The Jones Store Company was an American chain of

department stores 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 appea ...

located in the

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

area formerly operated by Mercantile Stores Company and the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

-based May Co.

History

The Jones Store Company was founded in 1887 as an store in

Stafford, Kansas Stafford is a city in Stafford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 959. History Stafford was founded in 1878. Like Stafford County, the city was named for Lewis Stafford, a casualty in the Civ ...

, by J. Logan Jones. In 1895 Jones opened a store at 6th and Main in the

River Market The River Market (formerly known as Westport Landing, the City Market, and River Quay) is a riverfront neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri that comprises the first and oldest incorporated district in Kansas City. It stretches north of the downto ...

neighborhood of

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. In 1902 Jones leased a seven-story building that took up an entire block at 12th Street and Main across the street from Bernheimer Bros. & Co. Jones declared bankruptcy in 1910 and the store was taken over by New York interests. In 1919 the new owners acquired the merchandise from Bernheimer Brothers.J. Logan Jones Kclibrary.org - Retrieved January 9, 2008
/ref> The downtown flagship store remained in business until January 1998 even as other large retailers had left downtown. The building was demolished in 2005. The Jones Store became a division of Mercantile Stores Company in the early 1960s. It was acquired by May Department Stores in 1998 after the

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

acquisition of Mercantile, and integrated into the company's

Famous-Barr The Famous-Barr Co. (originally Famous and Barr Co.) was a division of Macy's, Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores). Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Railway Exchange Building, it was the flagship store of The May Department Sto ...

division. On August 30, 2005, it became part of Federated with that company's acquisition of May. On February 1, 2006, The Jones Store Co. was assumed by the new

Macy's Midwest Macy's Midwest, St. Louis, Missouri, is a former division of Macy's, Inc. It had operations in New York, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It was created February 1, 2006 from a reorganization of ...

division of Federated. On September 9, 2006, The Jones Store Co. name was phased out in favor of the Macy's nameplate, marking the second entry for Macy's into Kansas City and Topeka ever since the chain sold its original Kansas City stores to

in 1985. The original Jones Store locations included Downtown, Bannister Mall, Blue Ridge Mall,

Metro North Mall Metro North Mall was a mall located at 400 NW Barry Road, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States Metro North opened in 1976 and was the only enclosed mall located north of the Missouri River in the Kansas City metro area, as well as being the ...

, Oak Park Mall, Independence Center,

Metcalf South Shopping Center Metcalf South Shopping Center was a shopping mall in Overland Park, Kansas. It opened in 1967, near a large, unique department store called the French Market, which later became a strip mall anchored by Kmart and Hancock Fabrics (the Kmart closed ...

Town Center Plaza Town Center Plaza is an open-air shopping center in Leawood, Kansas, United States. It is home to a number of upscale stores with few or no other locations in the Kansas City area, including Allen Edmonds, Arhaus, Brooks Brothers, Bonobos (appare ...

, Prairie Village Shopping Center, and

West Ridge Mall West Ridge Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Topeka, Kansas. The mall has three open anchor stores: Dillard's, Furniture Mall of Kansas, and JCPenney. There are two vacant anchors that were formerly Sears and Burlington. It is the third largest ...

References

External links

Official website
(Archive)
Jones Dry Goods at KC Public Library

The Jones Store Company at KC Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones Store, The Retail companies established in 1887 Defunct department stores based in Missouri Macy's Retail companies disestablished in 2006 1887 establishments in Kansas 2006 disestablishments in Missouri 1998 mergers and acquisitions May Department Stores Defunct companies based in Missouri