''Sterling Lindner Davis'' (SLD) was a major department store in downtown Cleveland's

Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres. Places *Theater District, Manhattan, New York City *Boston Theater District *Buffalo Theater District *Cleveland Theater ...

which operated from 1845 (with the founding of Sterling & Welch) to 1968. The retailer was primarily known for displaying the largest decorated Christmas tree in the state of Ohio, this tradition started in 1927. At their peak, Cleveland's department stores (

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

Higbee's Higbee's was a department store founded in 1860 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, Higbee's was sold to the joint partnership of Dillard's department stores and Youngstown-based developer, Edward J. DeBartolo. The stores continued to operate unde ...

, Bailey's,

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) Pl ...

's, Halle, and SLD or the ''big six'') were one of the largest shopping districts in the United States. Before the explosive growth of Cleveland's suburban post World War II housing boom, people would flock to downtown's Euclid Avenue dressed in the finery of their Sunday best to shop in these huge stores that carried everything from clothing and jewelry to furniture and housewares. Though the idea of the largest tree in Cleveland is an attributed to

in A Christmas Story in 1983, the tradition was actually that of SLD, not Higbee's, which were in fact (along with May and Halle) huge rivals and constantly attempting to outdo each other in ever growing extravagance of merchandise and audacity of style. Sterling Lindner Davis was a conglomeration of three previously separate companies: Sterling & Welch, Lindner Co., and W. B. DavisCo. Lindner & Davis was bought by

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 1947, which then bought out Sterling & Welch, and the store became known as ''Sterling Lindner Davis'' in 1951. The store closed to little notice (due to the birth of malls and outlets) in 1968. By the end of the 1990s, none of the "big six" Cleveland department stores was still in operation.

References

{{coord, 41, 30, 04.3, N, 81, 41, 00.7, W, region:US-OH_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Cleveland Retail companies established in 1845 Companies disestablished in 1968 Defunct companies based in Cleveland Companies based in Cleveland Defunct department stores based in Cleveland