Wanamaker'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 1861 by

John Wanamaker John Wanamaker (July 11, 1838December 12, 1922) was an American merchant and religious, civic and political figure, considered by some to be a proponent of advertising and a "pioneer in marketing". He served as United States Postmaster General ...

. It was one of the first department stores in the United States, and peaked at 16 locations along the

Delaware Valley The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Nor ...

in the 20th century. Wanamaker's was purchased by

A. Alfred Taubman Adolph Alfred "Al" Taubman (January 31, 1924 – April 17, 2015) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. In 2002, he was convicted for a price-fixing scheme involving the top two auction houses in the United States. Early li ...

, who previously purchased the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

department store

Woodward & Lothrop Woodward & Lothrop was a department store chain headquartered in Washington, D.C. that began as the capital's first department store in 1887. Woodies, as it was often nicknamed, maintained stores in the Mid-Atlantic states, Mid-Atlantic United St ...

, in 1986. The store was acquired from bankruptcy by

The May Department Stores Company The May Department Stores Company was an American holding company of department stores founded in 1877 by David May. It operated several regional department stores throughout the United States, which were managed as distinct business divisions ...

in 1994, and converted all remaining Wanamaker's stores to

Hecht's Hecht's was an American department store chain founded in 1857 by Samuel Hecht, Jr. It was headquartered in Washington, D.C., and operated in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southern United States. The family business was acqui ...

in 1995. Wanamaker's was influential in the development of the

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

industry including as the first store to use price tags.

History

19th century

was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, in 1838. Due to a persistent cough, he was unable to join the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

to fight in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, so instead started a career in business. In 1861, he and his brother-in-law Nathan Brown founded a men's clothing store in Philadelphia called Oak Hall. Wanamaker carried on the business alone after Brown's death in 1868. Eight years later, Wanamaker purchased the abandoned

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

station for use as a new, larger retail location. The concept was to renovate the terminal into a "Grand Depot" similar to London's Royal Exchange or Paris's

Les Halles Les Halles (; 'The Halls') was Paris' central fresh food market. It last operated on 12 January 1973 and was replaced by an underground shopping centre and a park. The unpopular modernist development was demolished yet again in 2010, and replac ...

and forerunners of the modern department store that were well known in Europe at that time. The Wanamaker's Grand Depot opened in time to service the public visiting Philadelphia for the American

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876. It was the first official wo ...

of 1876, and in fact resembled one of the many pavilions at that world's fair because of its fanciful new

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...

façade. In 1877, the interior of Wanamaker's was refurbished and expanded to include not only men's clothing, but women's clothing and

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and Common ...

as well. This was Philadelphia's first modern-day department store, and one of the earliest founded in America. A circular counter was placed at the center of the building, and concentric circles radiated around it with 129 counters of goods. The store also accepted mail orders, though it was not a large business until the early twentieth century. Wanamaker first thought of how he would run a store on new principles when, as a youth, a merchant refused his request to exchange a purchase. A practicing

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, he chose not to advertise on Sundays. Before he opened his Grand Depot for retail business, he let evangelist

Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Mas ...

use its facilities as a meeting place, while Wanamaker provided 300 ushers from his store personnel. His retail advertisements—the first to be copyrighted beginning in 1874—were factual, and promises made in them were kept. Wanamaker guaranteed the quality of his merchandise in print, allowed his customers to return purchases for a cash refund and offered the first restaurant to be located inside a department store. Wanamaker also invented the price tag. His employees were to be treated respectfully by management (including not being scolded in public), and John Wanamaker & Company offered its employees access to the John Wanamaker Commercial Institute, as well as free medical care, recreational facilities, profit sharing plans, and pensions—long before these types of benefits were considered standard in corporate employment. Innovation and "firsts" marked Wanamaker's. The store was the first department store with

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

illumination (1878), first store with a

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

(1879), and the first store to install

pneumatic tube Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines, also known as pneumatic tube transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of Tubing (material), tubes by Gas compressor, compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are use ...

s to transport cash and documents (1880). Wanamaker's commissioned a Philadelphia/

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

artist,

George Washington Nicholson George Washington Nicholson (1832–1912) was an American artist best known for his landscape portraits. Born near Salem, New Jersey and raised in Mannington Township, New Jersey, Nicholson worked painting homes and began painting pictures with t ...

(1832–1912), to paint a large landscape mural, "The Old Homestead", which was finished in March 1892. The mural was still owned by Wanamaker's in 1950, but has since passed into a private collection.

