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Davison's was an American
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 ...
chain founded in 1891 in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, United States. It was a local institution, and competed with Rich's in the Atlanta market. Davison's expanded throughout Georgia and
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
. It was acquired by
Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
in 1925, and ultimately converted to Macy's in 1985.


History


Establishment

Davison's first opened its doors in Atlanta in 1891 and had its origins in the Davison & Douglas company. In 1901, the store changed its name to Davison-Paxon-Stokes after the retirement of E. Lee Douglas from the business and the appointment of Frederic John Paxon as treasurer. In early 1927 the company dropped the "Stokes" to become Davison Paxon Co..


Acquisition by Macy's

While rival M. Rich Brothers Dry Goods Company remained a family owned store, Davison-Paxon-Stokes was sold to R.H. Macy & Co. in 1925. By 1927, R.H. Macy built the huge
Peachtree Street Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Beginning at Five Points (Atlanta), Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown Atlanta, Midtown; a few blocks afte ...
store, 200 Peachtree, which still stands today. The downtown Davison's store was a classic example of a
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
shopping experience. The main entrance on Peachtree features a very stately
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...
- floored
cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...
and
jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...
area, modelled after Macy's
flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
on
Herald Square Herald Square is a major commercial intersection in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, formed by the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue (officially Avenue of the Americas), and 34th Street. Named for the now-defunct ''New ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. There is a mezzanine overlooking the level with
escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a Electric motor, motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the st ...
s leading to that floor. A bank of
elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...
s in the rear serves floors from the
basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...
through the sixth floor. The mezzanine and the third floor connected with the
parking garage A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...
across Carnegie Way. When the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel opened next door in 1976, an entrance connected the two buildings, although the difference in floor heights required several steps up from Davison's into the hotel. Davison's was owned by Macy's for sixty years under its own name, and made no effort to disguise its affiliation with Macy's. Advertisements clearly stated "Davison's - a division of R.H. Macy & Co." and
charge card A charge card is a type of credit card that enables the cardholder to make purchases which are paid for by the card issuer, to whom the cardholder becomes indebted. The cardholder is obliged to repay the debt to the card issuer in full by the d ...
s from Davison's were usable at Macy's and
Bamberger's Bamberger's was a department store chain with branches primarily in New Jersey and other locations in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. The chain was headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. History 19th century Newark was known for m ...
(and vice versa).


Expansion

Over time, the Davison-Paxon Company name was shortened to simply Davison's. Not long after, the company embarked on an aggressive expansion plan across Georgia and
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
. Locations opened in the downtowns of
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, Augusta, Macon and Columbus, as well as a store in downtown
Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...
. During this time, Rich's remained exclusively in Atlanta. In Augusta, Davison's competed with the J.B. White chain and in Columbus, Kirven's was its main rival. In 1959, Davison's opened its first suburban location at
Lenox Square Lenox Square is a shopping mall in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is adjacent to Phipps Plaza, both of which are owned by Simon Property Group. Lenox Square spans of gross leasable area and has 198 tenants, makin ...
mall along with Rich's. Throughout the 1960s, Rich's began to very aggressively expand in the suburbs while Davison's remained a downtown player for the most part. However, Davison's did open one mall location at the now-
demolish Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apa ...
ed Columbia Mall (later known as
Avondale Mall Avondale Mall, originally known as ''Columbia Mall'', opened in 1964 as an enclosed mall in the state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The mall's original name came from its location at the intersection of Columbia & Memorial Dri ...
) near Avondale Estates. Davison's expanded once again in the 1970s and 1980s with locations at
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
, Southlake, Gwinnett Place, Shannon, Northlake and
Perimeter A perimeter is the length of a closed boundary that encompasses, surrounds, or outlines either a two-dimensional shape or a one-dimensional line. The perimeter of a circle or an ellipse is called its circumference. Calculating the perimet ...
Malls. New locations also replaced the downtown stores in all the other cities mentioned except Columbus, which faced stronger competition from regional chains. The Columbia store continued as the only downtown store (except for the headquarters Peachtree St. store) in the Macy's Atlanta division until it was forced to close in 1992 as part of the Chapter 11 reorganization. Today, it is the site of the Columbia Museum of Art. The new Davison's stores were typically white
brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...
with small glass atriums at the entrance. Davison's also sponsored the Egleston Children's Christmas Parade, whose route still passes the former downtown store location.


Conversion to Macy's

In the mid-1980s, Macy's began to consolidate its regional divisions to streamline its corporate structure. On February 1, 1985, Davison's and Macy's Midwest were combined into one division, Macy's Atlanta. Macy's slowly began to retire the Davison's name. In 1984, the logo was changed to the same thin
typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...
of its more famous counterpart in the
ITC Avant Garde ITC Avant Garde Gothic is a geometric sans serif font family based on the logo font used in the '' Avant Garde'' magazine. Herb Lubalin devised the logo concept and its companion headline typeface, and then he and Tom Carnase, a partner in Luba ...
font. By November 1985, all Davison's stores were formally renamed Macy's. In February 1986, the first Atlanta-area store to begin under the Macy's name opened at Town Center at Cobb.


