{"id":45,"date":"2016-02-24T20:19:22","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T20:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/137.148.11.35\/wordpress\/lets-go-shopping\/?post_type=chapter&p=45"},"modified":"2018-11-28T12:11:13","modified_gmt":"2018-11-28T17:11:13","slug":"clevelands-earliest-retail-traditions","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/chapter\/clevelands-earliest-retail-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland’s Earliest Retail Traditions"},"content":{"raw":"The dilemma of sustaining department stores downtown was anything but a problem one hundred and twenty-five years ago.\u00a0 Growing communities throughout the U.S. welcomed them.\u00a0 In fact, they could not open them fast enough.\u00a0 Nowhere was this more evident than in Cleveland, Ohio.\u00a0 An up and coming late 19th century city, Cleveland provided an ideal setting for new store growth.\u00a0 Those 19th century downtown stores that survived possessed the uncanny knack of not only fulfilling the immediate demands of their shoppers; but also, anticipating their future.\u00a0 Shrewd, insightful businessmen, many quickly became respected community leaders.\u00a0 Most importantly, they provided Clevelanders with the kind of quality products, fair pricing\u00a0and impeccable service previously unimagined.\r\n\r\nLike so many other Midwest\u00a0cities, Cleveland originated as a small government and trading outpost within a wilderness district called the Western Reserve of Ohio.\u00a0 The first years of settlement were tough.\u00a0 Completely isolated from other growing communities such as Cincinnati, Youngstown and Detroit, this heavily forested village contained bears, coyotes and wolves.\u00a0 If that were not bad enough, its winters were frigidly cold and its summers unbearably hot.\u00a0 Many weary travelers did not consider this community a welcoming place.\u00a0 Yet, in spite of its initial handicaps, Cleveland managed to survive and grow.\u00a0 The privately-funded turnpikes of the 1820s; state-operated Ohio and Erie Canal\u00a0of the 1830s and railroad lines of the 1850s insured future growth.\u00a0 The development of the steel industry in the 1850s and oil refining in the 1860s guaranteed its economic importance nationally for many years to come.\u00a0 These many business and technological breakthroughs also impacted retailing.\r\n\r\nLocal shopkeepers, beginning in the 1820s, reaped the economic benefits of locating here.\u00a0 In this case, large-scale investments by entrepreneurs, in a wide variety of coveted businesses such as retailing, significantly increased the amount of disposable income.\u00a0 This financial situation enabled Clevelanders to spend more on merchandise than had been the case before.\u00a0 It also minimized overhead costs\u00a0and maximized profits for those retailers who remained on the cutting edge of innovation.\u00a0 The ever-increasing demand for better merchandise made retailing an ideal investment opportunity.\u00a0 Even recessions in 1819, 1837 and 1857 did not dampen the enthusiasm of investors.\r\n\r\nThe nature of local retailing practices changed significantly over time.\u00a0 Originally an isolated village that barely provided its settlers the essentials, by the 1860s, Cleveland had become a sophisticated regional center.\u00a0 The city\u2019s retailing reflected this newly established cultural, economic and social refinement.\u00a0 Dry goods stores first appeared during the first decade of the 19th century.\u00a0 Cleveland merchants such as A.M. Perry\u00a0and Orlando Cutter\u00a0provided early settlers with basic necessities and daily groceries all within a warehouse-like setting.\u00a0[footnote]The Cleveland Republican<\/em>. November 9, 1819.[\/footnote] \u00a0These facilities in many ways resembled general store settings found in Hollywood Western movies.\u00a0 The random placing of barrels bursting with pickles, nails, and dry fruit placed in front of display counters crammed with assorted tools, candy, gloves, etc. surrounded by foul-smelling beaver pelts and furs, cured strips of beef, and sparkling trinkets all hung precariously from wooden ceiling beams provided a colorful shopping experience.\u00a0 Such retailing was not for the faint of heart.\r\n\r\nBartering determined the price of items and product quality varied from one shipment to another.\u00a0 It was undoubtedly a seller\u2019s market.\u00a0 As a result, most merchants saw little reason to spend much money on clever advertising or flashy window displays.\u00a0 After all, everyone knew them and besides they all sold much the same merchandise at about the same price.\u00a0 The reputation of a store owner more than any other business consideration determined customer choices.\r\n\r\nSmall shops, like the ones owned and operated by A.M. Perry\u00a0and Orlando Cutter, soon lost out to larger retail concerns.\u00a0 The needs and wants of Cleveland shoppers, by the 1820s, had changed considerably from pioneer days.\u00a0 Customers demanded more choices and competitive pricing and they wanted to shop in pleasant surroundings.\u00a0 These demands did not escape retailers such as Peter Weddell, Edmund Clark\u00a0and George Stanton. [footnote]The Cleveland Republican<\/em>. December 8, 1818.[\/footnote]\u00a0 They represented the latest breed of dry goods merchant ready to tackle any-and-all challenges.\u00a0 These enterprising businessmen, in 1827, founded the Cleveland and New York Line, a Commission, Storage & Transport Company.\u00a0 It included a small retail facility street side and an adjacent large warehouse.\u00a0 They sold groceries and specialty items on both the retail and wholesale levels.\r\n\r\nThrough their intricate trade network made up of national retailers and wholesalers, Weddell and his partners purchased butter, corn, grain and whiskey from nearby farmers.\u00a0 They transported these staples to the East Coast where they auctioned them off.\u00a0 These Clevelanders then took the money received from these auctions to purchase high quality manufactured items, which they sold in their store at full retail price.\u00a0 High markups on all merchandise guaranteed huge profits.\u00a0 Apparently, this business arrangement worked quite well.\u00a0 These merchants, in 1846 moved their operations from cramped quarters in Cleveland\u2019s Warehouse District\u00a0to spacious facilities in the basement of the Weddell House.\r\n\r\nWeddell, Clark and Stanton were not the only successful early 19th century retailers.\u00a0 A host of other merchants also profited from the city\u2019s phenomenal growth.\u00a0 They included E.S. Baldwin, George C. Davis, S.C. Cram, S. Raymond, Taylor Griswold\u00a0and Thomas Early.\u00a0 Many of these entrepreneurs\u00a0became permanent fixtures within the Cleveland retail scene, while others faded away.\u00a0 S.H. Fox\u00a0and C.C. Carlton\u00a0represented two popular retailers who left an indelible mark on the city\u2019s retailing.\u00a0 Strategically located at the corner of Division and Merwin streets, S.H. Fox\u00a0provided customers fresh groceries and produce along with hardware and software items all within a hospitable environment.\u00a0[footnote]The Cleveland Herald<\/em>. July 17, 1846.[\/footnote] \u00a0In fact, Cleveland\u2019s business community praised him for his excellent customer service and fair prices.\r\n\r\nC.C. Carlton\u00a0afforded a positive shopping experience for those wanting to purchase fancy dry goods.\u00a0[footnote]The Cleveland Herald<\/em>. January 2, 1840.[\/footnote] \u00a0Both establishments generated huge profits well into the 1850s.\u00a0 The number of local dry goods and specialty department stores increased from fifteen in 1850 to sixty by 1900.\u00a0 Average profits for the city\u2019s largest retailers rose from a modest $36,000 in 1850 to a whopping $500,000 by 1900.\u00a0 Better quality merchandise, higher income levels and increased mobility accounted for much of their success.\r\n\r\nMany mid-19th century Clevelanders shopped at W.P. Southworth & Company\u00a0at 22 Huron Road.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cBrick for Sale.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, January 9, 1852.[\/footnote] \u00a0An energetic and enterprising leader, William P. Southworth\u00a0(1819-1891) knew what customers wanted.\u00a0 His innate business sense enabled him to initiate advantageous changes quickly.\u00a0 To illustrate this last point, Southworth was the first retailer in the city to offer home deliveries using his-own wheel barrows.\u00a0 Southworth also extended credit to loyal shoppers long before others did.\u00a0 He further appreciated the importance of keeping his premises neat and clean and providing friendly salespersons.\u00a0 Southworth wanted his customers to enjoy each and every visit.\r\n\r\nMost retail establishments at the outbreak of the Civil War\u00a0were cramp, dingy places, hardly inviting places for shopping.\u00a0 Southworth in 1858 took decisive action and relocated to a spacious, four--story building near the corner of Huron Road\u00a0and Sheriff Street.\u00a0 Valued at more than $150,000, this renovated commercial block served as the home for Southworth\u2019s until March 1882 when a massive fire destroyed it.\u00a0 Undeterred, the W.P. Southworth & Company\u00a0reopened on the same site later that same year.\u00a0 The new store was a grand facility.\u00a0 Called \u201cThe People\u2019s Store\u201d, it featured opal counters and elegant cigar humidors.\u00a0 Its many aisles of affordable clothes dazzled customers.\u00a0 One of the early 20th century national retail journals described it as \u201cthe most handsome and commodious store west of New York City.\u201d\u00a0[footnote]The Ohio Architect and Builder 14,<\/em> 1909, pp. 56.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nOther leading Cleveland retailers during the second half of the 19th century also provided their customers with a variety of merchandise choices and specialized services.\u00a0 They included Captain Thomas S. Paddock, W.P. Fogg, E.M. McGillin, and Kleinschmidt & Ambrosius.\u00a0 Captain Paddock began his long career in retailing in the 1840s when he opened his first retail outlet with his business partner Aaron Barker.\u00a0 Their dry goods store at 19 Superior Avenue\u00a0sold a multitude of items including manufactured clothes for both men and women.\u00a0 The partnership dissolved in 1847 and Captain Paddock moved his operations to a larger site at 39 Superior Avenue.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cCo-Partnership Dissolved by Mutual Consent.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, July 16, 1847.[\/footnote] \u00a0Three years later, this enterprising businessman partnered with Stoughton Bliss\u00a0(1823-1896) to establish T.S. Paddock & Company.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cNotice of Co-partnership.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 12, 1850.[\/footnote] \u00a0Offering reduced prices for those shoppers paying in cash, this retail concern grew very quickly.\r\n\r\nCaptain Paddock, in 1858, relocated to 221 Superior Avenue\u00a0where he remained for over thirty years.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cNew Hat Store.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, November 4, 1858.[\/footnote] He sold everything imaginable from furs and leather travel trunks to silk hats and children\u2019s clothes.\u00a0 The Captain\u2019s son Charles S. Paddock, in 1864, joined the firm.\u00a0 Now called T.S. Paddock and Son, this shop was nicknamed \u201cThe Old Reliable Hatter and Furrier.\u201d\u00a0 That slogan continued into the late 1880s when these retailers became known as \u201cThe Veteran Furrier.\u201d\u00a0 Business disagreements between father and son in 1888 resulted in Charles S. Paddock\u00a0opening his own store at 114 Euclid Avenue.\u00a0 The elder Paddock remained at 221 Superior Avenue until his death in 1891.\u00a0 His heirs, sold T.S. Paddock Company to the Halle Brothers.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cSlaughter Sale.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 10, 1891.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nW.P. Fogg, in the late 1840s, opened a small china and home furnishing store also on Superior Street.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cChina and Home-Furnishing Store.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 4, 1853.[\/footnote] Like so many other 19th century retailers, Fogg took advantage of the city\u2019s unprecedented growth to expand operations.\u00a0 He relocated, in 1853, to a larger facility at the corner of Superior and Seneca streets. This new shop offered a variety of quality items including gold trim china, fashionable vases, oil lamps and teas sets.\u00a0 He also sold gas stoves for cooking and gas fittings for houses.\r\n\r\nThis very successful shopkeeper, in the early 1870s, broadened his product line to include hard-to-find items such as commercial water coolers, ice cream freezers and large refrigerators.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cHeadquarters for Refrigerators and Ice Chests.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, May 2, 1867.[\/footnote] He also added wallpaper and decorative bronze figurines to that list.\u00a0 His wedding present department featured top quality glass vases made by foremost European manufacturers such as Royal Worcester, Wedgewood and Dresden.\u00a0 Hounded by creditors following the Panic of 1873, Fogg, in 1879, declared bankruptcy.\r\n\r\nE.M. McGillin\u00a0& Company represented another popular Cleveland dry goods merchant.\u00a0 McGillin\u2019s, founded in 1868, specialized in children\u2019s clothes, lamp shades, crockery, curtains and men\u2019s accessories.\u00a0 He merged with the Cleveland Clothing Company (CCC) in 1888. It was located at 120 Ontario Street.\u00a0 A devastating fire, in February 1892, and dwindling sales forced McGillin\u2019s, in April 1898, to close its doors.\u00a0 E. R. Hull & Dutton Company bought its merchandise.\u00a0 Kleinschmidt & Ambrosius\u00a0in 1869 opened their shop at 223 Superior Avenue.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cRemoval, Reopening Kleinschmidt & Ambrosius.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, September 9, 1869.[\/footnote] This dry goods store sold needle point products, children\u2019s games and paper dresses. [footnote]Ibid.