Part 5 of a continuing series on Cincinnati’s grand downtown department stores
By Paul A. Tenkotte
Special to NKyTribune
In last week’s installment, we examined how Shillito’s grew to be the largest department store in size and sales in downtown Cincinnati, and a “destination” for one-stop indoor shopping, eating, and services. In fact, by 1955, Shillito’s total sales volume was larger than the combined totals of the second, third, and fourth largest Cincinnati department stores.
Shillito’s growth continued throughout the Cold War period of the late 20th century. The postwar economy was prosperous, and the movement to the suburbs phenomenal. Shillito’s, unlike some other Cincinnati department stores, successfully read the demographic shift and began to open a series of suburban “branch” stores.
Shillito’s new Florence, Kentucky store in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metro area opened in 1977. Courtesy of the Kenton County Public Library, Covington, Ky.
Suburban branch stores were never meant to supplant Shillito’s mammoth “flagship” store on Seventh Street downtown. Rather, they were considered convenient offspring. Much smaller in size than the downtown store, the suburban branches concentrated on clothing, shoes, housewares, and domestics.
In other words, the new suburban branch stores were not complete department stores in the sense of the flagship downtown store. Nor did they have to be. Retail trends were shifting to the new “shopping centers” and “malls.” Shopping centers were massive, generally one-level buildings, with one-, two-, and sometimes even three-story department stores anchoring the ends. One-story, specialty retail establishments faced the parking lot and were accessed via long outdoor sidewalks covered by awnings. Typically, shopping centers included groceries, banks, savings and loans, restaurants, barber and beauty salons, five-and-dime, hardware, clothing, drug, greeting card, jewelry, toy, shoe, appliance, music, book, and other stores. And, of course, there was plenty of free parking.
Like the “shopping center,” the mall was an agglomeration of stores, but in a climate-controlled, indoor setting. In essence, the malls were literally a reinvention of older downtown arcades, such as the Carew Tower Arcade in Cincinnati. Also like downtown flagship stores, malls were literally what I call “surrogate department stores.” They shared the same “destination” and “indoor” themes, and the individual specialty stores functioned much as the separate departments in flagship stores.
Macy’s, Fifth and Race Streets, downtown Cincinnati, 2018. Photo by Paul A. Tenkotte.
Shillitos’ opened a number of branch stores in the Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Lexington, and Louisville regions. In the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metro area, these included: Tri-County (1960); Western Woods (1963); Kenwood Mall (1966); Beechmont Mall (1969); and Florence Mall (1977).
Also in the late 20th century, Shillito’s and other department stores faced new competition from a proliferation of discount stores, like Kmart and Walmart, junior department stores such as Kohl’s, and off-price retailers like T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. As early as 1954, Shillito’s stated that it would begin to publicly advertise its store policy to match the prices of discount stores on merchandise (“Shillito’s Declares ‘Open Warfare’ on ‘Fair-Traded’ Price Cutters,” Cincinnati Post, November 20, 1954, p. 12).
Malls proved very enticing to shoppers, replicating the themes of “destination” and “indoor” convenience, just like the downtown flagship department stores. On the other hand, the malls were more convenient to suburban homes, offered plenty of free parking, and were open in the evenings and on Sundays. During my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, Shillito’s downtown store was typically open only one or two evenings per week and not on Sundays, except during the Christmas holiday season.
Meanwhile, cities across the nation — including Cincinnati — were envisioning downtown and core areas as principally office and commercial in nature, rather than residential. In fact, Cincinnati city plans and urban renewal efforts of the Cold War era encouraged the demolition of older buildings, including many homes in downtown’s adjacent West End neighborhood. “Statistics from census tracts comprising the historic West End documented the demographic damage, a population decline of 85.2 percent, from 52,194 in 1930 to 7,725 in 1990” (Hurley and Tenkotte, Cincinnati: The Queen City, 225th anniversary edition, p. 135).
Surprisingly, by 1980, Shillito’s downtown flagship store was still strong in sales. With “416,000 square feet of retail selling space,” far larger than downtown’s second-largest department store—Pogue’s, at 250,000 square feet—Shillito’s flagship downtown location still accounted for “an estimated 25 percent of the company’s total sales” (“Shillito’s: staying in the sales big-time,” Cincinnati Post, March 20, 1980, p. 6B).