20th century

The existing Grand Depot was razed and replaced with the flagship

John Wanamaker Store The John Wanamaker Store is a department store building and National Historic Landmark on Market Street (Philadelphia), Market Street in the Center City, Philadelphia, Center City district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was d ...

in 1911. News of the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

's'' sinking was transmitted to Wanamaker's

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...

station in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and given to anxious crowds waiting outside—yet another first for an American retail store. Public Christmas Caroling in the store's Grand Court began in 1918. In 1919, , a Spanish newspaper, reported that Wanamaker's New York store had 100 specialized departments all under one roof, including a (The Department of Personal Service for Latin-Americans). Other innovations included employing buyers to travel overseas to Europe each year for the latest fashions, the first White sale (1878) and other themed sales such as the February "Opportunity Sales" to keep prices as low as possible while keeping volume high. The store also broadcast its organ concerts on the Wanamaker-owned radio station

WOO Woo, or variants, may refer to: People * Wu (surname), and several variants and other transliterations ** Wu (surname 伍) ** Wu (surname 武) ** Ng (name): 吳, 伍 * Hu (surname), also pronounced Woo * Woo (Korean surname) * Woo (Korean give ...

beginning in 1922. Under the leadership of James Bayard Woodford, Wanamaker's opened piano stores in Philadelphia and New York that did a huge business with an innovative fixed-price system of sales. Salons in period decor were used to sell the higher-price items. Wanamaker also tried selling small organs built by the Austin Organ Company for a time. After John Wanamaker's death in 1922, the business carried on under Wanamaker family ownership.

Rodman Wanamaker Lewis Rodman Wanamaker (February 13, 1863 – March 9, 1928) was an American businessman and heir to the Wanamaker's department store fortune. In addition to operating stores in Philadelphia, New York City, and Paris, he was a patron of the ar ...

, John's son, enhanced the reputation of the stores as artistic centers and temples of the beautiful, offering imported luxuries from around the world. After his death in 1928, the stores (managed for the family by a trust) continued to thrive for a time. The men's clothing and accessories department was expanded into its own separate store on the lower floors of the Lincoln-Liberty Building, two doors down on Chestnut Street, in 1932. This building, which also had a private apartment for the Wanamaker family on its top floor, was sold to

Philadelphia National Bank CoreStates Financial Corporation, previously known as Philadelphia National Bank (PNB), was an American bank holding company in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area. The bank was renamed in the mid-1980s after a series of mergers. A ...

in 1952; the initials on the building's crown read "PNB" until November 2014, even though the bank no longer existed. In the late 20th century, Wanamaker's lost business to other retail chains, including

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, ...

and

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 the Philadelphia market. The Wanamaker Family Trust finally sold John Wanamaker and Company, with its underpatronized stores, to Los Angeles-based

Carter Hawley Hale Stores Broadway Stores, Inc., was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home b ...

for US$60 million (~$ in ) cash in 1978. Carter Hawley Hale poured another $80 million into renovating the stores, but to no avail—customers had gone elsewhere in the intervening decades and did not come back. In late 1986, the now 15-store chain was sold to

, owned by

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

shopping-mall magnate

, for around $180 million (~$ in ). Taubman reorganized the business with a shortened corporate name (Wanamaker's Inc.), and poured millions more into store renovations and public relations campaigns. This too was no help, as Taubman's retail interests were heavily in debt and the stores' combined sales were a disappointment.

Acquisition by May and conversion to Hecht's

collapsed in bankruptcy, filing for Chapter 11 on January 17, 1994. The Wanamaker's chain was sold to

May Department Stores Company The May Department Stores Company was an American holding company of department stores founded in 1877 by David May. It operated several regional department stores throughout the United States, which were managed as distinct business divisions ...

on June 21, 1995. Wanamaker's Inc. was formally dissolved, and operations were consolidated with May's

division in Arlington, Virginia. After 133 consecutive years, the Wanamaker's name was removed from all stores and replaced with

. In 1996, May acquired Wanamaker's historic rival

Strawbridge & Clothier Strawbridge's, formerly Strawbridge & Clothier, was a department store in the northeastern United States, with stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The Center City Philadelphia flagship store was, in its day, a gracious urban empori ...

and re-branded all

-area Hecht's locations as Strawbridge's, including the Center City flagship. The building closed soon after for renovation and refurbishment, which saw the retail space reduced in size again to three floors, with two more upper floors converted to commercial office space. The flagship structure was sold again in early 1997, to Amerimar Realty. The retail portion reopened in August 1997 as a branch of New York-based

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was an American department store chain founded in 1826 by Samuel Lord. It had 86 full-line stores in the Northeastern United States at its peak in the 2000s, and 38 locations at the time of its liquidation in 2021. The Lord & Tay ...

, another division of

May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was an American holding company of department stores founded in 1877 by David May. It operated several regional department stores throughout the United States, which were managed as distinct business divisions ...

. In August 2006 the store was converted to

, operated by the Macy's East Division of Federated Department Stores Inc., now

Macy's, Inc. Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, File ...

, which acquired May in late 2005. The former New York Wanamaker's store on Broadway had retail space occupied by

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

by 1996, and later

Wegmans Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a privately held American supermarket chain. It is now headquartered in Gates, New York, but was founded on January 30, 1916, in Rochester, New York. As of late 2024, Wegmans had 111 stores in eight states (New Yo ...

