Bacon's was a chain of

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

s based in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, United States.

History

Jeremiah Bacon opened a store called Bacon's Dry Goods in 1845 on Market Street near Hancock Street. In 1876 he moved into a structure four times larger than the original. In 1901, Bacon's opened a location on Fourth and Market streets that became its flagship store. The new building had entrances on each street and featured a distinctive spiraling atrium. The store remained open until September 6, 1972, when it closed to make way for the Kentucky International Convention Center. In 1903, Bacon's sons sold the store to the large New York City-based dry goods conglomerate H.B. Claflin & Company, the owner of

Stewart Dry Goods 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 ...

. The store was acquired by Ohio-based

Mercantile Stores Mercantile Stores Company Inc. until 1998, was a traditional department store retailer operating 102 fashion apparel stores and 16 home fashion stores in 17 states. The stores were operated under 13 different nameplates and varied in size, with t ...

when Claflin went bankrupt in 1914. Bacon's opened a suburban location in St. Matthews in 1953; locations followed in Shively in 1956 and

Bashford Manor Mall Bashford Manor Mall was a enclosed mall in Louisville, Kentucky which opened in 1973 and once had about 85 stores, including Ayr-Way, Bacon's, and Ben Snyder's. It was closed and demolished in 2003. History The mall was named for the surroun ...

in 1972. The chain added a location in

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a Home rule in the United States, home rule-class city in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States, of which it is also the county seat. It is the List of cities in Kentucky, fourth-most populous city in the state. Owensboro is loca ...

, in 1977. In 1982, Bacon's revived its

Downtown Louisville Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Kentucky, Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, ...

presence with a store in the Louisville Galleria (later renamed Fourth Street Live!). The downtown store closed in 2003. In 1988, it opened a location in Mall St. Matthews. Bacon's marketed itself as Kentucky's oldest department store, and often held elaborate sales and celebrations for its anniversaries. Bacon's also held "Midnight Madness" sales that were popular with shoppers. In the 1990s, Bacon's faced increasing competition from national chains, including

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 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 company a ...

, which would often open up locations in the same shopping centers as Bacon's. Some Louisville-based department store chain competitors included

, Ben Snyders, and Kaufman-Straus. Mercantile Stores was acquired by Dillard's in 1998 and the Bacon's name was retired.

Southern Indiana

Bacon's always had a presence in Indiana prior to the opening of its St. Matthews store in 1953. One of the earliest location in Indiana was on Spring Street in downtown Jeffersonville. By the mid-1950s, this store was determined to be too small and was replaced by a much larger store in the newly built Youngstown shopping center in 1956. The store in the Youngstown Shopping Center in Jeffersonville moved in 1990 to River Falls Mall.

References

{{Dillard's history Defunct companies based in Louisville, Kentucky Defunct department stores based in Kentucky Retail companies established in 1845 Retail companies disestablished in 1998 1845 establishments in Kentucky 1998 disestablishments in Kentucky