Wanamaker's
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</div>Wanamaker's department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and one of the first department stores in the United States. It was renowned for its honest reputation and for innovating many retailing firsts in America. At its zenith in the early 20th Century, there were 16 Wanamaker's stores, but the chain was absorbed into Hecht's in 1995 after years of decline.
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[edit] Beginnings
John Wanamaker, the founder of the store that bears his name, was unable to join the U.S. Army during the American Civil War due to a persistent cough. Having been rejected from war duty, he instead ventured into business with his brother-in-law, Nathan Brown. In 1861, they founded a men's clothing store in Philadelphia called Oak Hall. Wanamaker carried on the business alone after Brown's death in 1868. In 1876, Wanamaker purchased the abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad station for use as a new, larger retail location. The concept was to renovate the terminal into a "Grand Depot" similar to London's Royal Exchange or Paris' Les Halles - two central markets, and forerunners of the modern department store, that were well-known in Europe at that time.
The Wanamaker's Grand Depot opened in time to service the public visiting Philadelphia for the American Centennial Exposition of 1876. In 1877 Wanamaker's was refurbished and expanded to include not only men's clothing, but women's clothing and dry goods as well. This was Philadelphia's - and perhaps America's - first modern day department store. A circular counter was placed at the center of the building, and concentric circles radiated around it with 129 counters of goods.
[edit] Enlightened retailing
Wanamaker first thought of how he would run a store differently as a youth, when a merchant refused his request to exchange a purchase. A practicing Christian, he chose not to advertise on Sundays. His faith also informed other business decisions, many of which were innovative and before their time. Before he opened his Grand Depot for retail business, he let evangelist Dwight L. Moody use its facilities as a meeting place, while Wanamaker provided for 300 ushers among his store personnel. His retail advertisements - the first to be copyrighted beginning in 1874 - were factual, and promises made in them were kept. Word of this increased Wanamaker's business, and John Wanamaker never lost the public's trust while he pioneered truth in American advertising.
Wanamaker guaranteed the quality of his merchandise in print, allowed his customers to return purchases for a cash refund, and offered the first restaurant to be located inside a department store. Wanamaker's also innovated the price tag, because John Wanamaker believed if everyone was equal before God, then everyone should be equal before price. All of these concepts were seen as innovations in American retailing at the time.
His employees were to be treated respectfully by management (including not being scolded in public), and John Wanamaker & Company offered its employees access to the Wanamaker's Commercial Institute, as well as free medical care, recreational facilities, profit sharing plans and pensions - long before these type of benefits were considered standard in corporate employment.
Innovation and "firsts" marked Wanamaker's. The store was the first department store with electrical illumination in (1878), first store with a telephone in (1879), first store to install pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents in (1880),and was also the first store with an elevator in (1884). In 1910, Wanamaker closed his famous Grand Depot, and moved into a brand-new, purpose-built structure in Center City, Philadelphia, which opened in 1911 with 12 floors. The palatial store featured the former St. Louis World's Fair pipe organ (one of the world's largest at that time), installed it in the Grand Court with a dedication attended by President William Howard Taft on December 30, 1911. This organ still stands in place in the store today and is registered as the first organ designated a National Historic Landmark (1980). The Wanamaker Organ is the largest operational pipe organ in the world. News of the Titanic's sinking was transmitted to Wanamaker's wireless station in New York City, and given to anxious crowds waiting outside - yet another first for an American retail store. Public Christmas Caroling in the store's Grand Court began in 1918.
Other innovations included employing buyers to travel overseas to Europe each year for the latest fashions, the first White sale in (1878) and other themed sales such as the February "Opportunity Sales" to keep prices as low as possible while keeping volume high. The store also broadcast its organ concerts on the Wanamaker-owned radio station WOO-AM beginning in 1922.
The famous advertising axiom "half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half" is credited to John Wanamaker.
[edit] The slow decline
After John Wanamaker's death in 1922 the business carried on under Wanamaker family ownership and continued to thrive for a time. The men's clothing and accessories department was expanded into its own separate store on the ground floor of the Lincoln-Liberty Building, next door in 1932. This building was sold to Philadelphia National Bank in 1952 and the initials on the building's crown now read "PNB." Over time, Wanamaker's lost business to other retail chains, including Bloomingdale's and Macy's in the Philadelphia market. The Wanamaker Family Trust finally sold John Wanamaker and Company, with its now bedraggled and shabby stores to Los Angeles, California-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores in 1978. Carter Hawley Hale poured $80 million (USD) into renovating the stores, but to no avail — customers had gone elsewhere in the intervening decades, and did not come back.
