Stix, Baer, Fuller
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__NOTOC__ Stix, Baer and Fuller (sometimes called "Stix" or SBF or the Grand-Leader) was a
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 in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
that operated from 1892 to 1984.


Founders and history

Originally called the Grand-Leader, the original central downtown store was located on the north side of
Washington Avenue Washington Avenue may refer to: United States * Washington Avenue (Miami Beach) in Miami Beach, Florida * Washington Avenue in Portland, Maine, a part of Maine State Route 26 * Washington Avenue (Milford Mill, Maryland) * Washington Avenue (Towso ...
between Sixth and Seventh street and by 1920 had grown to encompass the entire city block. The store was founded in 1892 by Charles Stix, brothers Julius Baer and Sigmond Baer, and Aaron Fuller. It was a
public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...
, with its
stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
traded on the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
. The company was a longtime member of the American Merchandising Companies ("AMC"), a trade association of important, locally owned department stores across the United States. For many years the company was known as the leading high-end fashion store in the
St. Louis Metropolitan Area Greater St. Louis is the 23rd-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the largest in Missouri, and the second-largest in Illinois. Its core city—St. Louis, Missouri—sits in the geographic center of the metro area, ...
, although a smaller competitor, Scruggs, Vandervoort and Barney, also vied for that position. In 1937 Arthur B. Baer (1895–1970), the only son of Julius Baer (1861–1940), became president. At one point, Stix's largest shareholders were Arthur B. Baer, Sidney Baer and Leo C. Fuller, who were also the senior officers of the company. However, they hired a series of more experienced retailers to run the business as general managers. Those with the longest tenure were first, Morris Jelenko and later, Frank P. Wolff. The last general manager and president was J. Arthur Baer, son of Arthur B. Baer. In 1966 the company was purchased by
Associated Dry Goods Associated Dry Goods Corporation (ADG) was a chain of department stores that merged with May Department Stores in 1986. It was founded in 1916 as an association of independent stores called American Dry Goods, based in New York City. History ...
(ADG) and eventually expanded into 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 t ...
market. Unable to compete against
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 Departmen ...
, ADG sold the 13-store division in 1984 to
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 also re-branded the stores to the Dillard's name. The flagship store in downtown St. Louis, designed by
John Mauran John Lawrence Mauran, FAIA (1866–1933) was an American architect responsible for many downtown landmarks in St. Louis, Missouri. He was also active in Wisconsin and Texas. Life Mauran was born in Providence, Rhode Island and studied at t ...
and built in stages between 1906 and 1991, was briefly closed and reopened in 1985 as part of the St. Louis Centre Mall, but would be shuttered in September 2001, amidst the mall's failure. The River Roads store was demolished along with the rest of shopping center. The store at the former Crestwood Plaza was demolished in Fall, 2016. (The remainder of the former Crestwood Plaza will also be demolished Winter 2016, and into 2017 for a new development.)


Athletic sponsorship

In the early 1930s, the company sponsored a local
St. Louis Soccer League The St. Louis Soccer League was a professional soccer league in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1915 With four teams drawn from two amateur leagues, it was at the time the country's only pro soccer league. It folded in 1938. History The league ...
team, known as Stix, Baer and Fuller F.C. This team won the 1933 and 1934
National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...
national soccer titles.


Radio station

On April 3, 1922, the firm started a
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
station with the
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
WCK. In June 1925 the call letters were changed to WSBF in accordance with the company's initials. The station was sold to the Mississippi Valley Broadcasting Co. in 1927.


Television station

In 1955 Arthur Baer donated funds toward the construction of the first building that housed Channel 9, the first television studio in the nation built expressly for
educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that are often associated with cable televi ...
. The Julius and Freda Baer Building was named in memory of his parents and was located on the edge of
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...
campus at 6996 Millbrook Boulevard (now renamed Forest Park Parkway), at the southeast corner of Millbrook and Big Bend boulevards. A beautiful new Washington University dormitory now takes up the entire block. The station building was just to the right of the main entrance to the dormitory.


Community relations

The S bar F Scout Ranch in
Knob Lick, Missouri Knob Lick is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in southern Saint Francois County, Missouri, Saint Francois County, Missouri, United States. It is located on Missouri Route DD, just east of U.S. Route 67 in Missouri, U.S. Route 67, ...
, is named for Stix, Baer, and Fuller due to their contribution to help buy the property. In September 1942 Stix, Baer and Fuller donated $10,000 (~$ in ) to save the old
Campbell House Campbell House, or The Campbell House or variations, may refer to: ;in Canada * Campbell House (Toronto, Canada) ;in the United States :(sorted by state, then city/town) * Campbell House (Palmer, Alaska), in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, listed on t ...
in downtown St. Louis from demolition. The donation was made in recognition of the company's 50th anniversary. Shortly thereafter th
Campbell House Museum
with original furnishings opened to the public. The ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'' noted at the time, "A show window replica of the Campbell parlor, furnished with objects from the home, will be displayed by the department store tomorrow at Seventh street and Washington avenue. Figures in the window will be dressed in the costumes of the period, including some of the dresses worn by Mrs. Robert Campbell when she was the reigning hostess of the city."''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'', September 24, 1942, page 1


References


External links



at St. Louis Mercantile Library
University of Missouri-St. Louis A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
* * * http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/11/stix-baer-fuller-st-louis-missouri.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Stix Baer and Fuller Defunct department stores based in Missouri Retail companies established in 1892 Retail companies disestablished in 1984 Companies based in St. Louis National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis Defunct companies based in Missouri Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri