Historic Memphis Department Stores are 'History'.

I. Goldsmith & Bros. on Beale

Goldsmith's Logo and store

The Goldsmith Building today.


Goldsmith's Restaurant	1909 Postcard	1910 Tri-State	Goldsmith's Santa	Goldsmith's 1925


Goldsmith Brothers -1953	Enchanted Forest	Santa	GoldThrift Accnt	Employee 5 yr Pin


Souvenir Plate - Red	Souvenir Plate - Back	Souvenir Plate - Blue	Souvenir Plate - Back	Golden G Pin

Goldsmith's - Half-Yardstick


Souvenir Plate	Plate Back	1969 Ad	Hatbox-Vintage	Matchbook	G.Pressley Charge Card


Goldsmith	Sheet Music	Geo Hamilton 1963	Prints - Gift Shop	Prints - Gift Shop	Prints - Back


Window Display	Ribbon	<---------------------- 1920 Goldsmith's Fashion Brochure ------------------->


< 1914 Goldsmith's Dinner at the Gayoso >			Matchbook	1920 Golden Jubilee Dinner at Scottish Rite Cathedral


1930 Catalog	1908 Ad	65th Anniversary	75th Anniversary	Vintage Postcard	Goldsmith Label


1907 Envelope	Guide c. 1940s	1950s ChargePlate	Good Luck Token	Interior - Rare


Dior Tie	Under construction	Vintage Siding...	Elias	Fred	Jacob	Leo

Lowenstein's Department Store - 64-68 N. Main . 89 N. Main . 99 N. Main . 27 S. Main

Elias Lowenstein emigrated to Memphis in 1854. The firm which he headed, B. Lowenstein and Bros. Department Store, was Prominent in Memphis for 125 years. Their store at 26 Main was a classic cast-iron building. In 1924 Lowenstein's built a large building on the site of the old Main Street Peabody at 27 S. Main. This building was renovated in 1987 and renamed Brinkley Plaza. In 1956 Lowenstein's purchased Bry's at 99 N. Main. In 1962-64 they demolished the Bry's building and built Lowenstein's Tower. Today the Renaissance Apartments Tower occupies this site. Lowenstein's closed and liquidated in 1981.

When Lowenstein's vacated the "old Lowenstein" building in the 20s, the old building was taken over by Rhodes-Jennings Furniture Co. They moved out in 1980 and the old building sat vacant for almost three decades. With terra cotta angels and a cast-iron facade, the store, built in 1886, was threatened with demolition in 1996. Three developers—John Basek, C. Yorke Lawson, and William Chandler, then president of Memphis Heritage—united in 2000 and eventually saved the National Register-listed building with a $20 million renovation. Now home to 28 apartments and retail space, the Lowenstein is part of a three-building project called Court Square Center. On Mar. 18, 2009, 500 people in Memphis attended the grand opening of the newly renovated Lowenstein Building. "It's the building that nobody said could be saved, and it's got new life again," says June West, executive director of Memphis Heritage, which owned the easement that protected the building's facade and has contributed $35,000 over the years to save the Lowenstein. "It's one of those projects that you wait for all your life. Now I get to say to people, 'Don't give up."

Old Lowenstein Building

Lowenstein Building today

Renovated Building 2017

Lowenstein-Brinkley Plaza

Elias Lowenstein was a leader in the Memphis Jewish community. He served as president of Temple Isreal for 15 years. He contributed liberally to rebuilding the city after the disastrous 1870's yellow fever epidemics. In 1891 Elias Lowenstein built a mansion which was Memphis' most important Victorian Romanesque residence and one of the finest of its styles in the South. After his death in 1919, his family donated it to the Nineteenth Century Club for use as a residence for young working women who did not have family in the city and, therefore, under social customs of the day were expected to live in a protected environment. A porch with cupola was removed in 1929 for construction of an annex.

Elias Lowenstein House

The Lowenstein Building


1884 Invoice	Ad from 1865 Memphis Directory


Lowenstein Credit Card	1927 Letter	1930 Candy	Candy Label

Mr. Bingle

Santa - 1956

Souvenir Plate

Souvenir Plate - Back

Elias Lowensteins



B. Lowenstein	1907-Decorated	1930s Card	1926	1878 check to Lowenstein's for $444 signed by Jefferson Davis


Lowenstein's interior	Lowenstein's interior	Brinkley Plaza - interior	Brinkley Plaza - interior	1903 Ad


1890 Billhead	1896 Invoice	1871 Article	Hat Box	Vintage Hat	Matchbook


1907	1920	1887-88 Catalog	Lowenstein's interior	Lowenstein's interior


1943 Envelope			1909 Postcard

Bry's Department Store - 89 N. Main at Jefferson

In 1902, the store, founded by Nathan and Louis Bry, and I. D. "Ike" Block, opened at the SE corner of Main & Adams. Ike Block took over management of the store at the outset since his partners were also operating Bry Brothers - a wholesale firm in St. Louis. In 1905 they moved to a new store at Main and Jefferson, where they competed successfully for over fifty years with Lowenstein's, Gerber's, and Goldsmith's. Bry's was noted for its annual "Daring Sale" in which it dropped prices and doubled the number of clerks. In 1912, Bry's enterned the history books when it became the first store to sell sheet music written by W. C. Handy. This was also the first store to use ladies as clerks. Bry's anchored North Main and Goldsmith's anchored South Main. In 1956 Bry's was sold to Lowenstein's and closed in 1964.