<\/em>[\/footnote]\u00a0 These enterprising businessmen by the mid-1870s had expanded their merchandise selection to include imported toys, wheelbarrows, rocking chairs and baby strollers.\u00a0 They led the pack in selling Japanese novelties.\u00a0 Both partners in 1880 retired.\r\n\r\nCrow & Whitmarsh Dry Goods Company\u00a0was another very profitable late 19th century concern.\u00a0 Founded by David Crow\u00a0and C.W. Whitmarsh\u00a0in November 1885 and located a 4-6 Euclid Avenue, it was known as \u201cthe busy store.\u201d\u00a0[footnote]\u201cGratifying, Indeed, Crow & Whitmarsh.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, December 22, 1885.[\/footnote] \u00a0It remained a vital part of the retail scene for nearly thirty years.\u00a0 It primarily served the needs of the Euclid Avenue elite.\u00a0 Changing fashion tastes, high inventories\u00a0and mounting debt at the beginning of the 20th century undermined this well-respected retailer. Unable to compete against larger, more dazzling competitors, Crow & Whitmarsh, in May 1912, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.\u00a0 The May Company bought it.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cWill Get Styles from Paris Daily.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, September 6, 1913.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nA casualty of the fast-paced, growing retail market of the early 20th century, Crow & Whitmarsh nevertheless left a permanent mark on early Cleveland retailing.\u00a0 Appealing to the carriage trade, its impeccable sales staff, elegant atmosphere and top quality items set the pace for others to follow.\u00a0 One of the leading early 20th century retail trade journals called Glass and Pottery World praised Crow & Whitmarsh for its first-rate merchandise and fair pricing.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cHelps to Profitable Crockery Selling No. 9.\u201d Glass and Pottery<\/em>, February 1906.[\/footnote] \u00a0This Euclid Avenue store also received national acclaim for its fine Irish and Scottish satin damask pattern tablecloths.\u00a0 However, Crow & Whitmarsh symbolized much more than a local seller of fine Irish and Scottish goods.\u00a0 It led the pack when it introduced January White Sales\u00a0and advertised home furnishings.\u00a0[footnote]Borsodi, William. \u201cHouse Furnishings Advertising: A Collection of Selling Phrases and Descriptions and Illustrated Advertisements as Used by Successful Advertisers.\u201d Memphis, TN: General Books LLC, 2012, pp. 116.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nMany other late 19th century store owners also lent their expertise to the local retail scene.\u00a0 E.R. Hull & Dutton Company\u00a0represented one of those many innovative establishments to gain the public\u2019s trust.\u00a0 Founded in 1890 by Edward R. Hull, William F. Dutton, Samuel E. Graves\u00a0and John C. McWatters, this department store was located on the south side of Public Square near Ontario Street.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cE.R. Hull & Dutton.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, August 17, 1890.[\/footnote] \u00a0Surrounded by other prominent local retailers such as Cleveland Dry Goods Company, W.P. Southworth Company, William Taylor\u00a0Son & Company, Crow & Whitmarsh and Sterling, Welch and Co, Hull & Dutton took full advantage of its favorable site to promote sales.\r\n\r\nE.R. Hull & Dutton Company\u00a0dated back to the mid-1870s when Edward R. Hull\u00a0and Christopher R. Mabley\u00a0ended their business partnership.\u00a0 The founder of a popular chain of clothing stores and called \u201cthe Merchant Price,\u201d Christopher Mabley wanted sole control of the store.\u00a0 Hull blocked this takeover by purchasing it outright.\u00a0 Shoppers loved the new E.R. Hull & Company at 170-172 Ontario Street.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cDissolution of Partnership.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 1, 1875.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nHull\u2019s low prices coupled with his more than ample supplies of men\u2019s and children\u2019s fashions served his customers well.\u00a0 \u201cDress \u2018em Well\u201d became his new slogan.\u00a0 Edward Hull, in 1880, refurbished his premises.\u00a0 Renovations included creating more usable floor space, adding a majestic rear staircase finished in butternut, walnut and ash, enlarged salesrooms on the second and third floors and storing his inventory in the basement.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cCleveland\u2019s Most Successful Retail Clothing House-A Short Sketch of its Career.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, August 9, 1880.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nThe Plain Dealer in 1878 praised Hull by saying that \u201cgood location is where a well conducted business has made it so.\u201d\u00a0[footnote]\u201cA Model Establishment.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, November 23, 1878.[\/footnote] \u00a0This entrepreneur did indeed operate an attractive store.\u00a0 With business thriving, Edward Hull in the mid- 1880s authorized further renovations.\u00a0 This refurbishing effort included enlarging the main entrance by adding sidelights and installing both gas-operated and electric-powered lights.\u00a0 His well-trained polite sales staff assured growth.\u00a0 His ready-made clothing line was second-to-none while his cash-only policy guaranteed fair pricing.\r\n\r\nE.R. Hull & Company led other Cleveland retailers in 1884 when it opened its first branch store.\u00a0 This branch, located at 584-588 Pearl Road\u00a0on Cleveland\u2019s Near West side, boasted store sales significantly.\u00a0 Hull soon expanded his operations to Akron, OH; Newburg, OH and Youngstown, OH.\u00a0 Modern shelving; an elegant main business office done in the finest oak and a new cash system significantly improved sales downtown.\r\n\r\nHull believed that the future of retailing in downtown Cleveland belonged to large department stores.\u00a0 With that thought in mind, Edward Hull, in 1886, purchased one of his chief competitors the Cleveland Clothing Company.\u00a0 This merger netted Hull over $150,000 in common stock which he soon liquidated at a much reduced price.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cThe Biggest Yet, E.R. Hull & Company Buy Out Cleveland Clothing Company.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, July 2, 1886.[\/footnote] The additional capital generated by this purchase enabled Hull, in 1888, to construct a new main store on the site of the former Wright House.\u00a0 Opened later that same year, it featured spacious sales rooms, brightly decorated wall surfaces, large display windows and gold-leafed coffered ceilings.\u00a0 This palatial store came with a high price tag.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cA Great Store, E.R. Hull & Dutton\u2019s Building Entirely Remodeled.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, October 19, 1890.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nIn an attempt to lessen its mounting debt, E.R. Hull & Company sold off its less-than-productive operations in Youngstown, OH.\u00a0 It also welcomed two other retailers to its fold: Samuel E. Graves\u00a0and John C. McWatters.\u00a0 Both invested heavily in this store.\u00a0 E.R. Hull & Company, throughout the 1890s, promoted sales by giving away gifts to boys whose parents\u2019 bought expensive suits and\/or overcoats.\u00a0 These gifts ran the gamut from downhill sleds and Torpedo rifles to tool chess and sets of nine pins.\u00a0 This particular promotion generated more than $100,000 in sales.\r\n\r\nEdward R. Hull\u00a0also relied on other advertising ploys to entice customers to his store.\u00a0 For example, he ran a contest in 1896 that asked shoppers to guess how many Ohioans would vote for the Republican Presidential candidate William McKinley, and his Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryant.\u00a0 Six persons guessed the correct answer.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cThrongs of People Flock to E.H. Hull & Dutton\u2019s To Determine Estimates.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, October 20, 1896.[\/footnote] This enterprising businessman also encouraged children to visit Santa Claus\u00a0at his store.\u00a0 One oddity capturing the public\u2019s attention occurred in 1897.\u00a0 It involved a Japanese figure displayed in one of the store\u2019s display windows.\u00a0 People did not know whether it was a real person or a mechanical device.\u00a0 It turned out to be a real person.\r\n\r\nOne very special exhibition revolved around a sacred painting by Louis Ransom.\u00a0 Entitled \u201cFollow Me,\u201d it portrayed a majestic Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Crowds came from everywhere to see this most inspiring masterpiece.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cA Sacred Painting.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, April 11, 1897.[\/footnote] E. R. Hull & Company also sponsored a team bicycle race on a specially-designed course that ran throughout the store.\u00a0 Bicyclists with the highest number of recorded miles won $200. Store officials in 1898 also proudly hosted a \u201cPassion Play.\u201d\u00a0 Failing health led Edward R. Hull\u00a0to seek out buyers for his popular store.\u00a0 William F. Dutton\u00a0in August 1890 bought the establishment.\u00a0 William Dutton was not new to retailing having been a successful Baltimore-based clothier for many years.\u00a0 Most importantly, he possessed the kind of capital necessary to keep E.R. Hull & Company financially afloat.\u00a0 Hull and Dutton made John C. McWatters\u00a0and Samuel E. Graves\u00a0full partners.\r\n\r\nFollowing the merger, Hull & Dutton further refurbished its premises.\u00a0 Earlier renovation efforts appeared outdated especially when compared to rival companies such as Crow & Whitmarsh or Southworth.\u00a0 The new owners believed that to remain competitive they must modernize the downtown store.\u00a0 These efforts resulted in an enlarged shoe department; expanded floor space, new dressing rooms for men and women, a comfortable public waiting room, new plush carpeting throughout, magnificent chandeliers and large plate glass mirrors.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cGetting Ready to Build, Work on E.R. Hull & Dutton\u2019s Immense New Store to Begin May 1st.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, January 12, 1897.[\/footnote] \u00a0However, those cosmetic renovations were only the beginning.\u00a0 Construction began in May 1898 on a brand new store.\u00a0 This seven-story fireproof building at 126-136 Ontario Street\u00a0was built from the finest construction materials.\r\n\r\nTopped by the company\u2019s landmark clock, this new store featured electric lighting throughout, iron elevator enclosures, embossed iron stairways and ornate plate glass windows.\u00a0 Opening day that October brought thousands downtown.\u00a0 Many customers visited the millinery and dress shops, while others investigated the furs and women\u2019s hats.\u00a0 Many of the men headed straight for sports goods, while children rushed to see the latest toys.\u00a0 Hull & Dutton officials commemorated opening day by giving away barrels of flour as souvenirs.\r\n\r\nNow called the \u201cHeadquarters for the Family\u2019s Needs,\u201d Hull & Dutton\u2019s unorthodox approach to advertising was well-known by all.\u00a0 As stated earlier, a large percentage of their advertising budget went towards promotions.\u00a0 Promotional prizes ranged from baseballs and baseball bats to ponies and carts.\u00a0 One promotional effort to gain national attention involved the company\u2019s massive spotlight.\u00a0 With carbon arcs each \u00bd inch in diameter mounted in the center of a sixty inch iron drum, this spotlight\u2019s five foot six inch wide beam could be seen up to 140 miles away.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, clever promotions did not, in themselves, insure long-term financial success.\u00a0 Quality products and impeccable service guaranteed repeat business.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Hull & Dutton never developed that kind of loyal customer-base, and it quickly fell behind other more fashionable retailers.\u00a0 Mounting deficits and decreasing profits forced store officials in June 1898 to file for bankruptcy.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cDoors Closed E.R. Hull & Dutton Makes Assignment for Benefit of Creditors.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, June 23, 1898.[\/footnote] Its liabilities were about $300,000, while its total assets equaled only $500,000.\u00a0 Judge Frank Ginn\u00a0(1868-1938) permitted Hull & Dutton to lessen its current debt by liquidating its remaining merchandise and re-organizing its business.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cBy Permission of Court the Store of E.R. Hull Will Again Do Business.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, July 2, 1898.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nStore officials sold nearly $60,000 worth of goods in a special \u201cReorganization Sale.\u201d A fire in September 1898 destroyed part of the store.\u00a0 Fortunately, it did not prevent officials from holding a three-day sale in mid-October.\u00a0 This event included a brass band.\u00a0 Hoping to entice additional shoppers to its store, Hull & Dutton showed animated film clips by Monograph Pictures highlighting the recent Spanish American War.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cMonogram Pictures, the Hull & Dutton Company Giving Their Customers Wonderful Entertainment.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, November 6, 1898.[\/footnote] \u00a0The crowds loved them. Hull & Dutton enjoyed modest sales gains that Christmas.\u00a0 Behind the scenes, store officials engaged in merger talks with a national retailer. Store executives on February 5, 1899 announced that the St. Louis-based May Company had purchased Hull & Dutton.\u00a0 This merger signaled the end of a landmark retailer.\u00a0 The May Company wasted no time before making major changes.\u00a0 It began with officials removing all Hull & Dutton signs and replaced them with May Company banners.\u00a0 The board also hired many former Hull & Dutton employees.\u00a0 Cleveland\u2019s latest department store opened with great fanfare.