent organization CSS Industries | Fate Bankruptcy Founder Franklin Simon Ceased operations 1979 | |
Key people Franklin Simon, founder Products Fashion apparel, shoes, accessories, and cosmetics. Headquarters New York City, New York, United States | ||
Franklin Simon & Co. was a department store chain specializing in women's fashions and furnishing based in New York City. The store was conceived as a collection of specialty shops rather than a traditional department store. Each "shop" had a specialty like those that sold ready-to-wear apparel for women, misses, girls, boys, men, young men and infants.
Contents
History
The chain was founded in February 1902, as Franklin Simon Specialty Shops by Franklin Simon (1865-1934) and his business partner Herman A. Flurscheim. Leroy C. Palmer became president of the company in 1934 at the death of Franklin Simon, and Benjamin Goldstein was the head of Franklin Simon until 1963. The store's concept was "to import much of his merchandise [from Europe] with a view to selling the imported goods as cheaply, if possible, as the domestic."
In 1936, the chain was purchased by Atlas Corporation from the Simon family for $2 million. In 1945, Franklin Simon & Co. was acquired by City Stores Company of Philadelphia. Oppenheim Collins & Company, Inc merged with Franklin Simon, but the two chains continued to operate under separate trade names and as separate divisions under the newly formed City Specialty Stores. In 1961/1962, City Stores changed the name of the Oppenheim Collins & Co. stores to Franklin Simon. City Stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 1979. Under the reorganization plan, City Stores closed the 42 Franklin Simon stores.
In 1993, Dover Books on Costume reissued the "Franklin Simon Fashion Catalog for 1923".
Flagship store
The main store was established in 1903, at 414 Fifth Avenue at 38th Street, the former home of Mrs. Orme Wilson, sister of John Jacob Astor. It was the first big Fifth Avenue store above 34th Street. The store closed in 1977. The 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) building later became the flagship store of W. & J. Sloane, another subsidiary of City Stores.
Branch stores
In 1932, Franklin Simon & Co. opened its first branch store in Greenwich, Connecticut. Other early branch locations were at Westport, Connecticut, on the Boston Post Road, near the intersection of South Compo Road, and Manhasset, New York (on Long Island). There were also stores in the Highland Plaza shopping center in Memphis, TN, Green Acres Shopping Center in Valley Stream, New York, the Cross County Shopping Center Yonkers, New York, Central Avenue in East Orange, New Jersey, and the Livingston Mall, in Livingston, New Jersey. Founder Franklin Simon also operated a resort shop at Palm Beach, Florida in 1932. Branch stores also operated in the Buffalo, New York area. When the chain closed in 1979, there were 42 stores.