75th anniversary


THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE Now Showing Ernest Kern Company, December 1958. Ernst Kern Company Kern’s was founded in 1883 by Ernst Kern, Sr., and his wife


Marie Held Kern. Kern was a German immigrant who specialized in imported fabrics, laces and ribbons. From a modest location at St. Antoine and East Lafayette, the firm moved to Randolph and Monroe, finally settling in 1897 at Woodward and Gratiot. Sons Ernst, Jr., and Otto took over the company following the senior Ernst’s death in 1901. Marie maintained management duties until after World War I.


Between 1919 and 1928 several expansions led to a ten-story


addition encompassing 200,000 square feet. Kern’s spacious main floor had a rich art deco look. The marble floors were accentuated with a 30-foot high ornamental ceiling, decorative cast-iron railings, and rich mahogany counters. New additions to the store included an auditorium, a roof garden, an employee gymnasium, a dining room, an elevator bank featuring 21 cars, and new street entrances directly to the basement. By this point, the store employed 500 associates.


Kern’s pioneered mail order


services to out-of-state custom- ers. The store also featured a Brentano’s Book Shop and ini- tially a lending library. Kern’s was famous for its Basement Dollar Days. The Founder’s Sale, however, was Kern’s largest storewide sale conducted each September. Crowds became so immense for this extravaganza in the late 1930s that Chevrolet offered courtesy automobiles to shuttle shoppers home with their purchases.


Children could not wait to visit


Kern’s Toyland where they could get a free book from Santa, merry go-round rides, and surprise packages. The store change the theme of the Toyland regularly, alluding to poplar children’s characters like Dumbo and the Lone Ranger.


Otto Kern sold the company in


1957, citing the lack of customer parking, emerging suburban shopping centers, and the inabil- ity of Kern’s to establish branch locations as difficult challenges. Despite upgraded merchandise, innovative promotions, and a modernized physical plant, the store closed its doors on De- cember 23, 1959 _ as the famous Kern’s clock that had adorned the store since 1933 struck mid- night.


The clock was removed in


1966 and placed in storage until the Junior League of Detroit lead a campaign to restore it in the late 1970s. In 1980 it was re- dedicated at Woodward and Gra- tiot. It was removed in 1998 to make way for the demolition of Hudson’s Department Store, only to be restored again in 2003 by Compuware Corporation, which built its headquarters at the former Kern’s site.


S.S. Kresge Company Variety stores (commonly called “dime


stores” based on the low prices of the mer- chandise) preceded today’s discount retail chains. Detroiters shopped at Kresge’s for daily needs such as housewares, linens, clothing, school supplies, cosmet- ics, toys, and seasonal décor. Kresge’s was also the place to go to buy records, get keys made, purchase bus passes, buy money orders, take passport photos, and enjoy hot waffle ice cream sandwiches.


Sebastian Spering Kresge, business as-


sociate J.G. McCrory, and brother-in-law Charles J. Wilson, opened the first Kresge dime store on Woodward Avenue between Grand River and State Street. Store #1 was 2,000 square feet, employed 18 asso- ciates, and carried 1,500 items, none cost- ing more than 1 cents.


Kresge’s became one of America’s top


three variety store chains, peaking in 1935 with 745 stores, primarily located in the Midwest and eastern United States. The firm pioneered a retail innovation in 1952 by converting their stores to a checkout system. Previously, customers paid a ca- shier behind each showcase.


Most Kresge locations featured snack bars or luncheonettes. The chain served


Fyfe’s Shoes, Crowley Milner and Company, Ernest Kern Company, J. L. Hudson Company, and S. S. Kresge Company helped define the shopping expe- rience for generations of Detroiters. Their familiar names evoke a nostalgic sense of quality and com- munity. Each created their own identity within the robust culture of retail stores and chains that has served the region for over a century.


r‘Fab 5’ www.detroithistorical.org.


October 13-19, 2010 Page C-4


at the Detroit Historical Museum


etailers


The Fabulous 5 exhibit series focuses on the people, places, products and events that have shaped Detroit’s history. The Detroit Historical Society changes this exhibit space regularly to highlight five examples of excellence within a range of topics.


Crowley’s, December 1958. Crowley Milner and Company Crowley’s was founded in 1909 when brothers Joseph, Wil-


liam and Daniel Crowley along with William Milner joined forces to purchase the Partridge and Blackwell department store. P and B had opened a block long six story emporium, facing Farmer Street, in 1907. Economic problems of the time, how- ever, almost forced P and B into bankruptcy.


Between 1915 and 1926, Crowley’s expanded at this site with


a number of additions, including an 11 floor warehouse and ad- ministrative center, which were joined to the main store by an elaborate five story bridge. By 1946, the store covered almost 800,000 square feet with 17.5 acres of floor space and 1,450 sales associates.


Crowley’s was known for its food service. Patrons could buy


lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; afternoon tea from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.; and formal dinner on Saturday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Grin- nell Brothers music store supplied pianos so that guests could enjoy music from well known operas.


