The Bon Marché was a department store in downtown

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

, in business from 1878 to 1976. Frederic Mitchell founded a

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...

store in 1878 under the name "This is Mitchell's". His brother Charles Mitchell operated a shoe store. Both stores were on Merrimack Street. In 1887, Frederick and Charles combined their operation, under the name The Bon Marché. Of the building that became the Bon Marché store, the small righthand section was built around 1874 (before Bon Marché existed). The large central section was built in 1887 to house the new Bon Marché Dry Goods store. The addition on the left side (matching the original right side building) was built in 1927. In the manner of the day, wares were sold outside on the street. Customers included the workers of the city's many textile mills. The store was on Merrimack Street in the heart of the commercial district of what was then the prosperous and growing city of Lowell. Even in its early days, Bon Marché billed itself as the largest department store in New England. Their Rock Bottom Basement Store featured an actual rock, a large

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...

which the basement was built around. The store was an anchor of Lowell's mercantile downtown. Its fortunes declined with the city as the mills closed. The last day of business was January 10, 1976. The building was taken over by the

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 o ...

chain, which itself became defunct in 1996; the building now houses the

UMass Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of Massachusetts public ...

bookstore and other businesses.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bon Marche American companies established in 1878 1878 establishments in Massachusetts 1976 disestablishments in Massachusetts Defunct department stores based in Massachusetts Companies based in Lowell, Massachusetts