Read's Department Stores was a
Bridgeport, Connecticut-based
retail chain
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
founded in 1857 by D. M. Read. Known for its classy, upscale merchandise, the flagship store was once hailed as
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
's largest
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 ...
. It expanded to several other locations in the 1950s and 1960s, but these closed progressively through the 1980s and 1990s.
The original Bridgeport store closed in 1981 when Read's moved to a new location, and was later extensively renovated and reopened as Artspace Read's, also known as the Sterling Market Lofts building.
Founding and growth
In 1857, David M. Read and W. B. Hall opened a dry goods and carpet store on Main Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with Read going solo in 1877. In 1885, the business expanded to two buildings on Main Street and Fairfield Avenue forming a "very popular and elegant place of business."
[Photo essay.] Read's became known for its classy, upscale merchandise and shopping environment,
becoming
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
's largest
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 ...
.
Flagship store
In 1926, Read's moved to the corner of Broad and John Streets in
downtown Bridgeport, where its
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 ...
ultimately had over of selling area on five floors. D.M. Read Company became a unit of
Allied Stores
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stor ...
in 1954.
Branch stores
The second store was built as one of the two anchors in the new Trumbull Shopping Park (the state's first mall), 6.7 miles from downtown Bridgeport. The store had three floors, (), and was located in the south section of the mall where Target stands today.
Allied expanded the store into a chain in the 1950s and 1960s.
By then they were up to six stores in Fairfield and New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
Counties in Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
.
Transition
In 1981, Allied closed Read's landmark downtown store, leaving behind a boarded-up building as a reminder of Bridgeport's brighter past. It moved the store into space recently vacated by Gimbel's
Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the comp ...
at the nearby Lafayette Plaza Mall in downtown Bridgeport.
In 1983, Read's opened a New York location in the Jefferson Valley Mall
Jefferson Valley Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Yorktown, New York. Opened in 1983, it is anchored by Macy's and Dick's Sporting Goods. It is managed by Washington Prime Group.
History
Melvin Simon & Associates built Jefferson Valley Mall ...
in Yorktown Heights
Yorktown Heights is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Yorktown in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census.
History
Yorktown Heights is in the town of Yorktown, New York, in northern ...
. Around 1985 its television and radio commercials featured the jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...
, "Reads, Your Something Special Store". Read's operated in its hometown of Bridgeport until 1987 when Campeau Corp. of Canada, which had bought Allied Stores, merged it into Allied's sister division, Jordan Marsh
Jordan Marsh (officially Jordan Marsh & Company) was an American department store chain that was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. It was founded by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh in 1841. The ...
of Boston, Massachusetts, and the stores subsequently took on the Jordan Marsh name.
In 1988, Campeau acquired 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 ...
of Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...
and operated it in conjunction with Allied, subsequently declaring bankruptcy in 1991. As a result of the overall decline of Bridgeport's downtown shopping area, the Lafayette Plaza store closed in 1989, and all but the Trumbull and Jefferson Valley stores were closed by 1992 under the Federated/Allied Stores
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stor ...
bankruptcy filing.
In 1993, these remaining two stores at Trumbull and Jefferson Valley were converted to the Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...
nameplate when that division of 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 ...
merged with Jordan Marsh (as they were in the New York Metropolitan media market, they could operate more efficiently regarding advertising under the A&S name). In 1995 after Federated acquired 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 ...
, it consolidated its A&S/Jordan Marsh division into Macy's East
Macy's East, New York City, New York was a division of Macy's, Inc. It was the operating successor to the original R.H. Macy & Co., Inc. and operates the Macy's department stores in the northeast U.S. and Puerto Rico. Over the years it has bee ...
and renamed the two former Read's stores with the Macy's moniker.
The former Read's Trumbull location was abandoned in 2006, when Macy's relocated into the former Filene's
Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-p ...
store in the Westfield Trumbull
Trumbull Mall (formerly known as Westfield Trumbull) is a shopping mall located in Trumbull, Connecticut. It was the first enclosed shopping mall in Connecticut upon opening in 1964. The mall was developed by the Frogue Corporation, and was the f ...
shopping center upon the completion of the merger of the Federated and 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 ...
chains. Only the Jefferson Valley Mall store that Read's opened in 1983 has continually operated as a department store to present day.
Artspace Read's, Bridgeport
In the late 1990s the former Read's Building in downtown Bridgeport was converted into useful space for artists, run as a non-profit, called Artspace, also known as Read's Artspace, Sterling Market Lofts, and Artspace Read's. The conversion and complete restoration of the building by Artspace Projects
Artspace Projects, Inc is a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that develops performance spaces for artists, otherwise known as placemaking.
Description
Artspace Projects has its headquarters in Minneapolis, and also has offic ...
cost $14.1 million, and created "61 spacious live/work units on the upper floors and arts-friendly commercial space on the ground floor". Construction was carried out by A.P. Construction, under a contract worth $10,500,000. The new Sterling Market Lofts building opened in May 2005.
See also
*History of Bridgeport, Connecticut
The history of Bridgeport, Connecticut was, in the late 17th and most of the 18th century, one of land acquisitions from the native inhabitants, farming and fishing. From the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century, Bridgeport's history was one ...
*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
External links
Read's Department Store Souvenir Plate
- Bridgeport Public Library
Defunct department stores based in Connecticut
Defunct companies based in Connecticut
Retail companies established in 1857
Retail companies disestablished in 1993
Companies based in Bridgeport, Connecticut
1857 establishments in Connecticut