The Famous-Barr Co. (originally Famous and Barr Co.) was a division of
Macy's, Inc.
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' ...
(formerly Federated Department Stores). Headquartered in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, in the
Railway Exchange Building
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
, it was the flagship store of
The May Department Stores Company
The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many ch ...
, which was acquired by Federated on August 30, 2005. On February 1, 2006, it was subsumed into the newly created
Macy's Midwest Macy's Midwest, St. Louis, Missouri, is a former division of Macy's, Inc. It had operations in New York, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It was created February 1, 2006 from a reorganization of ...
division.
History
![Famous-Barr Cursive Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Famous-Barr_Cursive_Logo.svg)
The company can be traced back to Motte's, a store founded in 1874 by Jesse W. Motte, who sold boots and shoes at 714 Franklin Street. In 1876, Motte took on as business partner his store's supervisor, Joseph Specht. The two added clothing to their wares, and presently moved the store to 703–705 Franklin, where it was listed in the city directory as Famous, Motte & Specht. It was more popularly known as the Famous Clothing Company — "famous" reportedly coming from the public's referring to the store as the "famous place for bargains".
Retailer
David May acquired the Famous Clothing Store in 1892. Sometime later, he acquired William Barr Dry Goods Co. In 1911, he merged the two to create Famous-Barr.
Famous-Barr was one of many St. Louis retail companies that owned a resort along the Meramec River between the early 1900’s to 1940’s.
In 1914, David May opened a new Famous-Barr department store in
downtown St. Louis
Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment, and the anchor of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Cole Street to the north, the river front to the eas ...
, the first air-conditioned department store in the country.
On October 8, 1948, Famous-Barr opened its first branch store in Clayton, Missouri at the intersection of Forsyth and Jackson.
In 1955, Famous-Barr opened another branch store, at the
Northland Shopping Center
Buzz Westfall Plaza on the Boulevard is a shopping center in Jennings, Missouri. Opened in 1955 as Northland Shopping Center, it initially featured a Famous-Barr department store as its anchor store. Extensive redevelopment of the property began ...
in
Jennings
Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include:
*Jennings (Swedish noble family)
A–G
*Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...
— a mall owned by Famous-Barr's corporate parent, the May Companies. The Northland store celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1980.
In 1991, it took operational control of the
L.S. Ayres
L. S. Ayres and Company was a department store based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and founded in 1872 by Lyman S. Ayres. Over the years its Indianapolis flagship store, which opened in 1905 and was later enlarged, became known for its women's fash ...
division in Indiana, and in 1998 took on
The Jones Store
The Jones Store Company was an American chain of department stores located in the Kansas City area formerly operated by Mercantile Stores Company and the St. Louis, Missouri-based May Co.
History
The Jones Store Company was founded in 1887 as an ...
in Kansas City when May acquired that chain in the aftermath of the
Dillard's
Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...
acquisition of
Mercantile Stores Co.
Mercantile Stores Company Inc. until 1998, was a traditional department store retailer operating 102 fashion apparel stores and 16 home fashion stores in 17 states. The stores were operated under 13 different nameplates and varied in size, with t ...
Both chains retained their names, but shut down their headquarters.
The Famous-Barr name was retired on September 9, 2006, when Federated converted most of Macy's regional department stores 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 ...
nameplate, with the exception of the
Eastland Mall store in Evansville Indiana. The Eastland Mall store closed and became Dillard's instead due to the existing
Lazarus store which already became Macy's in 2005. The downtown St. Louis store and headquarters were first shrunk and then closed in summer 2013; the remaining retail employees moved to other stores, while the headquarters staff moved to Earth City.
See also
*
Stix, Baer, Fuller __NOTOC__
Stix, Baer and Fuller (sometimes called "Stix" or SBF or the Grand-Leader) was a department store chain in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1892 to 1984.
Founders and History
Originally called the Grand-Leader, the original centr ...
, an earlier competing St. Louis department store
*
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
Official website(Archive)
{{Macy's history
Defunct department stores based in Missouri
Companies based in St. Louis
Retail companies established in 1911
Macy's
Retail companies disestablished in 2006
Defunct companies based in Missouri
1911 establishments in Missouri
2006 disestablishments in Missouri
May Department Stores