\u00a0 Over $100,000 worth of sales occurred during opening months.\u00a0[footnote]\u201cHull & Dutton Consolidation Sale is a Winner.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 12, 1899.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nArtemus Ward, a popular 19th century humorist and onetime writer for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, once remarked that \u201cif you can\u2019t buy it in Cleveland then it either doesn\u2019t exist or has not yet been invented.\u201d\u00a0 There was a great deal of truth in what he said.\u00a0 Cleveland retailers continually updated merchandise; expanded clothing lines, lowered costs and upgraded services.\u00a0 Business innovation remained foremost on their minds.\u00a0 Their unspoken motto was \u201cbeat the competition, but always, in an honorable manner.\u201d\u00a0 Communication among major Cleveland retailers became crucial especially as their growing customer-base became more demanding.\u00a0 \u201cKeeping up with the Joneses\u201d became an integral part of daily retail practices.\r\n\r\nIndividual shopkeepers\u00a0determined store hours.\u00a0 No fast rules applied here.\u00a0 Retailers established store hours based on what they thought their customers needed and wanted.\u00a0 That often meant ten to twelve hours daily seven days a week.\u00a0 Officials frequently changed their hours when current economic and\/or social conditions warranted it.\u00a0 Following the First World War, the majority of Cleveland department stores posted similar hours: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed Sunday.\u00a0 Some of the larger stores, as a courtesy to their customers, remained opened one or two nights a week until 10:00 p.m.\u00a0 These hours remained in effect until the early 1940s.\u00a0 With the outbreak of the Second World War, many retailers cut their hours.\u00a0 Normal business hours resumed in 1946.\r\n\r\nWith the intention of serving their customers better, leading downtown retailers in 1900 formed the Cleveland Retail Merchant\u2019s Board.\u00a0 An outgrowth of earlier discussions at the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, this vital organization focused on pertinent retail issues for nearly seventy years.\u00a0 These issues ranged from extending business hours and controlling shoplifting to improving working conditions and initiating more effective advertising.\u00a0 This board also established moral guidelines along with rules\/regulations.\u00a0 It also afforded members special assistance.\u00a0 Board members in 1968 moved from the Greater Cleveland Growth Association\u00a0to the Cleveland Credit Bureau.\u00a0 Decreasing retail activity downtown prompted the board, in 1973, to rejoin the Growth Association.\r\n\r\nThe popularity of early 19th century retail shops notwithstanding they were not modern department stores.\u00a0 They lacked the professionalism and sophistication of a later age.\u00a0 Part of pre-industrial America, these retailers frequently conducted business in a slow, tedious fashion.\u00a0 This made shopping less than pleasant for many customers.\u00a0 Also, since many of the items purchased were perishable this meant frequent visits to the same stores.\u00a0 Widely accepted retailing practices of the 20th century such as standardized items; uniform weights, fair pricing, appropriate packaging, product warranties, professional salesmanship\u00a0and special in-house services did not exist.\r\n\r\nUnscrupulous shopkeepers\u00a0often sold tainted food and doctored drugs.\u00a0 Prior to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906\u00a0many grocers sold rotten meat to their customers.\u00a0 They also overcharged for bulk products by rigging their scales.\u00a0 Other unethical shop owners freely dispensed addictive and powerful drugs such as morphine and opium to their shoppers.\u00a0 The elixirs, pain remedies and patent drugs they peddled often contained large amounts of potent drugs in them.\u00a0 These concoctions may have eased the pain and provided a sense of well-being for those taking them; however, when used over a sustained period of time often resulted in death.\u00a0 The federal act forbade the manufacturing of and transporting of poisonous drugs through interstate commerce.\u00a0 It also required truth in labeling and prosecuted those who knowingly cheated their buyers.\r\n\r\nEarly 19th century dry goods merchants\u00a0in Cleveland conducted most of their business in warehouses along River Road, east side of the Flats.\u00a0 These warehouses functioned as showroom, offices and storage space.\u00a0 A congested area, most shop owners by the 1840s relocated to the new central business district at West 6th Street\u00a0and Superior Avenue.\u00a0 Progress notwithstanding a great many retailers sought out inexpensive quarters often the basements or ground floors of these new office buildings.\u00a0 Escalating rents and minimal space for store expansion in many of these buildings convinced several enterprising retailers to build new retail outlets along lower Euclid Avenue.\u00a0 This trend begun in the 1850s continued well into the 20th century.\r\n\r\nThe shopping experience for many early 19th century Clevelanders was an adventure, to say the least.\u00a0 It began with the customer sitting down with either the shop\u2019s owner or a salesperson to order the desired merchandise.\u00a0 Once the owner and customer agreed upon a price, then the shopkeeper would go back into the warehouse and bring the items to the front.\u00a0 The customer would then inspect the products and pay for them.\r\n\r\nMost shopkeepers\u00a0did not provide shopping bags or free delivery services.\u00a0 All sales were final and most involved cash.\u00a0 Dry goods merchants rarely offered any credit options.\u00a0 Under this arrangement, store owners, not customers, determined how goods were sold.\u00a0 It was, without a doubt, a sellers\u2019 market.\u00a0 However, by the mid-1850s all of this changed.\u00a0 The Industrial Revolution\u00a0produced a wide variety of affordable, high quality goods available to a multitude of retailers.\u00a0 No longer compelled to purchase whatever a specific merchant might offer, customers increasingly exercised their right to shop around for the best value.\u00a0 The growing number of local retailers made competition fierce.\u00a0 It was quickly becoming a buyer\u2019s not a seller\u2019s market.\r\n\r\nMass production and the pressing need to sell large amounts of merchandise, within a highly competitive retail market, led to more inviting and spacious stores.\u00a0 From the 1850s to the 1870s, daily retailing activities, in cities such as Cleveland, progressed forward.\u00a0 Ornately decorated emporiums with monumental edifices replaced earlier, no frills small shops and warehouses.\u00a0 Yet, they were not modern department stores.\u00a0 Traditional retail practices persisted. For example, most local dry goods merchants\u00a0continued to assist each and every customer entering their premises.\u00a0 Sales clerks may have aided store owners in consummating the sale; but ultimately, it was the retailer, not the salesperson, that finalized the deal.\r\n\r\nTraditional retail practices also impacted such things as window displays.\u00a0 Originally viewed as an oddity, hardly worth noting, display windows by the 1870s had become an indispensable part of advertising and marketing throughout the U.S.\u00a0 Yet, the majority of post-Civil War\u00a0merchants in Cleveland remained ambivalent to the whole process.\u00a0 Cost considerations undoubtedly played a big role in their attitudes.\u00a0 However, other, perhaps less obvious, considerations may have prompted their current mindset.\r\n\r\nThese shopkeepers, many who traced their ancestry to Puritan New England, saw no purpose behind such frivolous displays.\u00a0 They believed that the products sold themselves based on merit and practicality.\u00a0 As the old Biblical adage once said \u201cwaste not, want not.\u201d\u00a0 No need to oversell items.\u00a0 These retailers concluded that courtesy, fair pricing\u00a0and good merchandise would always triumph with thrifty shoppers.\u00a0 Only with time, did they recognize the folly of their thinking.\u00a0 No frills shopping may have dominated the Cleveland retail scene during the first seventy-five years of the 19th century; however, as local society matured, customers increasingly welcomed bolder, newer approaches to retailing.\u00a0 Department stores provided an ideal way for innovative retailers and savvy shoppers to each profit from the quality products manufactured during the first phases of the Industrial Revolution.\r\n\r\nAs was the case throughout U.S. cities, many of Cleveland\u2019s initial department stores originated as small, independent dry goods establishments.\u00a0 That is not surprising given the limited market area and minimum capital available early-on.\u00a0 However, insightful merchants knew that things were changing quickly.\u00a0 They fully recognized the profit potential this growing city offered for those retailers who made it to the top.\u00a0 However, remaining on top was not easy.\u00a0 Staying in the forefront meant continually modernizing stores, balancing books and updating business practices and procedures.\u00a0 They also must remain abreast of the latest retail trends.\u00a0 Fall behind in any of these crucial areas and all may be lost.\r\n\r\nIt became apparent to many local shopkeepers\u00a0by the 1870s that the era of small shops was fast coming to an end.\u00a0 In its wake, a new kind of retailing establishment called the department store had gained widespread acceptance.\u00a0 With its seemingly endless variety of affordable merchandise and multitude of special services, all geared towards the needs and wants of its growing customer-base, the department store easily outstripped nearly all of the earlier dry goods outlets.\u00a0 Many enlightened merchants quickly capitalized on this latest trend.\u00a0 In some instances, they simply changed a store\u2019s name or spruced up their premises.\u00a0 In other cases, it led to a complete overhaul of their current operations.\r\n\r\nThose taking the financial plunge early-on generally reaped the greatest financial rewards.\u00a0 Forming partnerships with other energetic business leaders enabled many of them to remain on the cutting edge.\u00a0 Some specialty department stores focused their business attention on certain product lines at the exclusion of others.\u00a0 The logic behind such action was easy enough to understand.\u00a0 In separated from the pack, specialty store buyers were able to purchase their items far ahead of their competitors.\u00a0 This astute marketing strategy frequently resulted in smaller inventories, reduced overhead costs\u00a0short-term and higher profit potential.\u00a0 Other retailers chose the more traditional, full-service route.\u00a0 They believed that their future financial success rested in appealing to a broader customer-base.\u00a0 After all, everyday merchandise sells no matter the economic situation at a given time.\r\n\r\nCleveland dry goods merchants\u00a0as early as the 1830s advertised in city directories and local newspapers.\u00a0 These costly advertisements\u00a0were both direct and simple.\u00a0 They often included proprietor\u2019s name; service or services offered; location and brief descriptions of featured items.\u00a0 Shop keepers also relied on newspaper advertisements to announce the arrival of merchandise from the East Coast or Europe.\u00a0 As the city prospered and the number of dailies grew more retailers started to advertise seven days a week.\r\n\r\nAdvertisements describing a multitude of popular promotional activities also gained popularity with local department stores.\u00a0 Promotions ranched from special customer-based contests offering prizes, annual carnivals, and keynote lectures to celebrity book signings, in-store demonstrations and holiday parades.\u00a0 These events definitely increased sales.\u00a0 Promotional activities continued to expand during the Great Depression of the 1930s.\u00a0 They now included such things as lotteries and sweepstakes.\u00a0\u00a0 Cleveland department stores from the 1940s to the 1970s sponsored popular radio and TV programs.\u00a0 Some retailers in the 1980s turned to the internet to bolster sales.\u00a0 Innovation knew no bounds.\u00a0 Yet, through it all, the economic antecedents responsible for this phenomenal retail experience did not originate in distant cities such as Paris, London\u00a0or New York; but rather, with a modest group of successful dry goods merchants\u00a0in Cleveland\u2019s Warehouse District.\r\n\r\nThe eight major downtown Cleveland department stores, discussed in the following chapters, represented the height of local retailing as reflected through traditional large scale retailing.\u00a0 Their financial success was unprecedented, nothing like it before.\u00a0 Within a span of several decades, one group of energized retailers successfully controlled a growing major market that had previously been dominated by a group of less than sophisticated small shopkeepers.\r\n\r\nHowever, these new department stores symbolized much more than impersonal retailers that had somehow sapped the life out of earlier merchants.\u00a0 Nothing could be further from the truth.\u00a0 They were products of a changing age where large manufacturing concerns supplanted cottage industries.\u00a0 What these enterprising store owners did was to provide eager manufacturers the golden opportunity of selling large volumes of their wares to a waiting public.\u00a0 In fact, many earlier dry goods merchants\u00a0became successful department store owners.\r\n\r\nTheir methods, rather than their actual goals, served to distinguish this new breed of retailer from its predecessors.\u00a0 A product of the Industrial Revolution, they provided the best possible products and services on an annual basis.\u00a0 Who can forget the likes of Francis A. Coy, Walter M. Halle\u00a0or John P. Murphy?\u00a0 They were icons in Cleveland retailing.\u00a0 Reviewing these long-established institutions from a business perspective may offer some insight into local retailing.\u00a0 It may also provide 21st century store leaders some valuable business and human resource lessons especially regarding what constituted effective retailing, and how these principles might be applied to today\u2019s unsettling retail climate.","rendered":"

