![]() ![]() During my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, Shillito’s downtown store was typically open only one or two evenings per week and not on Sundays, except during the Christmas holiday season. On the other hand, the malls were more convenient to suburban homes, offered plenty of free parking, and were open in the evenings and on Sundays. Malls proved very enticing to shoppers, replicating the themes of “destination” and “indoor” convenience, just like the downtown flagship department stores. As early as 1954, Shillito’s stated that it would begin to publicly advertise its store policy to match the prices of discount stores on merchandise (“Shillito’s Declares ‘Open Warfare’ on ‘Fair-Traded’ Price Cutters,” Cincinnati Post, November 20, 1954, p. In the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metro area, these included: Tri-County (1960) Western Woods (1963) Kenwood Mall (1966) Beechmont Mall (1969) and Florence Mall (1977).Īlso in the late 20th century, Shillito’s and other department stores faced new competition from a proliferation of discount stores, like Kmart and Walmart, junior department stores such as Kohl’s, and off-price retailers like T.J. Shillitos’ opened a number of branch stores in the Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Lexington, and Louisville regions. Macy’s, Fifth and Race Streets, downtown Cincinnati, 2018. Also like downtown flagship stores, malls were literally what I call “surrogate department stores.” They shared the same “destination” and “indoor” themes, and the individual specialty stores functioned much as the separate departments in flagship stores. In essence, the malls were literally a reinvention of older downtown arcades, such as the Carew Tower Arcade in Cincinnati. Like the “shopping center,” the mall was an agglomeration of stores, but in a climate-controlled, indoor setting. And, of course, there was plenty of free parking. Typically, shopping centers included groceries, banks, savings and loans, restaurants, barber and beauty salons, five-and-dime, hardware, clothing, drug, greeting card, jewelry, toy, shoe, appliance, music, book, and other stores. One-story, specialty retail establishments faced the parking lot and were accessed via long outdoor sidewalks covered by awnings. Retail trends were shifting to the new “shopping centers” and “malls.” Shopping centers were massive, generally one-level buildings, with one-, two-, and sometimes even three-story department stores anchoring the ends. In other words, the new suburban branch stores were not complete department stores in the sense of the flagship downtown store. Much smaller in size than the downtown store, the suburban branches concentrated on clothing, shoes, housewares, and domestics. Rather, they were considered convenient offspring. Suburban branch stores were never meant to supplant Shillito’s mammoth “flagship” store on Seventh Street downtown. Courtesy of the Kenton County Public Library, Covington, Ky. UPDATE 6.10.Shillito’s new Florence, Kentucky store in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metro area opened in 1977. UPDATE 6.5.20 Kroger announces plans for an “exit strategy" >READ Columbus Dispatch While Kroger initially indicated plans for a mixed-use development on the site, no timeline has been presented. The Former Lazarus Kingsdale (later Macy’s) has been vacant for five years, since The Kroger Co. Designed using the same glazed multi-colored blue bricks as the Lazarus Eastland and Northland stores, these materials were selected “not only for their handsome color and sparkle, but for their durability and quality of never needing cleaning.” The design was influenced by Raymond Loewy, considered the father of industrial design, who had a decades-long working relationship with Robert Lazarus. The entrance is emphasized by three ground-to-roof bays of pebble-embedded rock defined by New Formalism style white pilasters and arches. ![]() This structure is a good example of the suburban Lazarus store design of the mid-20th century. The Lazarus Department Store was founded in downtown Columbus in 1851. ![]()
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