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky families maintained an extraordinary allegiance to their favorite department stores in the 20th century. My father’s family preferred Shillito’s and McAlpin’s, and my mother’s family liked McAlpin’s. For example, my mother fondly recalls how my grandmother, Katherine Meier, purchased my mom’s First Communion dress and purse at McAlpin’s. On the other hand, my friend Frank Prudent’s grandmother was devoted to Mabley’s. And my friend Vic Canfield’s family preferred Pogue’s, as did I as a young man.
Stone marker inside Fifth and Race Streets’ entrance, Macy’s downtown Cincinnati. Photo by Paul A. Tenkotte.
Surprisingly, American department store chains paid little attention to individual, familial, and regional store allegiances. In 1982, Federated Department Stores merged the Shillito’s and Rike’s (of Dayton, Ohio) brand names, as the store became known as “Shillito Rike’s.” In 1986, this name, in turn, was simply replaced by “Lazarus.” In 2003, the store became known as “Lazarus-Macy’s,” then in 2005, as “Macy’s.” Regional families, like mine, were rather confused.
However, the magic of Shillito’s downtown flagship store had already passed by the time of mergers and name changes. Suburbanization, competition from malls, and urban core residential displacement spelled problems for the downtown retail scene. Like other department stores nationwide, Shillito’s responded by downsizing its flagship store on Seventh Street.
The downsizing was subtle at first. The appliance, music and sporting goods annex store in the parking garage on the northwest corner of Seventh and Elm Streets closed in the 1970s. The orderly basement bargain store became a disheveled “last markdown” department, until the basement itself finally closed. The book, coin & stamp, and pharmacy departments, as I recall, disappeared. Inventory everywhere seemed to become thinner, as racks and display cases seemed to be stretched farther apart, and new drywall closed off sections of former retail space.
The next-to-final coup came with the closing of the Seventh Street flagship store. In November 1997, Lazarus opened a brand new location on the northeast corner of Fifth and Race Streets. But the gleaming new facility was really nothing more than a branch store. In fact, its 183,000 square footage was smaller than that of many of the suburban locations. Even its name belied its downtown location, “Fountain Place” (“Grand Opening Nov. 6 for Lazarus,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 23, 1997. p. B16).
Macy’s store closing sale, downtown Cincinnati, January 2018. Photo by Paul A. Tenkotte.
Fortunately, the old Seventh and Race Streets flagship store was renovated into the stunning Lofts at Shillito Place in 1999. There, the beautiful atrium was reopened and restored. Currently, Towne Properties is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in further improvements and restorations at Shillito Place, in appreciation of its historical significance and the renaissance that residential development is experiencing in the city.
In 2008, the nation’s worst economic recession since the Great Depression resulted in a reduction in retail spending to $4.06 trillion nationwide by 2009 (US Census Bureau). Coupled by riots in downtown Cincinnati in 2001 and the growing popularity of online shopping, the regional retail scene experienced challenges.
By 2017, the US Census Bureau reported that annual national retail sales had rebounded to $5.7 trillion, with online sales accounting for about 13.5% of the total in December alone. The phenomenal growth of online retail resulted, in the early 21st century, in the closing of thousands of brick-and-mortar stores. These included suburban locations of big-box discount stores, as well as a growing number of mall department stores. Among the hardest hit was Sears Holdings (Sears and Kmart).
The 2018 announcement of the closing of Macy’s in downtown Cincinnati was not surprising. It was sad, however, ending the 188-year-legacy of Shillito’s, which first opened in 1830. Many retail trends have come and gone in those almost-19 decades. With a strong base of workers, and an exploding number of residential developments, both downtown Cincinnati and Covington are ripe for modern 21st century retailing.
As a downtown resident myself, I enjoy the history of Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport, their uniqueness as “destinations,” and their walkability, convenience, and sustainability. And I look forward to whatever replaces Macy’s at one of Cincinnati’s most coveted downtown locations.
We want to learn more about the history of your business, church, school, or organization in our region (Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky). If you would like to share your rich history with others, please contact the editor of “Our Rich History,” Paul A. Tenkotte, at tenkottep@nku.edu. Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Public History at NKU.
The marker is wrong. Lazarus was founded in 1851. Shillito’s was founded in 1830.