Finally, in 1986 the now 15-store chain was sold to Woodward & Lothrop, owned by Detroit real estate businessman A. Alfred Taubman. Taubman reorganized the business with a shortened corporate name (Wanamakers' Inc.), and poured millions more into store renovations and public relations campaigns. This too was no help, as Taubman's retail interests were heavily in debt and the stores' combined sales were a disappointment. Woodward & Lothrop collapsed in bankruptcy in the early 1990's, and the Wanamaker stores were sold to May Department Stores company on June 21, 1995. Wanamaker's Inc. was formally dissolved, the corporate offices on the upper floors of the Center City flagship store were closed, and operations were consolidated with May's Hecht's Division in Arlington, Virginia. The Wanamaker's name was removed from all stores and replaced with Hecht's. In 1997, May acquired Wanamaker's historic rival Strawbridge & Clothier and re-branded all Philadelphia-area Hecht's locations with the Strawbridge's name, excluding the Center City location, as the Strawbridge's flagship store was located only a few blocks down the street. The Center City Hecht's was closed for a lengthy renovation and refurbishment that saw the retail space reduced in size by several floors, and the former Wanamaker's corporate offices on the upper floors subdivided into commercial office space. In 1997, New York-based Lord & Taylor, another division of May Department Stores, opened in the former Wanamaker's flagship in Center City, Philadelphia. In August 2006 the store was converted to Macy's, operated by Macy's East Division of Federated Department Stores Inc., which acquired May in late 2005.
In 1987, the Philadelphia Wanamaker's flagship store was featured - under the name Prince & Co. - in the film comedy Mannequin and its sequel Mannequin 2: On The Move.
[edit] Former Locations
- Philadelphia, PA (1300 Market Street) (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridges 1996, Lord & Taylor 1997, Macy's 2006)
- Jenkintown, PA (became Hecht's 1995, closed 1997)
- King of Prussia Plaza, King of Prussia (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997)
- Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, PA (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997, sold to Boscov's 2006)
- Montgomery Mall, Montgomeryville, PA (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997, sold to Boscov's 2006)
- Roosevelt Mall (Northeast Philadelphia), PA (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997, Macy's 2006)
- Springfield Mall, Springfield, PA (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997, sold to Target 2006
- Wynnewood Shopping Center, Wynnewood, PA (became Hecht's 1995, closed 1997)
- Lehigh Valley Mall, Whitehall (Allentown), PA (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997, sold to Boscov's 2006)
- Harrisburg East Mall, Harrisburg, PA (became Lord & Taylor 1997, closed 2003, became Bass Pro Shops 2004)
- Berkshire Mall, Reading, PA (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997, sold to Boscov's 2002)
- New York City, NY (destroyed by fire in the 1950's)
- Cross County Shopping Center, Yonkers, NY (closed and sold to Sears 1995)
- Moorestown Mall, Moorestown, NJ (building destroyed by fire 1992, rebuilt as Strawbridge's 1999, Macy's 2006)
- Deptford Mall, Deptford, NJ (became Hecht's 1995, Strawbridge's 1997, sold to Boscov's 2006)
- Wilmington, DE (closed and replaced by Christiana Mall 1991)
- Christiana Mall, DE (became Hecht's 1995, Lord & Taylor 1997, closed 2006)
[edit] Christmas Light Show
Christmas in the Grand Tradition - In 1956, the Philadelphia Wanamaker's premiered a Christmas Light Show, a massive musical and blinking light display several stories high, viewable from several levels of the building, but with the best viewing on the central ground floor. Its popularity with Philadelphia parents and children, as well as tourists, has ensured its continuous run, even after the building was sold to different business interests.
The Wanamaker Light Show is proudly continued today by Macy's, who is actively working on its restoration. The Santa Express Train at the top of the Grand Court returned in 2006 and a brand new Magic Christmas Tree will return in 2007.
For information about show times and hours, please call 866-494-1717 or 215-241-9000.
[edit] Crystal Tea Room
Wanamaker's also was home to the Crystal Tea Room restaurant on the 9th floor which closed to the public in 1998; it has been restored and is currently operated as a private banquet hall. A Wanamaker's guidebook from the 1920s states that the Crystal Tea Room was the largest dining room in Philadelphia, and one of the largest in the world. It could serve 1400 people at a time. It served breakfast in the morning, luncheon, and afternoon tea. The kitchen's big ovens could roast 75 turkeys at a time and was equipped with lockers and baths for the employees.
There is also a more recently opened balcony cafe on the third floor.
[edit] Unique Features
- Ground floor: Huge eagle statue in the Grand Court
- 3rd floor: Egyptian Hall auditorium behind the executive offices, also a Greek Hall auditorium
- 8th floor: toy department had a monorail for the kids that traveled around the entire department, camera dept, piano and organ dept
- 9th floor: Crystal Tea Room
- 10th floor: inhouse physician and nurses
- sub-floors: post office, lost and found, shoe repair
- radio broadcasting station
- model house on the furniture floor
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Robert Sobel The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition (Weybright & Talley 1974), chapter 3, John Wanamaker: The Triumph of Content Over Form ISBN 0-679-40064-8