(2023). The store was not immune to the major change in retailing away from regional chains to national chains. The uniformity of brand offerings and the cost savings available to national chains all worked against the viability of the store as an independent personality, although customers generally had a major say in determining store offerings and the magnificence of its commercial space did tend to cause it to be stocked with better offerings. Other retailers had also learned to offer goods with much smaller staff rosters. The ability of retailers to go national in opposition to regional tastes is still an experiment-in-progress with mixed results.

Suburban branch stores

Wanamaker's opened a store in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

in 1950. After the New York store closed in 1954, Wanamaker's expanded to the Philadelphia suburbs, starting with the Wynnewood store in December 1954. The second suburban branch opened in 1958 in

Jenkintown Jenkintown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is approximately north of Center City Philadelphia. History The community was named for William Jenkins, a Welsh pioneer settler. The borough was settled in about ...

, not far from the

Strawbridge and Clothier store The Strawbridge and Clothier Store is a historic department store building located at Jenkintown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It was built by Strawbridge & Clothier in 1930-1931 and renovated and expanded in 1954. It closed in 1988 when it ...

. The store at

Moorestown Mall Moorestown Mall is a shopping mall in Moorestown, New Jersey, owned by PREIT. The mall has over 90 stores and is anchored by Boscov's, Regal Cinemas, and Cooper University Health Care - Moorestown Campus. Junior anchors are Five Below, HomeSense, ...

opened in 1963. Other prominent suburban branch stores included King of Prussia Mall (1963),

Harrisburg Mall The Harrisburg Mall was a regional mall located just outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg in Swatara Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Swatara Township, Pennsylvania. It was the largest mall in the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolita ...

(1969), Berkshire Mall (1970), Oxford Valley Mall (1973), Springfield Mall (1974),

Deptford Mall Deptford Mall is a major shopping mall in Deptford Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey. Owned and managed by Macerich, it is the county's only indoor regional shopping center. The mall is anchored by Boscov's, Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPe ...

(1975),

Roosevelt Mall Roosevelt Mall is a medium-sized outdoor shopping mall, located along Pennsylvania Route 73 (Cottman Avenue) between Bustleton Avenue west end and U.S. Route 1 ( Roosevelt Boulevard) in the east end, or Rhawnhurst neighborhood, of Northeast Phi ...

(1976), Lehigh Valley Mall (1976), Montgomery Mall (1977) and

Christiana Mall Christiana Mall is a shopping mall located in Christiana, Delaware between the cities of Newark and Wilmington. The one-level, enclosed super-regional mall is situated at the intersection of Interstate 95 (exit 4A) and Delaware Route 1/ Delawar ...

(1991, last Wanamaker's store built).

In popular culture

* In the 1950 musical ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'', in the song "Marry the Man Today", Adelaide sings the line, "In Wanamaker's and Saks and Klein's, a lesson I've been taught. You can't make alterations on a dress you haven't bought." * In 1981, scenes in the film ''

Blow Out ''Blow Out'' is a 1981 American independent mystery thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-bud ...

'' were filmed outside Wanamaker's. * In 1987, much of the movie ''

Mannequin A mannequin (sometimes spelled as manikin and also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off dif ...

'' was filmed at Wanamaker's, as was the 1991 sequel, '' Mannequin Two: On the Move''. * In 2006, in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

TV series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', jailed Lupertazzi crime boss, John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni, tells his lawyer that he met his wife Ginny while she was working at the tie counter at Wanamaker's.

Gallery

File:Grand Court of Macy's Center City.jpg, The grand court at the original Wanamaker's at 1300 Market Street in

in May 2017 File:Philadelphia; a guide, made for the convenience of people interested in the city's notable history and present achievements (1917) (14780590225).jpg, The Grand Court in the Wanamaker Store in

, showing the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

façade at the south end in 1917 File:Wanamaker Directory.jpg, The flagship store directory File:WanamakerBuilding6.JPG, Wanamaker's from South Penn Square File:Albert Leo Stevens balloon at Manhattan Wanamaker's.jpg,

Albert Leo Stevens Albert Leo Stevens (March 9, 1877 – May 8, 1944) was a pioneering balloonist. Biography He was born on March 9, in 1873 or 1877, in Cleveland, Ohio, of Czech parentage. He had brother Frank Stevens (1875–1958). He started making ...

ascends from Wanamaker's in

in 1911

References

External links

*Th
John Wanamaker Collection, 1827-1987
including an extensive collection of correspondence, accounts, scrapbooks, legal papers, photographs and other materials which detail the history of Wanamaker's store, is available for research use at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

. {{Hecht's history 1861 establishments in Pennsylvania American companies established in 1861 Defunct department stores based in Philadelphia History of Philadelphia May Department Stores Retail companies disestablished in 1996 Retail companies established in 1861 Wanamaker family