The dilemma of sustaining department stores downtown was anything but a problem one hundred and twenty-five years ago.\u00a0 Growing communities throughout the U.S. welcomed them.\u00a0 In fact, they could not open them fast enough.\u00a0 Nowhere was this more evident than in Cleveland, Ohio.\u00a0 An up and coming late 19th century city, Cleveland provided an ideal setting for new store growth.\u00a0 Those 19th century downtown stores that survived possessed the uncanny knack of not only fulfilling the immediate demands of their shoppers; but also, anticipating their future.\u00a0 Shrewd, insightful businessmen, many quickly became respected community leaders.\u00a0 Most importantly, they provided Clevelanders with the kind of quality products, fair pricing\u00a0and impeccable service previously unimagined.<\/p>\n

Like so many other Midwest\u00a0cities, Cleveland originated as a small government and trading outpost within a wilderness district called the Western Reserve of Ohio.\u00a0 The first years of settlement were tough.\u00a0 Completely isolated from other growing communities such as Cincinnati, Youngstown and Detroit, this heavily forested village contained bears, coyotes and wolves.\u00a0 If that were not bad enough, its winters were frigidly cold and its summers unbearably hot.\u00a0 Many weary travelers did not consider this community a welcoming place.\u00a0 Yet, in spite of its initial handicaps, Cleveland managed to survive and grow.\u00a0 The privately-funded turnpikes of the 1820s; state-operated Ohio and Erie Canal\u00a0of the 1830s and railroad lines of the 1850s insured future growth.\u00a0 The development of the steel industry in the 1850s and oil refining in the 1860s guaranteed its economic importance nationally for many years to come.\u00a0 These many business and technological breakthroughs also impacted retailing.<\/p>\n

