Castner Knott was a
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
-based regional
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
chain which operated stores in
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, and
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. The chain was in business for a
century from 1898 to 1998, in its later years as a division of
Mercantile Stores Company.
Castner Knott's historic flagship location on Nashville's Church Street closed in 1996, while the remaining stores were among those sold to
Little Rock, Arkansas
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
-based
Dillard's, when it acquired Mercantile in 1998. The five high-volume mall stores (
Bellevue Center,
CoolSprings Galleria,
Hickory Hollow Mall
Global Mall at the Crossings (formerly Hickory Hollow Mall) was a 1.1 million-square-foot (102,193-square-meter) regional indoor shopping mall in the Nashville neighborhood of Antioch, Tennessee, located just east of I-24 at exit 59 along ...
,
The Mall at Green Hills and
Rivergate Mall) in the greater Nashville area, where Dillard's already had locations, were sold to Saks Incorporated and rebranded as
Proffitt's
Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. On March 8, 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk stores. Belk acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks, Inc.
History
Beginnings
Jeweler D ...
. The stores were then sold in 2001 to May Company, who, in turn, rebranded these locations as
Hecht's
Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland.
By 20 ...
. In 2006, those stores were converted to the
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
name as a result of the
May Company-
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...
merger. Macy's would eventually close the Bellevue Center and Hickory Hollow Mall locations, following the decline of those malls as a whole.
The original Castner-Knott Company building, located in downtown Nashville, was sold to Shmerling Clearbrook Holdings in the late 1990s for roughly $1.5 million. On the 3rd of February 2020, the building and adjoining parking garage was sold to a New York real estate firm for $27.2 million.
See also
*
List of defunct department stores of the United States
This is a list of defunct department stores of the United States, from small-town one-unit stores to mega-chains, which have disappeared over the past 100 years. Many closed, while others were sold or merged with other department stores.
De ...
References
External links
Castner Knottreunion website, with details on history from former employees and vendors
Defunct department stores based in Tennessee
Retail companies established in 1898
Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee
Retail companies disestablished in 1998
Defunct companies based in Tennessee
1898 establishments in Tennessee
1998 disestablishments in Tennessee
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