Strawbridge's

History

Strawbridge & Clothier began as a dry goods store founded by Quakers Justus Clayton Strawbridge (1838–1911) and Isaac Hallowell Clothier (1837–1921) in Philadelphia in 1868. Strawbridge & Clothier purchased the 3-story brick building on the northwest corner of Market and 8th Streets in Center City Philadelphia that had been Thomas Jefferson's office from 1790 to 1793 while he served as Secretary of State, and opened their first store. They soon replaced the old building with one of 5-stories, and then expanded into neighboring buildings as well.

In 1928, the company decided to replace all but one of their buildings with a new edifice, and began construction in phases on the 13-story building which stands on the corner of Market and North 8th Street today. Designed in the Beaux Arts-style by the Philadelphia architectural firm Simon & Simon, the cost of the limestone building was expected to be $6.5 million, an amount which caused some concern to the store's owners. By the time the ribbon-cutting occurred, in 1931 in the depth of the Great Depression, the staggering $10 million cost of such grand construction nearly suffocated the cash-strapped company.

The building subsequently became the eastern anchor in 1977 of The Gallery, an urban mall connecting Strawbridge & Clothier with Gimbels, which had relocated from across Market Street to join the mall. It was the vision of S&C Chairman Stockton Strawbridge that was instrumental in revitalizing the Market East retail district in the 1970s, a vision that is still apparent today despite the demise of both Gimbels and Strawbridge's. He once said that his goal was to transform fading east Market Street into "the Champs-Élysées of Philadelphia."

Radio station

For thirteen years, from 1922 to 1935, the store operated WFI, an AM radio station. In 1935, the station merged with WLIT, owned by the Lit Brothers store across the street, to form WFIL, an NBC Blue network affiliate. WFIL remains on the air today on its original frequency, AM 560.

Expansion and acquisition

In May 1930, Strawbridge & Clothier helped remake the American retail scene by opening one of the first suburban branch department stores in the nation, located in the Suburban Square shopping center in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. In 1931, they followed with their second suburban "satellite" store at Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, the building for which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Some Strawbridge's stores had restaurants inside, like at Christiana Mall in Newark, Delaware as well as the Strawbridge & Clothier store at Exton Square Mall. Strawbridge's was well known for their handled shopping bags which kept up with the fashion of each era. It was a paper bag, with navy blue handles and it read, Strawbridge's in blue twice and red once on one side of the bag, and vice versa on the other. Once May assumed the company, the Strawbridge & Clothier Seal of Confidence was no longer a prominent marketing image. Late 1970s and 1980s bags were a bright glossy yellow with that era's pseudo calligraphic trademark in a vertical orientation in black along the bag's edge. 1960's bags featured a "modern" script-like trademark with their famous "seal of confidence". They were also known for their friendly employees. In the center of the flagship store was a large bronze statue of a wild boar. The legend had it that good luck would follow those who rubbed the boar's nose. The boar consequently had a very shiny nose from all the rubbing.

By the 1970s, Strawbridge's had nearly a dozen branch stores in malls across eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware. The branches proved to have been a wise step: the flagship store posted only a few years of actual profitability, all of them during the 1940s. The company also revolutionized retailing with their introduction of revolving charge account cards. In 1969, Strawbridge set his sights on competing with the emerging Target grade retailers, launching the Clover discount store chain; the first Clover store opened in 1971. Located in strip centers rather than malls for the most part, Clover grew to have 26 locations, more than the 21 full-service S&C stores. Most Clover stores closed in the winter of 1997.

After successfully fighting off a hostile takeover attempt by Ronald S. Baron in 1986, Strawbridge & Clothier survived as an independent, locally owned department store into the 1990s. In 1995, in an attempt to become the dominant retailer in the Philadelphia region, S&C partnered with Federated Department Stores, Pomeroys, and the Rubin Brothers real estate development company to acquire their rival Wanamaker's, but were outbid in bankruptcy court by May Department Stores Company. Subsequently, the thirteen Strawbridge & Clothier department stores were themselves bought by May Department Stores Company in 1996, when the Strawbridge & Clothier directors (mostly members of the Strawbridge and Clothier families) elected to liquidate operations over the vehement objections of patriarch Stockton Strawbridge. Strawbridge died not long after the sale. "He was the store, and the store was him," said his attorney Peter Hearn to the Philadelphia Daily News. Store employees and the public-at-large felt a sense of loss as well: many employees rushed to pay off their credit card accounts in full before the sale was finalized, "hoping that the proceeds would go to the founding families rather than [the new buyers]."

At the time of the acquisition by May's, the Strawbridge's name was retained, and the Philadelphia area Hecht's stores – the former John Wanamaker locations – also adopted the name. However, the Strawbridge & Clothier head office was closed and its operations were consolidated with Hecht's in Arlington, Virginia. After the sale the stores operated simply as "Strawbridge's", although exterior signage reading "Strawbridge & Clothier" remained in place at many locations until the stores became Macy's in 2006.

Repurposing of flagship store

In July 2006, The Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), owners of The Gallery at Market East, agreed to purchase the lower floors of the flagship Strawbridge's store. It is anticipated that PREIT will seek retail tenants for the areas of the building closest to street level but may convert some higher floors to office space. The uppermost floors had previously been sold and converted to offices; they are currently owned by American Financial Realty Trust of Jenkintown.

On February 26, 2009, it was announced that the developers of Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia were looking into locating their new casino on three floors of the former Strawbridge's flagship store currently owned by PREIT.

In April 2012, it was reported by one of the sub-contractors that the building was undergoing additional renovation for both office and residential use. In July 2012, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News relocated to the third floor of the building from their former headquarters at 401 North Broad Street.

On October 23, 2014, the Century 21 Department Store company of New York City opened its first location outside of the greater New York City area on a portion of the street level, and the entire second level of the Strawbridge building.