19. Most of the great names of department stores are gone
Of the dozens of names which once graced department stores across the United States, as recently as the 1970s, most are gone, merged into corporate giants under the names of Macy’s and others. They remain part of the community history in the cities they served, but that too is fading away, replaced by shopping online and at discount outlets. Dayton, Ohio, once boasted Rike’s, and the chain’s flagship downtown store once proudly displayed Christmas scenes in its sales windows. Today they are displayed as a bit of Christmas nostalgia near where the store once stood. Rike’s itself merged with Shillito’s to become Shillito-Rike’s; later simply Shillito’s, then Lazarus, and finally Macy’s. Similar paths to oblivion were followed by many department stores whose names and stores are remembered fondly by a rapidly shrinking group of former customers.
Gimbels too is gone, though its subsidiary Saks remains, today owned by the Hudson Bay Company (the oldest commercial corporation in North America). Gimbels is remembered annually during the Christmas season through screenings of Miracle on 34th Street, and when its shopping bags are occasionally seen carried by its former customers. Wanamaker’s too is gone, its last commercial remnants became part of Hecht’s (a May Company store) in the 1990s. Its fabled store in Center City became a Macy’s, though it is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Even the Thanksgiving Day Parade still known to many as the Macy’s parade is today primarily sponsored by Dunkin’ Donuts, though Dunkin’ Donuts is no longer called that, named instead simply Dunkin’. Times change.