Bry's - 1918	Bry's Postcard	Bry's - building enlarged	Shoe Hook


Bry's first store- Main and Adams	Bry's Employee Button	Bry's Ad 1924	1924 Ad	Bry's Ad	Bry's Spoon

Louis Bry Obit

I. D. "Ike" Block

I.D. Block c.1925

Nathan Bry

Louis Bry

Mellie-Louis Bry

Nathan Bry Obit


Bry's Ad - 1918	Bry's 1919	Rare Santa Button	Bry's 1909	Bry's 1914


Bry's 1940	Bry's Badge-1920s	Bry's Front Street 1910	Vintage Button	Vintage Button

Gerber's Department Store - 25 North Main

John Gerber opened his first store in 1880 and expanded greatly over the years - eventually taking up most of the block. s installed Memphis’ first escalators and they opened to great fanfare and free publicity in the two newspapers for the store. The first escalators had been planned by Goldsmith’s but Gerber's quietly installed theirs about 6 months ahead of Goldsmiths. Gerber's was particularly noted for its TEA ROOM - a popular meeting place downtown. When retailers began to abandon Main Street in the 1960s, Gerber's struggled to stay. But after going through two fires in 1968 and 1971, the store was doomed. The store closed October 15, 1974 and the building was demolished in the mid 1980s. A hotel stands on the site today.


Gerber's	Gerber's - 1926	Gerbers Ad -1946


Gerber's Christmas - 1937	Souvenir Plate	Plate - Back	Chas Gerber	Gerber's Interior 1880s


Gerber's Windows	Postcard 1950s	Charles Gerber	Obit	Gerber Tribute


1930s Sales Receipt	Shoes	Vintage Hat	1st Gerber on Main	Gerbers Tea Room	Patio Rest. 1956

Kress - 7 North Main . 80 S. Main

The Kress building is easily recognizable by its colorful and decorative terra-cotta facade. Kress opened the first, in what was to become a nationwide chain of five-and-dime stores, in Memphis in 1896 and moved to the Main Street location in 1927. In 1980, the Kress Store became McCrory's and the store finally closed in 1994. Conscious of the historical significance of the building, the new owners have restored the structure in accordance within historical guidelines and have adapted it and adjoining buildings for use as a hotel - Spring Hill Suites by Marriott.

Samuel Henry Kress (1863 - 1955) was one of seven children of a Pennsylvania coal-mining supervisor. Originally a Pennsylvania schoolteacher, he opened a stationery and notions shop in Memphis in 1887. This grew into the nationwide chain S. H. Kress & Company. Kress would eventually own about 400 stores, including nine in Florida. A businessman and philanthropist, he was an art lover and with his fortune, amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian Renaissance and European artwork assembled in the 20th century. In 1929 he established the Kress Foundation to sponsor traveling exhibitions, scholarships in art history, and restorations of monuments in Italy. He also donated a significant portion of his art collection to Brooks Memorial Art Gallery.

Samuel Kress


Kress -Vintage	Kress - Detail	Detail on the building	Kress -80 S. Main	Lunch Counter 1950s

W. T. GRANT - 113 S. Main at Gayoso


W. T. Grant	Building being renovated	W. T. Grant	GGrant Ad	Grant Record Brand

W. T. Grant, or Grants was a chain of United States-based mass-merchandise stores. The stores were generally of the "dime store" format located in downtowns. The Grant store in Memphis closed in 1976. The building has now been converted to luxury lofts. At its peak there were 1200 Grant stores nationwide.

William Thomas Grant (1876-1972) was the founder of the W. T. Grant stores. He began his career by selling flower seeds, and as a young man, developed his philosophy: sell people what they need at prices they can afford, making only a modest profit. Grant dedicated much of his life and fortune to philanthropic efforts, though after his death his stores folded in the biggest retail bankruptcy in history. The W. T. Grant Foundation, due to diversification, survived and continues his philanthropy.

Black & White Store - Busy Bee - Shainberg's - 122 S. Main


Black and White Store - 1948	2011	2011

When Daniel Lewis first opened this store in 1905, it was named the Black and White Store and it was next door to Brys. Later the store moved to the building across from Goldsmiths and remodeled with the distinctive black and white tiles. When Lewis's daughter married Sam Shainberg, he took over the store's management. In the mid 1950's, the name was changed to Shainberg's to upgrade the image of the business and to recognize its new owner. The old store on Main became Jolly Royal Furniture in 1978. (In 2017, the black and white tiled building was still standing on S. Main and the now Royal Furniture is still there).


*Blk-Whiie next to Bry's*	*30th Anniversary*	*Shainberg's*	*Matchbook*	*Shainberg's Logo*

Greener's Department Store - Harris Department Store 308 - 12 Beale


*Greener's 1954*	*Greener's*	*1937 - "Jug Bands"*	*Harris Depart. Store - c 1960s*

Greener's Department Store opened here in 1928. It was generally considered to be a mirror- image of Schwab's Department Store further down Beale. It operated from this location for 30 years before it became the Harris Department Store in the early 1960s. Today the building houses the Pat O'Brien night club.

Credits

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