Local shopkeepers, beginning in the 1820s, reaped the economic benefits of locating here.\u00a0 In this case, large-scale investments by entrepreneurs, in a wide variety of coveted businesses such as retailing, significantly increased the amount of disposable income.\u00a0 This financial situation enabled Clevelanders to spend more on merchandise than had been the case before.\u00a0 It also minimized overhead costs\u00a0and maximized profits for those retailers who remained on the cutting edge of innovation.\u00a0 The ever-increasing demand for better merchandise made retailing an ideal investment opportunity.\u00a0 Even recessions in 1819, 1837 and 1857 did not dampen the enthusiasm of investors.<\/p>\n

The nature of local retailing practices changed significantly over time.\u00a0 Originally an isolated village that barely provided its settlers the essentials, by the 1860s, Cleveland had become a sophisticated regional center.\u00a0 The city\u2019s retailing reflected this newly established cultural, economic and social refinement.\u00a0 Dry goods stores first appeared during the first decade of the 19th century.\u00a0 Cleveland merchants such as A.M. Perry\u00a0and Orlando Cutter\u00a0provided early settlers with basic necessities and daily groceries all within a warehouse-like setting.\u00a0[1]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0These facilities in many ways resembled general store settings found in Hollywood Western movies.\u00a0 The random placing of barrels bursting with pickles, nails, and dry fruit placed in front of display counters crammed with assorted tools, candy, gloves, etc. surrounded by foul-smelling beaver pelts and furs, cured strips of beef, and sparkling trinkets all hung precariously from wooden ceiling beams provided a colorful shopping experience.\u00a0 Such retailing was not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n

Bartering determined the price of items and product quality varied from one shipment to another.\u00a0 It was undoubtedly a seller\u2019s market.\u00a0 As a result, most merchants saw little reason to spend much money on clever advertising or flashy window displays.\u00a0 After all, everyone knew them and besides they all sold much the same merchandise at about the same price.\u00a0 The reputation of a store owner more than any other business consideration determined customer choices.<\/p>\n

Small shops, like the ones owned and operated by A.M. Perry\u00a0and Orlando Cutter, soon lost out to larger retail concerns.\u00a0 The needs and wants of Cleveland shoppers, by the 1820s, had changed considerably from pioneer days.\u00a0 Customers demanded more choices and competitive pricing and they wanted to shop in pleasant surroundings.\u00a0 These demands did not escape retailers such as Peter Weddell, Edmund Clark\u00a0and George Stanton. [2]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 They represented the latest breed of dry goods merchant ready to tackle any-and-all challenges.\u00a0 These enterprising businessmen, in 1827, founded the Cleveland and New York Line, a Commission, Storage & Transport Company.\u00a0 It included a small retail facility street side and an adjacent large warehouse.\u00a0 They sold groceries and specialty items on both the retail and wholesale levels.<\/p>\n

Through their intricate trade network made up of national retailers and wholesalers, Weddell and his partners purchased butter, corn, grain and whiskey from nearby farmers.\u00a0 They transported these staples to the East Coast where they auctioned them off.\u00a0 These Clevelanders then took the money received from these auctions to purchase high quality manufactured items, which they sold in their store at full retail price.\u00a0 High markups on all merchandise guaranteed huge profits.\u00a0 Apparently, this business arrangement worked quite well.\u00a0 These merchants, in 1846 moved their operations from cramped quarters in Cleveland\u2019s Warehouse District\u00a0to spacious facilities in the basement of the Weddell House.<\/p>\n

Weddell, Clark and Stanton were not the only successful early 19th century retailers.\u00a0 A host of other merchants also profited from the city\u2019s phenomenal growth.\u00a0 They included E.S. Baldwin, George C. Davis, S.C. Cram, S. Raymond, Taylor Griswold\u00a0and Thomas Early.\u00a0 Many of these entrepreneurs\u00a0became permanent fixtures within the Cleveland retail scene, while others faded away.\u00a0 S.H. Fox\u00a0and C.C. Carlton\u00a0represented two popular retailers who left an indelible mark on the city\u2019s retailing.\u00a0 Strategically located at the corner of Division and Merwin streets, S.H. Fox\u00a0provided customers fresh groceries and produce along with hardware and software items all within a hospitable environment.\u00a0[3]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0In fact, Cleveland\u2019s business community praised him for his excellent customer service and fair prices.<\/p>\n

C.C. Carlton\u00a0afforded a positive shopping experience for those wanting to purchase fancy dry goods.\u00a0[4]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Both establishments generated huge profits well into the 1850s.\u00a0 The number of local dry goods and specialty department stores increased from fifteen in 1850 to sixty by 1900.\u00a0 Average profits for the city\u2019s largest retailers rose from a modest $36,000 in 1850 to a whopping $500,000 by 1900.\u00a0 Better quality merchandise, higher income levels and increased mobility accounted for much of their success.<\/p>\n

Many mid-19th century Clevelanders shopped at W.P. Southworth & Company\u00a0at 22 Huron Road.\u00a0[5]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0An energetic and enterprising leader, William P. Southworth\u00a0(1819-1891) knew what customers wanted.\u00a0 His innate business sense enabled him to initiate advantageous changes quickly.\u00a0 To illustrate this last point, Southworth was the first retailer in the city to offer home deliveries using his-own wheel barrows.\u00a0 Southworth also extended credit to loyal shoppers long before others did.\u00a0 He further appreciated the importance of keeping his premises neat and clean and providing friendly salespersons.\u00a0 Southworth wanted his customers to enjoy each and every visit.<\/p>\n

Most retail establishments at the outbreak of the Civil War\u00a0were cramp, dingy places, hardly inviting places for shopping.\u00a0 Southworth in 1858 took decisive action and relocated to a spacious, four–story building near the corner of Huron Road\u00a0and Sheriff Street.\u00a0 Valued at more than $150,000, this renovated commercial block served as the home for Southworth\u2019s until March 1882 when a massive fire destroyed it.\u00a0 Undeterred, the W.P. Southworth & Company\u00a0reopened on the same site later that same year.\u00a0 The new store was a grand facility.\u00a0 Called \u201cThe People\u2019s Store\u201d, it featured opal counters and elegant cigar humidors.\u00a0 Its many aisles of affordable clothes dazzled customers.\u00a0 One of the early 20th century national retail journals described it as \u201cthe most handsome and commodious store west of New York City.\u201d\u00a0[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Other leading Cleveland retailers during the second half of the 19th century also provided their customers with a variety of merchandise choices and specialized services.\u00a0 They included Captain Thomas S. Paddock, W.P. Fogg, E.M. McGillin, and Kleinschmidt & Ambrosius.\u00a0 Captain Paddock began his long career in retailing in the 1840s when he opened his first retail outlet with his business partner Aaron Barker.\u00a0 Their dry goods store at 19 Superior Avenue\u00a0sold a multitude of items including manufactured clothes for both men and women.\u00a0 The partnership dissolved in 1847 and Captain Paddock moved his operations to a larger site at 39 Superior Avenue.\u00a0[7]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Three years later, this enterprising businessman partnered with Stoughton Bliss\u00a0(1823-1896) to establish T.S. Paddock & Company.\u00a0[8]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Offering reduced prices for those shoppers paying in cash, this retail concern grew very quickly.<\/p>\n

Captain Paddock, in 1858, relocated to 221 Superior Avenue\u00a0where he remained for over thirty years.\u00a0[9]<\/sup><\/a> He sold everything imaginable from furs and leather travel trunks to silk hats and children\u2019s clothes.\u00a0 The Captain\u2019s son Charles S. Paddock, in 1864, joined the firm.\u00a0 Now called T.S. Paddock and Son, this shop was nicknamed \u201cThe Old Reliable Hatter and Furrier.\u201d\u00a0 That slogan continued into the late 1880s when these retailers became known as \u201cThe Veteran Furrier.\u201d\u00a0 Business disagreements between father and son in 1888 resulted in Charles S. Paddock\u00a0opening his own store at 114 Euclid Avenue.\u00a0 The elder Paddock remained at 221 Superior Avenue until his death in 1891.\u00a0 His heirs, sold T.S. Paddock Company to the Halle Brothers.\u00a0[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

