Cox's was a
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 ...
in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. With a four-story
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
store in the downtown business district of
McKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. It ...
, Cox's had seven retail stores in shopping malls throughout the Pittsburgh area.
History
Cox's was the successor to a small seamstress shop established in 1884 by Mary Ann Cox in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. By the 1950s, the operation had grown so much that Robert Cox, grandson of Mary Ann, purchased the White Opera house at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street in the downtown business district of McKeesport and demolished it to build a flagship department store.
The modern four-story department store, built in the International Style, opened in 1955.
A large concrete medallion of William Shakespeare that had served as a centerpiece of the opera house was retained and displayed on the lower level of the department store.
During the 1970s, there were seven additional locations in shopping malls throughout the Pittsburgh area. The flagship store was expanded. However, by the early 1980s, an economic recession in the Pittsburgh area had resulted in an unemployment rate of 22.8 percent.
On November 2, 1982, the company filed for bankruptcy.
After sitting vacant for over a decade, the flagship store in McKeesport was demolished in 1994.
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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
{{reflist
1955 establishments in Pennsylvania
1983 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
Companies based in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Retail companies disestablished in 1983
Retail companies established in 1955
Defunct department stores based in Pittsburgh