Strouss

Strouss was a department store serving the U.S. states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Originally known as Strouss-Hirshberg Co., it was long the leading department store in the greater Youngstown, Ohio and the Mahoning/Shenango Valleys. Under the ownership of May Department Stores, which purchased Strouss in 1947, its name was shortened to Strouss and was expanded throughout northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania under the leadership of C.J. Strouss, then president of Strouss. In 1986, May Company made a corporate decision to consolidate the Strouss division into Kaufmann's. May promptly shut down many of its former locations in 1987 in part due to the depressed economy of the Youngstown-Warren, Ohio/Sharon, Pennsylvania regional metropolitan area and a strategic decision by May Company to focus on mall-only retail locations within the Kaufmann's division. Although over 20 years have passed since the May Company divisional merger between Strouss and Kaufmann's, many older residents within the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys still refer to the now regional Macy*s department stores as Strouss or Strouss-Kaufmann's, the moniker used for the former Strouss stores for one year following the divisional consolidation. As late as 1992, Strouss credit cards were still accepted as a form of payment by Kaufmann's.