W.P. Fogg, in the late 1840s, opened a small china and home furnishing store also on Superior Street.\u00a0[11]<\/sup><\/a> Like so many other 19th century retailers, Fogg took advantage of the city\u2019s unprecedented growth to expand operations.\u00a0 He relocated, in 1853, to a larger facility at the corner of Superior and Seneca streets. This new shop offered a variety of quality items including gold trim china, fashionable vases, oil lamps and teas sets.\u00a0 He also sold gas stoves for cooking and gas fittings for houses.<\/p>\n

This very successful shopkeeper, in the early 1870s, broadened his product line to include hard-to-find items such as commercial water coolers, ice cream freezers and large refrigerators.\u00a0[12]<\/sup><\/a> He also added wallpaper and decorative bronze figurines to that list.\u00a0 His wedding present department featured top quality glass vases made by foremost European manufacturers such as Royal Worcester, Wedgewood and Dresden.\u00a0 Hounded by creditors following the Panic of 1873, Fogg, in 1879, declared bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

E.M. McGillin\u00a0& Company represented another popular Cleveland dry goods merchant.\u00a0 McGillin\u2019s, founded in 1868, specialized in children\u2019s clothes, lamp shades, crockery, curtains and men\u2019s accessories.\u00a0 He merged with the Cleveland Clothing Company (CCC) in 1888. It was located at 120 Ontario Street.\u00a0 A devastating fire, in February 1892, and dwindling sales forced McGillin\u2019s, in April 1898, to close its doors.\u00a0 E. R. Hull & Dutton Company bought its merchandise.\u00a0 Kleinschmidt & Ambrosius\u00a0in 1869 opened their shop at 223 Superior Avenue.\u00a0[13]<\/sup><\/a> This dry goods store sold needle point products, children\u2019s games and paper dresses. [14]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 These enterprising businessmen by the mid-1870s had expanded their merchandise selection to include imported toys, wheelbarrows, rocking chairs and baby strollers.\u00a0 They led the pack in selling Japanese novelties.\u00a0 Both partners in 1880 retired.<\/p>\n

Crow & Whitmarsh Dry Goods Company\u00a0was another very profitable late 19th century concern.\u00a0 Founded by David Crow\u00a0and C.W. Whitmarsh\u00a0in November 1885 and located a 4-6 Euclid Avenue, it was known as \u201cthe busy store.\u201d\u00a0[15]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0It remained a vital part of the retail scene for nearly thirty years.\u00a0 It primarily served the needs of the Euclid Avenue elite.\u00a0 Changing fashion tastes, high inventories\u00a0and mounting debt at the beginning of the 20th century undermined this well-respected retailer. Unable to compete against larger, more dazzling competitors, Crow & Whitmarsh, in May 1912, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.\u00a0 The May Company bought it.\u00a0[16]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

A casualty of the fast-paced, growing retail market of the early 20th century, Crow & Whitmarsh nevertheless left a permanent mark on early Cleveland retailing.\u00a0 Appealing to the carriage trade, its impeccable sales staff, elegant atmosphere and top quality items set the pace for others to follow.\u00a0 One of the leading early 20th century retail trade journals called Glass and Pottery World praised Crow & Whitmarsh for its first-rate merchandise and fair pricing.\u00a0[17]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0This Euclid Avenue store also received national acclaim for its fine Irish and Scottish satin damask pattern tablecloths.\u00a0 However, Crow & Whitmarsh symbolized much more than a local seller of fine Irish and Scottish goods.\u00a0 It led the pack when it introduced January White Sales\u00a0and advertised home furnishings.\u00a0[18]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Many other late 19th century store owners also lent their expertise to the local retail scene.\u00a0 E.R. Hull & Dutton Company\u00a0represented one of those many innovative establishments to gain the public\u2019s trust.\u00a0 Founded in 1890 by Edward R. Hull, William F. Dutton, Samuel E. Graves\u00a0and John C. McWatters, this department store was located on the south side of Public Square near Ontario Street.\u00a0[19]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Surrounded by other prominent local retailers such as Cleveland Dry Goods Company, W.P. Southworth Company, William Taylor\u00a0Son & Company, Crow & Whitmarsh and Sterling, Welch and Co, Hull & Dutton took full advantage of its favorable site to promote sales.<\/p>\n

E.R. Hull & Dutton Company\u00a0dated back to the mid-1870s when Edward R. Hull\u00a0and Christopher R. Mabley\u00a0ended their business partnership.\u00a0 The founder of a popular chain of clothing stores and called \u201cthe Merchant Price,\u201d Christopher Mabley wanted sole control of the store.\u00a0 Hull blocked this takeover by purchasing it outright.\u00a0 Shoppers loved the new E.R. Hull & Company at 170-172 Ontario Street.\u00a0[20]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Hull\u2019s low prices coupled with his more than ample supplies of men\u2019s and children\u2019s fashions served his customers well.\u00a0 \u201cDress \u2018em Well\u201d became his new slogan.\u00a0 Edward Hull, in 1880, refurbished his premises.\u00a0 Renovations included creating more usable floor space, adding a majestic rear staircase finished in butternut, walnut and ash, enlarged salesrooms on the second and third floors and storing his inventory in the basement.\u00a0[21]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

The Plain Dealer in 1878 praised Hull by saying that \u201cgood location is where a well conducted business has made it so.\u201d\u00a0[22]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0This entrepreneur did indeed operate an attractive store.\u00a0 With business thriving, Edward Hull in the mid- 1880s authorized further renovations.\u00a0 This refurbishing effort included enlarging the main entrance by adding sidelights and installing both gas-operated and electric-powered lights.\u00a0 His well-trained polite sales staff assured growth.\u00a0 His ready-made clothing line was second-to-none while his cash-only policy guaranteed fair pricing.<\/p>\n

E.R. Hull & Company led other Cleveland retailers in 1884 when it opened its first branch store.\u00a0 This branch, located at 584-588 Pearl Road\u00a0on Cleveland\u2019s Near West side, boasted store sales significantly.\u00a0 Hull soon expanded his operations to Akron, OH; Newburg, OH and Youngstown, OH.\u00a0 Modern shelving; an elegant main business office done in the finest oak and a new cash system significantly improved sales downtown.<\/p>\n

Hull believed that the future of retailing in downtown Cleveland belonged to large department stores.\u00a0 With that thought in mind, Edward Hull, in 1886, purchased one of his chief competitors the Cleveland Clothing Company.\u00a0 This merger netted Hull over $150,000 in common stock which he soon liquidated at a much reduced price.\u00a0[23]<\/sup><\/a> The additional capital generated by this purchase enabled Hull, in 1888, to construct a new main store on the site of the former Wright House.\u00a0 Opened later that same year, it featured spacious sales rooms, brightly decorated wall surfaces, large display windows and gold-leafed coffered ceilings.\u00a0 This palatial store came with a high price tag.\u00a0[24]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

In an attempt to lessen its mounting debt, E.R. Hull & Company sold off its less-than-productive operations in Youngstown, OH.\u00a0 It also welcomed two other retailers to its fold: Samuel E. Graves\u00a0and John C. McWatters.\u00a0 Both invested heavily in this store.\u00a0 E.R. Hull & Company, throughout the 1890s, promoted sales by giving away gifts to boys whose parents\u2019 bought expensive suits and\/or overcoats.\u00a0 These gifts ran the gamut from downhill sleds and Torpedo rifles to tool chess and sets of nine pins.\u00a0 This particular promotion generated more than $100,000 in sales.<\/p>\n

Edward R. Hull\u00a0also relied on other advertising ploys to entice customers to his store.\u00a0 For example, he ran a contest in 1896 that asked shoppers to guess how many Ohioans would vote for the Republican Presidential candidate William McKinley, and his Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryant.\u00a0 Six persons guessed the correct answer.\u00a0[25]<\/sup><\/a> This enterprising businessman also encouraged children to visit Santa Claus\u00a0at his store.\u00a0 One oddity capturing the public\u2019s attention occurred in 1897.\u00a0 It involved a Japanese figure displayed in one of the store\u2019s display windows.\u00a0 People did not know whether it was a real person or a mechanical device.\u00a0 It turned out to be a real person.<\/p>\n

One very special exhibition revolved around a sacred painting by Louis Ransom.\u00a0 Entitled \u201cFollow Me,\u201d it portrayed a majestic Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Crowds came from everywhere to see this most inspiring masterpiece.\u00a0[26]<\/sup><\/a> E. R. Hull & Company also sponsored a team bicycle race on a specially-designed course that ran throughout the store.\u00a0 Bicyclists with the highest number of recorded miles won $200. Store officials in 1898 also proudly hosted a \u201cPassion Play.\u201d\u00a0 Failing health led Edward R. Hull\u00a0to seek out buyers for his popular store.\u00a0 William F. Dutton\u00a0in August 1890 bought the establishment.\u00a0 William Dutton was not new to retailing having been a successful Baltimore-based clothier for many years.\u00a0 Most importantly, he possessed the kind of capital necessary to keep E.R. Hull & Company financially afloat.\u00a0 Hull and Dutton made John C. McWatters\u00a0and Samuel E. Graves\u00a0full partners.<\/p>\n

