The Stewart Dry Goods Company — alternately known as Stewart Dry Goods, or Stewart's — was a regional department store chain based in Louisville, Kentucky. At its height, the chain consisted of seven store locations in Kentucky and Indiana. The chain in its later years operated as a division of New York-based

Associated Dry Goods Associated Dry Goods Corporation (ADG) was a chain of department stores that merged with May Department Stores in 1986. It was founded in 1916 as an association of independent stores called American Dry Goods, based in New York City. History T ...

. In addition to its downtown Louisville flagship store, Stewart's locations could also be found within the Louisville metro area at

Oxmoor Center Oxmoor Center is a Louisville, Kentucky shopping mall located at 7900 Shelbyville Road in eastern Louisville. History The 1970s Opened on February 8, 1971 on the opposing side of the Watterson Expressway from Mall St. Matthews, the mall ori ...

(Von Maur),

Fayette Mall Fayette Mall is a regional shopping mall in Lexington, Kentucky, located at 3401 Nicholasville Road in southern Lexington. It is the largest mall in the state of Kentucky. The mall's anchor stores are Macy's, JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, and D ...

Jefferson Mall Jefferson Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Louisville, Kentucky, the largest city in Kentucky. The mall is located near the intersection of Interstate 65 and Outer Loop in southern Louisville. Jefferson Mall is the only major mall in southern J ...

(Dillard's), Mall St. Matthews (Cinemark,

Forever 21 Forever 21 is a multinational fast fashion retailer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally founded as the store Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984,Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved 27 April 2014 ...

) and Dixie Manor (Burlington Coat Factory) The latter two had previously been

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 ...

stores, bought by Stewart's amid legal difficulties noted in a published history of the Stewart's chain. Stewart's continued as a separate nameplate until early 1986, when parent Associated Dry Goods had merged the stores with Indianapolis-based L.S. Ayres. Later that year, most of the former Stewart's stores were sold to Ben Snyder's. In turn, some would sell to Hess's in 1987 or would close. By 1992, the last surviving former Stewart's store — the L.S. Ayres location in Evansville's Washington Square Mall — closed amid the ADG merger with The May Department Stores Company of St. Louis. The Stewart's Dry Goods Company Building at 501 S. 4th Street in Louisville is listed as a Building of Local Significance on the National Register of Historic Places. Its façade is featured in one of the opening scenes from the 1981 film '' Stripes'', in which two teens dash out of a cab driven by actor Bill Murray without paying the fare and a passenger played by actress Fran Ryan is picked up.

Notes

Defunct department stores based in Kentucky Defunct companies based in Louisville, Kentucky Retail companies disestablished in 1987 Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky National Register of Historic Places in Louisville, Kentucky {{Louisville-stub