The History Press

The stately Westminster Arcade was built in 1828, and this landmark building has been a part of Providence ever since. Now known as the Arcade Providence, it is the oldest surviving shopping mall in the United States, and it was recognized from the beginning as an innovative and beautiful structure. It has survived near-demolition, fires, hurricanes, consumer trends, city planners and commercial developers. Within its walls are fascinating stories of the people who made their livelihood between its double façades. Through archival records, interviews and personal accounts, author Janet Mansfield Soares reveals the challenges faced by its tenants from its beginnings as a competitor to Cheapside to its many transformations that mirror Providence's own volatile history.

City Market's story begins with a penniless eighteen-year-old immigrant and closes with the business becoming part of the largest supermarket chain in the United States. In 1924, brothers Paul, Frank, Leo and Clarence Prinster bought a meat market in Grand Junction, Colorado, a business venture that would allow them to ride out the stock market crash and the Great Depression. It also allowed them to open the state's first supermarket in 1939, the beginning of an empire that remained in the family for over a century and helped shape the heritage of western Colorado. Tony Prinster shares how the City Market founders and its dedicated employees transformed a family business into the retail brand that touched the lives of so many people.

Wolf and Dessauer documents the rich and interesting history of this chain of department stores.

Remember how it used to be at W&D? From its humble beginnings as a dry goods store in 1896, Wolf and Dessauer grew to provide customers with revolutionary services and previously unheard of amenities: personal shoppers, in-store models, escalators, an open-air French café and the magical Christmas WanDerland--home to Santa and his precious elf, Wee Willie WanD. Join Jim and Kathie Barron on this glorious return to one of the most progressive department stores in history. Relax in the tearoom with one of Edith Goodyear's California Dream Bars, don elegant couture from around the world and luxuriate in this remembrance of a beloved Fort Wayne icon.

Michael J. Lisicky is the author of several bestselling books, including Hutzler's: Where Baltimore Shops.

In demand as a department store historian, he has given lectures at institutions such as the New York Public Library, the Boston Public Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Milwaukee County Historical Society, the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Jewish Museum of Maryland. His books have received critical acclaim from the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Pittsburgh Post Gazette. He has been interviewed by national business periodicals including Fortune Magazine, Investor's Business Daily and Bloomberg Businessweek. His book Gimbels Has It was recommended by National Public Radio's Morning Edition program as "One of the Freshest Reads of 2011." Mr. Lisicky helps run an "Ask the Expert" column with author Jan Whitaker at www.departmentstorehistory.net and resides in Baltimore, where he is an oboist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

In 1891, Siegmund Harzfeld and the Parisian Cloak Company introduced a new era of commerce and fashion to the residents of Kansas City. Women no longer needed to make lengthy and expensive appointments with dressmakers to maintain the latest fashion trends; the ready-to-wear movement had begun!
Join historians Joe and Michele Boeckholt as they uncover the story behind Harzfeld's department store, from its first offering of coats, blouses, petticoats, and furs to the beloved Petticoat Lane flagship location and regional network of satellite stores. With archival photographs and memorabilia, personal narratives and interviews, and a wealth of local and historical knowledge, the history of this local landmark franchise is revealed, one seam at a time.

Brookside's burgundy-and-blue-striped awnings represent both a quaint corner of Kansas City where you can tread the creaky wooden floors of the Dime Store and a pragmatic philosophy that changed the way America planned its cities. Renowned developer J.C. Nichols's plan for permanence was built on his conviction that if a community could offer its residents everything they would want and need, build to high standards and plan for future growth, the community would last. The Brookside shopping district has been giving the community everything it could want and need since 1919, helping it weather economic turbulence, natural disasters and dramatic changes.

When Candyland opened its doors in downtown St. Paul in 1932, it was called Flavo Korn and sold mainly popcorn to office workers and the throngs that lined up outside the many sparkling downtown movie palaces. Streetcars plied the brick-paved streets before giving way to buses, and the corner of Wabasha and Seventh Streets was considered the heart of St. Paul and the city's own movie row. The movie theaters and streetcars are long gone, but over the years, Candyland has survived momentous social change and urban revitalization efforts to become a destination for generations of visitors lured by the store's signature popcorn blends and delectable homemade chocolates and fudge.

For ninety-five years, St. Louis residents counted on Famous-Barr to buy the things they used every day and to celebrate the moments that happened only once a year. Customers might bump into Sophia Loren while shoe shopping or confide in Santa Claus during a visit to Toyland. May Company purchased the Famous Clothing Company in 1892 and acquired the William Barr Dry Goods Company nineteen years later. In 1914, Famous-Barr opened the doors of its iconic downtown location, treating folks across Missouri and Illinois to almost a century of spectacular window displays and legendary luncheons.