Following the merger, Hull & Dutton further refurbished its premises.\u00a0 Earlier renovation efforts appeared outdated especially when compared to rival companies such as Crow & Whitmarsh or Southworth.\u00a0 The new owners believed that to remain competitive they must modernize the downtown store.\u00a0 These efforts resulted in an enlarged shoe department; expanded floor space, new dressing rooms for men and women, a comfortable public waiting room, new plush carpeting throughout, magnificent chandeliers and large plate glass mirrors.\u00a0[27]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0However, those cosmetic renovations were only the beginning.\u00a0 Construction began in May 1898 on a brand new store.\u00a0 This seven-story fireproof building at 126-136 Ontario Street\u00a0was built from the finest construction materials.<\/p>\n

Topped by the company\u2019s landmark clock, this new store featured electric lighting throughout, iron elevator enclosures, embossed iron stairways and ornate plate glass windows.\u00a0 Opening day that October brought thousands downtown.\u00a0 Many customers visited the millinery and dress shops, while others investigated the furs and women\u2019s hats.\u00a0 Many of the men headed straight for sports goods, while children rushed to see the latest toys.\u00a0 Hull & Dutton officials commemorated opening day by giving away barrels of flour as souvenirs.<\/p>\n

Now called the \u201cHeadquarters for the Family\u2019s Needs,\u201d Hull & Dutton\u2019s unorthodox approach to advertising was well-known by all.\u00a0 As stated earlier, a large percentage of their advertising budget went towards promotions.\u00a0 Promotional prizes ranged from baseballs and baseball bats to ponies and carts.\u00a0 One promotional effort to gain national attention involved the company\u2019s massive spotlight.\u00a0 With carbon arcs each \u00bd inch in diameter mounted in the center of a sixty inch iron drum, this spotlight\u2019s five foot six inch wide beam could be seen up to 140 miles away.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, clever promotions did not, in themselves, insure long-term financial success.\u00a0 Quality products and impeccable service guaranteed repeat business.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Hull & Dutton never developed that kind of loyal customer-base, and it quickly fell behind other more fashionable retailers.\u00a0 Mounting deficits and decreasing profits forced store officials in June 1898 to file for bankruptcy.\u00a0[28]<\/sup><\/a> Its liabilities were about $300,000, while its total assets equaled only $500,000.\u00a0 Judge Frank Ginn\u00a0(1868-1938) permitted Hull & Dutton to lessen its current debt by liquidating its remaining merchandise and re-organizing its business.\u00a0[29]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Store officials sold nearly $60,000 worth of goods in a special \u201cReorganization Sale.\u201d A fire in September 1898 destroyed part of the store.\u00a0 Fortunately, it did not prevent officials from holding a three-day sale in mid-October.\u00a0 This event included a brass band.\u00a0 Hoping to entice additional shoppers to its store, Hull & Dutton showed animated film clips by Monograph Pictures highlighting the recent Spanish American War.\u00a0[30]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0The crowds loved them. Hull & Dutton enjoyed modest sales gains that Christmas.\u00a0 Behind the scenes, store officials engaged in merger talks with a national retailer. Store executives on February 5, 1899 announced that the St. Louis-based May Company had purchased Hull & Dutton.\u00a0 This merger signaled the end of a landmark retailer.\u00a0 The May Company wasted no time before making major changes.\u00a0 It began with officials removing all Hull & Dutton signs and replaced them with May Company banners.\u00a0 The board also hired many former Hull & Dutton employees.\u00a0 Cleveland\u2019s latest department store opened with great fanfare.\u00a0 Over $100,000 worth of sales occurred during opening months.\u00a0[31]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Artemus Ward, a popular 19th century humorist and onetime writer for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, once remarked that \u201cif you can\u2019t buy it in Cleveland then it either doesn\u2019t exist or has not yet been invented.\u201d\u00a0 There was a great deal of truth in what he said.\u00a0 Cleveland retailers continually updated merchandise; expanded clothing lines, lowered costs and upgraded services.\u00a0 Business innovation remained foremost on their minds.\u00a0 Their unspoken motto was \u201cbeat the competition, but always, in an honorable manner.\u201d\u00a0 Communication among major Cleveland retailers became crucial especially as their growing customer-base became more demanding.\u00a0 \u201cKeeping up with the Joneses\u201d became an integral part of daily retail practices.<\/p>\n

Individual shopkeepers\u00a0determined store hours.\u00a0 No fast rules applied here.\u00a0 Retailers established store hours based on what they thought their customers needed and wanted.\u00a0 That often meant ten to twelve hours daily seven days a week.\u00a0 Officials frequently changed their hours when current economic and\/or social conditions warranted it.\u00a0 Following the First World War, the majority of Cleveland department stores posted similar hours: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed Sunday.\u00a0 Some of the larger stores, as a courtesy to their customers, remained opened one or two nights a week until 10:00 p.m.\u00a0 These hours remained in effect until the early 1940s.\u00a0 With the outbreak of the Second World War, many retailers cut their hours.\u00a0 Normal business hours resumed in 1946.<\/p>\n

With the intention of serving their customers better, leading downtown retailers in 1900 formed the Cleveland Retail Merchant\u2019s Board.\u00a0 An outgrowth of earlier discussions at the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, this vital organization focused on pertinent retail issues for nearly seventy years.\u00a0 These issues ranged from extending business hours and controlling shoplifting to improving working conditions and initiating more effective advertising.\u00a0 This board also established moral guidelines along with rules\/regulations.\u00a0 It also afforded members special assistance.\u00a0 Board members in 1968 moved from the Greater Cleveland Growth Association\u00a0to the Cleveland Credit Bureau.\u00a0 Decreasing retail activity downtown prompted the board, in 1973, to rejoin the Growth Association.<\/p>\n

The popularity of early 19th century retail shops notwithstanding they were not modern department stores.\u00a0 They lacked the professionalism and sophistication of a later age.\u00a0 Part of pre-industrial America, these retailers frequently conducted business in a slow, tedious fashion.\u00a0 This made shopping less than pleasant for many customers.\u00a0 Also, since many of the items purchased were perishable this meant frequent visits to the same stores.\u00a0 Widely accepted retailing practices of the 20th century such as standardized items; uniform weights, fair pricing, appropriate packaging, product warranties, professional salesmanship\u00a0and special in-house services did not exist.<\/p>\n

Unscrupulous shopkeepers\u00a0often sold tainted food and doctored drugs.\u00a0 Prior to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906\u00a0many grocers sold rotten meat to their customers.\u00a0 They also overcharged for bulk products by rigging their scales.\u00a0 Other unethical shop owners freely dispensed addictive and powerful drugs such as morphine and opium to their shoppers.\u00a0 The elixirs, pain remedies and patent drugs they peddled often contained large amounts of potent drugs in them.\u00a0 These concoctions may have eased the pain and provided a sense of well-being for those taking them; however, when used over a sustained period of time often resulted in death.\u00a0 The federal act forbade the manufacturing of and transporting of poisonous drugs through interstate commerce.\u00a0 It also required truth in labeling and prosecuted those who knowingly cheated their buyers.<\/p>\n

Early 19th century dry goods merchants\u00a0in Cleveland conducted most of their business in warehouses along River Road, east side of the Flats.\u00a0 These warehouses functioned as showroom, offices and storage space.\u00a0 A congested area, most shop owners by the 1840s relocated to the new central business district at West 6th Street\u00a0and Superior Avenue.\u00a0 Progress notwithstanding a great many retailers sought out inexpensive quarters often the basements or ground floors of these new office buildings.\u00a0 Escalating rents and minimal space for store expansion in many of these buildings convinced several enterprising retailers to build new retail outlets along lower Euclid Avenue.\u00a0 This trend begun in the 1850s continued well into the 20th century.<\/p>\n

The shopping experience for many early 19th century Clevelanders was an adventure, to say the least.\u00a0 It began with the customer sitting down with either the shop\u2019s owner or a salesperson to order the desired merchandise.\u00a0 Once the owner and customer agreed upon a price, then the shopkeeper would go back into the warehouse and bring the items to the front.\u00a0 The customer would then inspect the products and pay for them.<\/p>\n

Most shopkeepers\u00a0did not provide shopping bags or free delivery services.\u00a0 All sales were final and most involved cash.\u00a0 Dry goods merchants rarely offered any credit options.\u00a0 Under this arrangement, store owners, not customers, determined how goods were sold.\u00a0 It was, without a doubt, a sellers\u2019 market.\u00a0 However, by the mid-1850s all of this changed.\u00a0 The Industrial Revolution\u00a0produced a wide variety of affordable, high quality goods available to a multitude of retailers.\u00a0 No longer compelled to purchase whatever a specific merchant might offer, customers increasingly exercised their right to shop around for the best value.\u00a0 The growing number of local retailers made competition fierce.\u00a0 It was quickly becoming a buyer\u2019s not a seller\u2019s market.<\/p>\n

Mass production and the pressing need to sell large amounts of merchandise, within a highly competitive retail market, led to more inviting and spacious stores.\u00a0 From the 1850s to the 1870s, daily retailing activities, in cities such as Cleveland, progressed forward.\u00a0 Ornately decorated emporiums with monumental edifices replaced earlier, no frills small shops and warehouses.\u00a0 Yet, they were not modern department stores.\u00a0 Traditional retail practices persisted. For example, most local dry goods merchants\u00a0continued to assist each and every customer entering their premises.\u00a0 Sales clerks may have aided store owners in consummating the sale; but ultimately, it was the retailer, not the salesperson, that finalized the deal.<\/p>\n

