Steinbach 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 ...
chain based in
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area.
As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188 with locations throughout the United States northeast. It opened in 1870 and was purchased by
Supermarkets General Corporation (SGC) in the 1960s, and was shuttered in early 1999.
History
Steinbach was founded in 1870 by the Steinbach brothers, John, Henry, and Jacob in Long Branch. The brothers expanded to the Asbury location four years later. In the early 20th century, Steinbach's was considered to be the "world's largest department store."
The company was at one time affiliated with the
Kresge-Newark
Kresge-Newark was an upper-middle market department store based in Newark, New Jersey. The firm was started in 1923 when its founder Sebastian Kresge purchased the L.S. Plaut Department store "S. S. Kresge Enters New Enterprise— Twenty-five ...
department store in downtown
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
. In the 1960s, the chain was purchased by
Supermarkets General Corporation, and continued to operate as a standalone company. SGC also purchased the Howland chain in Bridgeport, Connecticut (which had previously merged the Genung's chain of stores into itself), along with the two-store Goerke's department store based in
. Howland also continued to run as a stand-alone chain, while the Goerke's stores became part of the Steinbach chain, and in turn were rebranded Steinbach. In the 1970s, the chain opened three full line branches at
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
locations along the growing Jersey shore, including the chain's largest, a unit at the
Shore Mall
Harbor Square, formerly Shore Mall, is a shopping plaza (formerly a shopping mall) in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey in the United States on U.S. Route 40/U.S. Route 322 originally known as "Searstown". The plaza is accessible from Exit 36 off t ...
near
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
. In 1976, a fourth mall location was opened at the
Seaview Square Mall, near its downtown Asbury Park store.
The Seaview Square location was opened as the chain's most upscale store, and a number of departments were originally not part of the merchandise mix. This changed when the downtown Asbury Park location was closed in 1979, and Seaview Square was modified to include all departments that were carried at the former downtown store. The Asbury Park location burned down in 1989.
Ownership changes
![Howlands store, Pyramid Mall, Ithaca New York](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Howlands_store%2C_Pyramid_Mall%2C_Ithaca_New_York.jpg)
In the late 1970s, SGC merged the two chains together under the corporate name Howland-Steinbach. Each chain retained its original name, but were operated by a single corporate office. SGC sold the chain the 1980s to Netherlands-based Amcena Corporation, the owners of the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
-based
Ohrbach's
Ohrbach's was a moderate-priced department store with a merchandising focus primarily on clothing and accessories. From its modest start in 1923 until the chain's demise in 1987, Ohrbach's expanded dramatically after World War II, and opened numer ...
chain.
Amcena in turn converted most of its Ohrbach's stores to Steinbach stores. The parent company also converted all of the former Howland stores to the Steinbach nameplate, and closed the former Ohrbach's flagship location in New York. By the late 1980s, Amcena opted to sell the chain,
Value City
Value City was an American discount department store chain with 113 locations. It was founded in 1917 by Ephraim Schottenstein, a travelling salesman in central Ohio. The store was an off-price retailer that sold clothing, jewelry, and home good ...
purchased some of the stores, and Detroit based
Crowley Milner and Company purchased some others. The chain was liquidated with the rest of Crowley Milner in 1999.
Flagship store
![Steinbach flagship store closed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Steinbach_flagship_store_closed.jpg)
Steinbach had been a fixture in Asbury Park since the late 19th century, and by the turn of the 20th century, a new flagship store was planned and built on Cookman Avenue, billed as "The world's largest resort department store."
This building initially contained five floors (basement level through fourth floor), and by the 1930s, a fifth floor and clock tower were added. As the Northern sections of the New Jersey shore started to suburbanize, Asbury Park and Steinbach became a focal point. The downtown Steinbach remained popular even after several nearby shopping centers opened, but the race riots during July 1970 cast a shadow over downtown, and shoppers started to avoid the area. Ownership changes also affected Steinbach, and in 1978, Steinbach's then-corporate parent, SGC, opened a new consolidated office building in White Plains, New York to serve as the headquarters for its department store holdings. This cost downtown Asbury Park over 100 jobs, and diminished the role of the downtown building. SGC also refocused Steinbach as a more value-oriented chain.
This location, and all future locations, used mahogany wood for all fixtures and showcases.
In spring 1979, it was announced that the downtown Steinbach would close after a liquidation sale, with the store's closing on July 14, 1979. The public entrances were padlocked, and the remaining display windows were boarded up. Steinbach continued to use the building as a base for its maintenance staff for a few years, before abandoning the building entirely. In the late 1980s, an arson fire nearly destroyed the entire building, but did result in the removal of the clock tower and fifth floor.
Sackman Enterprises, which purchased the building in 2001, announced on March 1, 2007 that the first of 63 apartments was ready for rent following a complete renovation of the building. The ground floor now contains of retail space. The four floors above are loft-style apartments.
References
External links
Steinbach Buildingasburyboardwalk.com History of Asbury Park and the Boardwalk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinbach (Store)
Defunct department stores based in New Jersey
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Retail companies established in 1870
Retail companies disestablished in 1999
1870 establishments in New Jersey
1999 disestablishments in New Jersey