The J. L. Hudson Company (commonly known simply as Hudson's) was an upscale retail
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 based in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. Hudson's
flagship store
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 ...
, on
Woodward Avenue
A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to:
Places
;United States
* Woodward, Iowa
* Woodward, Oklahoma
* Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place
* Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...
in
Downtown Detroit
Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, downtown tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Lodge Freeway) to the west, Interstate 75 ( ...
(demolished October 24, 1998),
was the tallest department store in the world in 1961,
and, at one time, claimed to be the second-largest department store, after
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 ...
, in the United States, by
square footage
The square foot (plural square feet; abbreviated sq. ft, sf, or ft2; also denoted by '2) is an imperial unit and U.S. customary unit (non- SI, non-metric) of area, used mainly in the United States and partially in Canada, the United Kingdom, Bang ...
.
Growth
Founded in 1881 by
Joseph Lowthian Hudson
Joseph Lowthian Hudson (October 17, 1846 – July 5, 1912), a.k.a. J. L. Hudson, was the merchant who founded the Hudson's department store in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson also supplied the seed capital for the establishment, in 1909, of Roy D. Cha ...
, the store thrived during the record growth of Detroit and the auto industry in the first half of the 20th century. In 1909, J.L. Hudson invested in a start-up automobile manufacturer which was named the
Hudson Motor Car Company
The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through ...
in his honor. The Hudson Motor Car Company eventually became part of the
American Motors Corporation
American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...
and later
Chrysler
Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
. Hudson operated the store until his death in 1912, when his four nephews (James, Joseph, Oscar, and Richard Webber) assumed control. The third generation of the family assumed control in 1961, when Joseph L. Hudson, Jr., became president of the company.
Over time, the store grew from its beginnings in the
Detroit Opera House
The Detroit Opera House is an ornate opera house located at 1526 Broadway Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Grand Circus Park Historic District. The 2,700-seat venue is the home of productions of the Detroit Opera and a variety of o ...
to a 25-story building with and occupying an entire city block.
Policies
Hudson's was known for customer satisfaction and its liberal return policy that would include even merchandise that customers had purchased years earlier but never used.
In 1952, Hudson's total sales were $175 million but issued refunds totaling $25 million. Store executives felt that to be a small price to pay for customer loyalty.
In addition to cultivating loyalty through sales policies, Hudson's was involved in the community. In 1924, two years prior to rival Macy's, it staged its first
Thanksgiving Parade, which continues today.
In 1923, it unveiled the world's largest flag, which covered of the Woodward facade of the building. The flag was displayed annually until it was replaced, in 1949, by a larger flag. In 1959, the store began sponsorship of the annual fireworks display that was part of the
International Freedom Festival
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
.
Locations
Hudson's Budget Store occupied two full basement levels of the downtown store as well as several branches. It had an independent staff of buyers, carried its own line of merchandise, and was considered the greatest competition to the big store.
Hudson's expanded into suburban Detroit, starting with the anchor store at
Northland Center
Northland Center was a shopping mall on an approximately site located near the intersection of M-10 (the John C. Lodge Freeway) and Greenfield Road in Southfield, Michigan, an inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Construction ...
in nearby
Southfield, Michigan
Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618.
As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its ...
, the largest shopping center in the United States when it opened, in 1954.
Similar suburban malls followed (Eastland Center in 1957 and Westland Center in 1965) as well as other locations throughout the tri-state region.
The Dayton Co. of Minneapolis acquired The J.L. Hudson Co. in 1969 to form the
Dayton–Hudson Corporation
Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compo ...
, the predecessor to
Target Corporation
Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...
, but "The J.L. Hudson Co." continued to operate as a semiautonomous entity. Dayton–Hudson eventually acquired and sold several other department store chains.
Decline
Though customers flocked to the suburban locations, the downtown store still accounted for half of Hudson's business in 1961, but demographic changes continued to erode sales.
Store officials even considered closing the store as early as 1971, citing $9,000,000 in pilferage, but decided to remain for fear of the potential backlash of city officials and customers.
By 1978, they agreed to construct a smaller store of as part of a proposed downtown shopping center.
Lack of interest from other retailers and funding problems shelved the center, and after many years of declining sales and consolidating selling space, the flagship Hudson's store closed January 17, 1983, at nearly the lowest point of Downtown Detroit's decline.
After closure, Hudson's maintained its headquarters staff of about 1,100 in the downtown store. In May 1984, The J.L. Hudson Co. formally merged into The Department Store Division of the Dayton Hudson Corp., but Hudson's stores continued to carry the Hudson's name. All executive and buying positions transferred to Minneapolis, and other staff moved to space at the Northland store in Southfield. The last corporate department in the downtown Detroit building, credit operations, moved in October 1986. Dayton Hudson sold the building in December 1989, and it was
imploded on October 24, 1998.
Hudson's operated a large warehouse complex in an area bounded by Madison, Brush, Adams and Beacon Streets in Downtown Detroit. The buildings were constructed between the 1920s and the 1950s and averaged between four and six floors. In the early 1980s, Building 3 was sold and renovated into Madison Center, home for the
36th District Court.
The remaining buildings in the complex closed in the late 1990s to make room for the new 65,000-seat stadium,
Ford Field
Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...
. Ford Field partially incorporated one of the warehouses into its design.
The vacant site in Detroit between Woodward and Farmer Street and between E. Grand River and Gratiot was turned into an underground parking garage with supports in place for a future building. The address of the first Hudson's building on the lot was on Farmer, not at 1206 Woodward, the building's later and better-known address. In 2018 the parking garage at the former Hudson's site was demolished to make way for
two new buildings on the former Hudson's site. One of these new buildings will be the second tallest building in Michigan upon its completion, project height of .
In 2000, Dayton–Hudson Corporation took the name of its most successful operation, becoming
Target Corporation
Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...
, and one year, it later re-branded all Hudson's and Dayton's locations with the
Marshall Field's
Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...
moniker, an operation purchased by Dayton–Hudson in 1990. After being briefly owned by
May Department Stores
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 c ...
, the former Hudson's stores were acquired by
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 ...
in 2006 and all Marshall Field's stores were incorporated into 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 ...
chain. Target still maintains a common law trademark in the use of Daytons.com and Hudsons.com, which both redirect to the Target website.
See also
*
Architecture of metropolitan Detroit
The architecture of metropolitan Detroit continues to attract the attention of architects and preservationists alike. With one of the world's recognizable skylines, Detroit's waterfront panorama shows a variety of architectural styles. The post-m ...
*
Dayton's
Dayton's was an American department store chain founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It operated several local high end department stores throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest for almost 100 years. Although it ...
*
J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition
The J. L. Hudson Building ("Hudson's") was a department store located at 1206 Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was constructed beginning in 1911, with additions throughout the years, before being "completed" in 1946, and named af ...
References
Further reading
* Hauser, Michael, and Marianne Weldon (2004). ''Hudson's: Detroit's Legendary Department Store''. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. .
* Hauser, Michael, and Marianne Weldon (2010). ''Remembering Hudson's: The Grande Dame of Detroit Retailing''. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. . .
External links
Demolition of Hudson Department StoreHudson's hundredth 1881-1981 (booklet)
{{Marshall Field's history
Defunct department stores based in Michigan
Clothing retailers of the United States
Companies based in Detroit
Culture of Detroit
Woodward Avenue
American companies established in 1881
Retail companies established in 1881
Retail companies disestablished in 2001
1881 establishments in Michigan
2001 disestablishments in Michigan
Defunct companies based in Michigan
Stores converted to Marshall Fields
Marshall Field's
Target Corporation