Notable real estate


Flagship store

The downtown location no longer functions as a department store. Most of the building (), with the address 180 Peachtree, is as of 2012 used as a data center. Another part, owned by 200 Peachtree Retail, a group of
investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...
s embarked on a major effort to transform part of the historic building — which had remained mostly vacant since Macy’s closed in 2003 — into an event center calle
Southern Exchange Ballrooms
that hosts conferences, weddings, parties and other special events. The group invested more than $30 million into the project. The building now features an over- Whitehall ballroom, of
balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...
space, of The Davison Ballroom, The Cellar & The 155 event space with over 43,000 square feet, of
conference center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
space, and a
kitchen A kitchen is a room (architecture), room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a Kitchen stove, stove, a sink ...
which is home to Rosendale Events, a catering company exclusive located at Southern Exchange Ballroom led by Certified Master Chef Rich Rosendale. Additionally the venue is also home to famed Event Planner & Designer Brian Worley and his company B. Worley Productions. The historic building also features five
restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...
s, and recently hosted large parties from the 2019 NFL Super Bowl, Major League Soccer Digital Headquarters, SEC Championship party and will soon be host to the Golf Channel's live broadcast of the Payne Stewart Awards among many other events.


Branch redevelopments

By spring 2003, most all former Davison's stores were closed when Rich's and Macy's were consolidated under the "Rich's-Macy's"
nameplate A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Nameplates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone's written name. Nameplates primarily serve an informat ...
. That same year, the historic downtown Davison's/Macy's store on Peachtree Street was also closed. This ended the era of department-store shopping in downtown Atlanta. All of the old Davison's mall stores in Atlanta were left vacant except for three locations. The Perimeter Mall and Lenox Square locations were closed, renovated, and reopened several months later as
Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...
in late 2003 and the Perimeter Mall location closed in March 2012 and became
Von Maur Von Maur, Inc. ( ) is an American department store chain based in Davenport, Iowa. Founded in 1872, the chain operates over 36 locations across the United States, primarily in the Midwestern United States, Midwest. History Beginnings In 1872 ...
and the Lenox Square location is still open as of 2021. The Northlake location was re-branded as Rich's-Macy's before changing back to simply Macy's two years later. One floor of the Town Center location, which had originally opened as Macy's, became a Rich's-Macy's Furniture Gallery location. It is now a Macy's Furniture Gallery location and a Macy's Furniture Clearance Center on the upper level, and now has a Macy's Men's Store on the lower level. And Macy's Furniture Gallery on the middle level. The remainder of Davison's former locations remain vacant except for the locations at Cumberland Mall, Avondale/Columbia Mall, Gwinnett Place and Augusta Mall. The Cumberland Mall location was torn down in late 2005 for a major overhaul at the 32-year-old center, a detached
Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...
now sits just to the west of the Davison's footprint The Cumberland Mall location is now a courtyard/lifestyle center containing Ted's Montana Grill closed in 2020 due to COVID-19 financial restraints, Cheesecake Factory, Pf Changs, and Maggiano's Little Italy. The Avondale/Columbia Mall location was completely demolished with the rest of the mall for a Wal-Mart SuperCenter. The Gwinnett Place location is now home to Korean chain Mega Mart. The Augusta Mall location was open till 2006 as a Macy's Furniture Showroom. It has closed to make way for a
lifestyle center A lifestyle center (American English), or lifestyle centre (Commonwealth English), is an open-air shopping center which aims to create a "pedestrian-friendly, town-like atmosphere with sidewalks, landscaping, ambient lighting, and park benches. ...
similar to Cumberland Mall, another
General Growth Properties GGP Inc. (an initialism of General Growth Properties) was an American Commercial property, commercial real estate company and the second-largest shopping mall operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers Martin Bucksbaum, Martin, Ma ...
mall.


Gallery

File:Winecoff Hotel 1984 GA1.jpg, Davison's flagship store,
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, 1984 File:Davison-Paxon-Stokes, Atlanta, 1926.png, Davison-Paxon-Stokes, 1926 File:Old Macy's in Downtown Atlanta.jpg, Davison's building, 2006 File:davisonspeachtreest.jpg, Davison's building, 2004 File:athensdavison'sdtwn.jpg, Athens downtown Davison's File:athensdavison'small.jpg, Georgia Square Mall Davison's This location closed in 2017


See also

*
List of defunct department stores of the United States This is a list of defunct department stores of the United States, from small-town one-unit stores to mega-chains, which have disappeared over the past 100 years. Many closed, while others were sold or merged with other department stores. Depar ...
*
List of department stores converted to Macy's This is a list of department stores converted to Macy's and sister brand Bloomingdale's by way of mergers and acquisitions. Macy's became a national brand through these conversions, and replaced many regional department stores with local heritage ...


References

{{Atlanta history Defunct department stores based in Atlanta History of Atlanta Buildings and structures in Atlanta Macy's 1891 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)