Traditional retail practices also impacted such things as window displays.\u00a0 Originally viewed as an oddity, hardly worth noting, display windows by the 1870s had become an indispensable part of advertising and marketing throughout the U.S.\u00a0 Yet, the majority of post-Civil War\u00a0merchants in Cleveland remained ambivalent to the whole process.\u00a0 Cost considerations undoubtedly played a big role in their attitudes.\u00a0 However, other, perhaps less obvious, considerations may have prompted their current mindset.<\/p>\n

These shopkeepers, many who traced their ancestry to Puritan New England, saw no purpose behind such frivolous displays.\u00a0 They believed that the products sold themselves based on merit and practicality.\u00a0 As the old Biblical adage once said \u201cwaste not, want not.\u201d\u00a0 No need to oversell items.\u00a0 These retailers concluded that courtesy, fair pricing\u00a0and good merchandise would always triumph with thrifty shoppers.\u00a0 Only with time, did they recognize the folly of their thinking.\u00a0 No frills shopping may have dominated the Cleveland retail scene during the first seventy-five years of the 19th century; however, as local society matured, customers increasingly welcomed bolder, newer approaches to retailing.\u00a0 Department stores provided an ideal way for innovative retailers and savvy shoppers to each profit from the quality products manufactured during the first phases of the Industrial Revolution.<\/p>\n

As was the case throughout U.S. cities, many of Cleveland\u2019s initial department stores originated as small, independent dry goods establishments.\u00a0 That is not surprising given the limited market area and minimum capital available early-on.\u00a0 However, insightful merchants knew that things were changing quickly.\u00a0 They fully recognized the profit potential this growing city offered for those retailers who made it to the top.\u00a0 However, remaining on top was not easy.\u00a0 Staying in the forefront meant continually modernizing stores, balancing books and updating business practices and procedures.\u00a0 They also must remain abreast of the latest retail trends.\u00a0 Fall behind in any of these crucial areas and all may be lost.<\/p>\n

It became apparent to many local shopkeepers\u00a0by the 1870s that the era of small shops was fast coming to an end.\u00a0 In its wake, a new kind of retailing establishment called the department store had gained widespread acceptance.\u00a0 With its seemingly endless variety of affordable merchandise and multitude of special services, all geared towards the needs and wants of its growing customer-base, the department store easily outstripped nearly all of the earlier dry goods outlets.\u00a0 Many enlightened merchants quickly capitalized on this latest trend.\u00a0 In some instances, they simply changed a store\u2019s name or spruced up their premises.\u00a0 In other cases, it led to a complete overhaul of their current operations.<\/p>\n

Those taking the financial plunge early-on generally reaped the greatest financial rewards.\u00a0 Forming partnerships with other energetic business leaders enabled many of them to remain on the cutting edge.\u00a0 Some specialty department stores focused their business attention on certain product lines at the exclusion of others.\u00a0 The logic behind such action was easy enough to understand.\u00a0 In separated from the pack, specialty store buyers were able to purchase their items far ahead of their competitors.\u00a0 This astute marketing strategy frequently resulted in smaller inventories, reduced overhead costs\u00a0short-term and higher profit potential.\u00a0 Other retailers chose the more traditional, full-service route.\u00a0 They believed that their future financial success rested in appealing to a broader customer-base.\u00a0 After all, everyday merchandise sells no matter the economic situation at a given time.<\/p>\n

Cleveland dry goods merchants\u00a0as early as the 1830s advertised in city directories and local newspapers.\u00a0 These costly advertisements\u00a0were both direct and simple.\u00a0 They often included proprietor\u2019s name; service or services offered; location and brief descriptions of featured items.\u00a0 Shop keepers also relied on newspaper advertisements to announce the arrival of merchandise from the East Coast or Europe.\u00a0 As the city prospered and the number of dailies grew more retailers started to advertise seven days a week.<\/p>\n

Advertisements describing a multitude of popular promotional activities also gained popularity with local department stores.\u00a0 Promotions ranched from special customer-based contests offering prizes, annual carnivals, and keynote lectures to celebrity book signings, in-store demonstrations and holiday parades.\u00a0 These events definitely increased sales.\u00a0 Promotional activities continued to expand during the Great Depression of the 1930s.\u00a0 They now included such things as lotteries and sweepstakes.\u00a0\u00a0 Cleveland department stores from the 1940s to the 1970s sponsored popular radio and TV programs.\u00a0 Some retailers in the 1980s turned to the internet to bolster sales.\u00a0 Innovation knew no bounds.\u00a0 Yet, through it all, the economic antecedents responsible for this phenomenal retail experience did not originate in distant cities such as Paris, London\u00a0or New York; but rather, with a modest group of successful dry goods merchants\u00a0in Cleveland\u2019s Warehouse District.<\/p>\n

The eight major downtown Cleveland department stores, discussed in the following chapters, represented the height of local retailing as reflected through traditional large scale retailing.\u00a0 Their financial success was unprecedented, nothing like it before.\u00a0 Within a span of several decades, one group of energized retailers successfully controlled a growing major market that had previously been dominated by a group of less than sophisticated small shopkeepers.<\/p>\n

However, these new department stores symbolized much more than impersonal retailers that had somehow sapped the life out of earlier merchants.\u00a0 Nothing could be further from the truth.\u00a0 They were products of a changing age where large manufacturing concerns supplanted cottage industries.\u00a0 What these enterprising store owners did was to provide eager manufacturers the golden opportunity of selling large volumes of their wares to a waiting public.\u00a0 In fact, many earlier dry goods merchants\u00a0became successful department store owners.<\/p>\n

Their methods, rather than their actual goals, served to distinguish this new breed of retailer from its predecessors.\u00a0 A product of the Industrial Revolution, they provided the best possible products and services on an annual basis.\u00a0 Who can forget the likes of Francis A. Coy, Walter M. Halle\u00a0or John P. Murphy?\u00a0 They were icons in Cleveland retailing.\u00a0 Reviewing these long-established institutions from a business perspective may offer some insight into local retailing.\u00a0 It may also provide 21st century store leaders some valuable business and human resource lessons especially regarding what constituted effective retailing, and how these principles might be applied to today\u2019s unsettling retail climate.<\/p>\n

  1. The Cleveland Republican<\/em>. November 9, 1819. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. The Cleveland Republican<\/em>. December 8, 1818. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. The Cleveland Herald<\/em>. July 17, 1846. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  4. The Cleveland Herald<\/em>. January 2, 1840. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  5. \u201cBrick for Sale.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, January 9, 1852. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  6. The Ohio Architect and Builder 14,<\/em> 1909, pp. 56. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  7. \u201cCo-Partnership Dissolved by Mutual Consent.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, July 16, 1847. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  8. \u201cNotice of Co-partnership.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 12, 1850. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  9. \u201cNew Hat Store.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, November 4, 1858. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  10. \u201cSlaughter Sale.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 10, 1891. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  11. \u201cChina and Home-Furnishing Store.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 4, 1853. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  12. \u201cHeadquarters for Refrigerators and Ice Chests.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, May 2, 1867. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  13. \u201cRemoval, Reopening Kleinschmidt & Ambrosius.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, September 9, 1869. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  14. Ibid.<\/em> ↵<\/a><\/li>
  15. \u201cGratifying, Indeed, Crow & Whitmarsh.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, December 22, 1885. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  16. \u201cWill Get Styles from Paris Daily.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, September 6, 1913. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  17. \u201cHelps to Profitable Crockery Selling No. 9.\u201d Glass and Pottery<\/em>, February 1906. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  18. Borsodi, William. \u201cHouse Furnishings Advertising: A Collection of Selling Phrases and Descriptions and Illustrated Advertisements as Used by Successful Advertisers.\u201d Memphis, TN: General Books LLC, 2012, pp. 116. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  19. \u201cE.R. Hull & Dutton.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, August 17, 1890. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  20. \u201cDissolution of Partnership.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 1, 1875. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  21. \u201cCleveland\u2019s Most Successful Retail Clothing House-A Short Sketch of its Career.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, August 9, 1880. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  22. \u201cA Model Establishment.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, November 23, 1878. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  23. \u201cThe Biggest Yet, E.R. Hull & Company Buy Out Cleveland Clothing Company.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, July 2, 1886. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  24. \u201cA Great Store, E.R. Hull & Dutton\u2019s Building Entirely Remodeled.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, October 19, 1890. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  25. \u201cThrongs of People Flock to E.H. Hull & Dutton\u2019s To Determine Estimates.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, October 20, 1896. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  26. \u201cA Sacred Painting.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, April 11, 1897. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  27. \u201cGetting Ready to Build, Work on E.R. Hull & Dutton\u2019s Immense New Store to Begin May 1st.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, January 12, 1897. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  28. \u201cDoors Closed E.R. Hull & Dutton Makes Assignment for Benefit of Creditors.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, June 23, 1898. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  29. \u201cBy Permission of Court the Store of E.R. Hull Will Again Do Business.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, July 2, 1898. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  30. \u201cMonogram Pictures, the Hull & Dutton Company Giving Their Customers Wonderful Entertainment.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, November 6, 1898. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  31. \u201cHull & Dutton Consolidation Sale is a Winner.\u201d The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em>, February 12, 1899. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[47],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-45","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-standard"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/45\/revisions\/185"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/45\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}