Goldblatt's was an American chain of local

discount store A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cost ...

s that operated in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, as well as

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Founded in 1914, the chain grew to more than twenty stores at its peak, gradually closing some stores in the 1990s and selling others to

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Ok ...

before finally closing completely in 2000.

History

Early beginnings

Goldblatt's was founded in 1914 by brothers Nate and Maurice Goldblatt. Immigrants from Poland, the Goldblatt family ran a grocery store and butcher shop on Chicago's West Side. Nate and Maurice opened their first store near the corner of Ashland and

Chicago Avenue Chicago Avenue is a major east–west street in Chicago, Illinois that runs at 800 north from 385 east to 5968 west in the Chicago street address system from which point it enters the suburbs and goes into several different suburban address ...

. By 1922, the store recorded sales of over $800,000. By 1928 the brothers formed Goldblatt Brothers Inc. During the Great Depression of the 1930s Goldblatt's did well, and the brothers were able to purchase several smaller department stores. In 1936, Goldblatt's opened its State Street flagship store at

State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and Van Buren. Goldblatt's moved towards more upscale products and offered small appliances, a deli, and confectionery goods. GOLDBLATT COIN-TOKEN

Bankruptcy

By 1946 Goldblatt's was operating 15 stores with $62 million in annual sales. Things went well even as the Goldblatt brothers began to quarrel. In 1941, a one-store expansion into

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, was met with little success; the store closed on November 27, 1948, following a unionization attempt by the employees. By the 1950s growth began to stall, with profits flat-lining and new store openings averaging four a year. By the mid-1960s, retailers such as

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

Woolco Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in Columbus, Ohio, by the F. W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At i ...

Zayre Zayre () was a chain of discount stores that operated in the eastern half of the United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in Framingham, Massachusetts. In October 1988, Zayre's parent company, Zayre Corp., sold the stores ...

, and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

were digging into Goldblatt's market. Expansion into the suburbs proved to be a difficult obstacle for Goldblatt's. Middle class shoppers were not enticed to shop at Goldblatt's. The company declared bankruptcy in 1981. In 1982, Goldblatt's reopened with six stores. The mission of the company was restored to selling to low income families. The flagship store, which was to be sold to City of Chicago under Mayor

Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who was the first woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States. She served as the 50th Mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April ...

for a public library location, later sold to DePaul University when the

Harold Washington Library The Harold Washington Library Center is the central library for the Chicago Public Library System. It is located just south of the Loop 'L', at 400 S. State Street in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a full-service library and is ...

was built. Without the money from the City of Chicago Goldblatt's would have closed.

Jerrold Wexler Jerrold Wexler (June 27, 1924 – November 10, 1992) was a noted American businessman and film producer. He was the brother of cinematographer Haskell Wexler and the stepfather of actress Daryl Hannah. Early life and education Wexler was born ...

helped save the firm from bankruptcy. By 1985 Goldblatt's was profitable. However, changing markets, increasing competition, and old stores doomed the chain. In 2000, Goldblatt's closed once again.

purchased several former stores to enter the Chicago market again (Ames had taken over many of

's former Chicago stores, all of them later closed). But later in that same year, it returned and reopened its 47th and Ashland location. Goldblatt's later reclaimed four more locations when Ames closed its Chicago stores. In 2003, the company closed its stores for good and liquidated.

Ames

Shortly after Goldblatt's closed its stores, discount retailer

purchased seven of the stores for $7.6 million in April 2000.

References

External links

''Encyclopedia of Chicago''
* {{National Register of Historic Places Defunct companies based in Chicago 1914 establishments in Illinois Retail companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct discount stores of the United States Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places American companies established in 1914 Retail companies established in 1914 2000 disestablishments in Illinois Chicago Landmarks