Crowley’s boasted a number of De-


troit “firsts,” including the first escalator in 1909, which was replaced with their famous wooden escalators in 1928. The store was the first retailer to initiate time- payment sales on all general merchandise, with the sales financed through the Morris Plan Bank in 1920. They were the first De- troit retailer use gasoline powered delivery vehicles rather than horse drawn wagons, and also pioneered a charge-a-plate system (an early version of credit cards) and cycle billing program.


The store produced elaborate holiday S.S. Kresge Company, September 8, 1965.


thousands of cooked meals daily. Many Detroiters remem- ber popping a balloon for a free banana split or hot fudge sundae. The luncheonettes fea- tured marble top counters, red swivel stools, and the whirl of overhead ceiling fans.


By 1962, facing declining


profits, increased labor costs, and over expansion, Kresge’s


R.H. Fyfe & Co. Richard Henry Fyfe founded his shoe company in 1865, moving


his store several times along Woodward Avenue. In 1919, his new “temple of shoes” opened at West Adams and Woodward. Famed Detroit architects Smith Hinchman and Grylls designed a neo gothic emporium that encompassed ten floors, four mezzanines, and two basements — making Fyfe’s the world’s largest retail shoe store.


Fyfe’s transformed shoe shopping, turning an or-


dinary experience into an adventure. Fyfe’s offered a children’s barbershop and playroom, a shoe repair and shine salon, an in-house chiropodist (foot and shoe specialist), and an auditorium. The store also housed a putting green and battery of driv- ing courts for golfers on the fifth floor. A profes- sional golfer was on hand to provide lessons by appointment, at a rate of $1.50 for 30 minutes or seven lessons for $40.


The entire basement level was stocked with


The Richard H. Fyfe’s Building.


women’s shoes. Men’s shoes were located on the first floor, based on the assumption that male shoppers would not travel to another floor to make a pur- chase. In the mid 1950s, the store added women’s hats and larger shoe sizes for both men and women.


Fyfe’s was


one of the first retailers to sell rubber boots and became the United States Rubber Company’s best customer.


Fyfe’s window display. At its peak, around 1950, the


store employed 150 associates and maintained 100,000 pairs of shoes in stock. Fyfe’s export depart- ment shipped hundreds of pairs of shoes daily to all parts of the globe.


Lack of any suburban presence,


along with customers changing shopping habits doomed Fyfe’s, forcing the company into bank- ruptcy. The landmark store on Grand Circus Park closed in 1971.


president Harry B. Cunningham opened the first Kmart discount store. By 1987, the last of the Kresge variety stores were sold to McCrory Corporation.


The Kresge Foundation,


started in 1924 by founder S.S. Kresge still exists today, award- ing grants nationally to non- profit and arts organizations.


displays in its Toyland section, and was one of the first stores to offer souvenir photographs of a child posing with Santa Claus. Their “Lunch with Santa” program began in 1951, and many Detroit families still cherish the souvenir mugs they were given on their visit. During the 1950s and 1960s, Crowley’s hosted a holiday festi- val in their 7th floor auditorium featuring carnival rides, a children’s snack bar, and surprise gifts from Santa. Crowley’s also began opening branch stores in the 1950s, expanding their presence beyond down- town. By the early 1990s there were over 10 branches around Metro Detroit.


To stimulate deteriorating sales in the


1960s and 1970s, Crowley’s responded with storewide events, special presenta- tions in the auditorium, and Sunday shop- ping hours. Despite these efforts, sales in 1976 slid to levels lower than during the Great Depression. The downtown store closed on July 2, 1977. By 1997 all of the branch locations had closed as well.


The Hudson’s giant American Flag. J. L. Hudson Company J. L. Hudson Company was the preeminent depart-


ment store in 20th Century Detroit. Its central location on 1206 Woodward Avenue of-


fered merchandise in over 200 departments from 16,000 vendors representing 40 countries. Once the world’s tallest department store, Hudson’s boasted 51 eleva- tors to move guests to 17 floors.


Joseph Lowthian Hudson opened his first store on


the ground floor of the Detroit Opera House on Campus Martius in 1881. Mr. Hudson’s business interests were inseparable from his commitment to the community. As chairman and organizer of Detroit’s Associated Chari- ties, he helped lay the groundwork for today’s United Way Foundation and provided leadership and support to many other civic organizations.


Joseph L. Hudson, Jr., grandnephew of the store’s


founder, began his retail career on the downtown store receiving dock in 1950. Eleven years later at the age of 29, he was named president. Under “Joe, Jr.,” the store entered a major growth phase.


In 1969, Hudson’s


merged with Dayton’s of Minneapolis, creating the Dayton Hudson Corporation. This merger, with Hud- son’s leadership, fuelled store expansion throughout Michigan and into Indiana and Ohio.


Joseph L. Hudson Jr. led the store through two de-


cades of change. His proudest achievements include the diversification of store and management staff, pro- viding promotions and opportunities that previously did not exist. He aggressively pumped new life into the downtown store with an emphasis on fashion leader- ship and special events.


Dramatic changes in the retail industry and in the


shopping habits of their customers undermined the future of the downtown Hudson’s. The store closed in January of 1983. The once beloved edifice was implod- ed at 5:45 p.m. (store closing time) on Oct. 24, 1998.


All photos are courtesy of the Detroit Historical Society.


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