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 Exterior of the former flagship store after conversion toMacy's (2016) | |
| Formerly | Burdines–Macy's (2004–2005) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department stores |
| Founded | 1898; 128 years ago (1898)Miami,Florida, United States |
| Founders |
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| Defunct | March 6, 2005; 20 years ago (2005-03-06) |
| Fate | Rebranding byFederated Department Stores |
| Successor | Macy's |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida, United States |
Number of locations | 58 (at peak, 1990s) |
| Products |
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| Parent | Federated Department Stores (1956–2005) |
Burdines (English:/bɜːrˈdaɪnz/bur-DYNZE) was an Americandepartment store chain founded in 1898 by William M. and John Burdine. It operated exclusively inFlorida, with its flagship store and headquarters both located inMiami.[1] It evolved from a carriage-trade shop into a full-line department store chain nicknamed "The Florida Store", decorated with palm trees in the center of the store, painted in pink and blue, and other subtropical colors and motifs. The chain was purchased byFederated Department Stores in 1956; it co-branded the chain as Burdines–Macy's in 2004, and dissolved the Burdines brand completely with its full conversion toMacy's in 2005.
In 1897, Henry Payne and William M. Burdine opened a dry goods store in the central Florida city ofBartow.[1] A year later, Payne left the company, and Burdine brought in his son, John, as a partner, resulting in the company's name change to W.M. Burdine and Son. In 1898, Burdine bought a block on South Miami Avenue, one block south ofFlagler Street,[1] in the then-fledgling community ofMiami. That year, he opened the first W.M. Burdine & Son store at the location, just two years after the first people had arrived in the area from the newly completedFlorida East Coast Railway to incorporate the city. His tiny store held only a few shelves of clothing, which were primarily sold to construction workers, soldiers from theSpanish–American War, and the localMiccosukee andSeminoleNative Americans. Burdine was amazed with the business that he did in Miami and decided to close his store in Bartow and move his operations base to Miami, changing the business name to Burdines and Sons.[1]
William died in 1911, and his other son,Roddy, took over the chain. By then,[2] Burdines had grown into a full-fledged department store and continued expanding. The land-boom of the 1920s helped the store launch its first branch inMiami Beach. As Florida's population soared, so did the growth of Burdines. Over the next thirty years, four other branches opened across the state of Florida.
In the late 1940s, Burdines opened an international mail order program that servedLatin America. This resulted in a rise of popularity for the company, and military personnel stationed inCuba would send a supply ship to Miami every 6 months with orders for Burdines.
In 1956, Burdines merged withFederated Department Stores, Inc. The financial support given by Federated allowed Burdines to push north and westward in the 1970s and 1980s. Beginning in 1966, Burdines opened stores in:
In 1971, the Burdines store inDadeland Mall became the largestsuburban department store south ofNew York. Burdines also piloted auto centers, beginning in 1960, at their 163rd St location and the Miami warehouse, after testing it in Fort Lauderdale.
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In 1991, following the 1988 merger of Federated with theAllied Stores Corporation and subsequent bankruptcy reorganization, Burdines absorbed Allied's Tampa-basedMaas Brothers/Jordan Marsh Florida division, converting many of the stores to Burdines and closing the rest. The conversion resulted in there being fifty-eight Burdines stores in the state of Florida, more than twice their initial store count of 27.
During the 1990s, stores opened atPembroke Lakes Mall inPembroke Pines in theMiami Metropolitan Area,Brandon Town Center inBrandon in theTampa Bay Area, andSeminole Towne Center inSanford in theOrlando Metropolitan Area.
From 1999 to 2001, Burdines experienced major growth, expanding into seven new locations and significantly renovating their existing stores with a lighter color palette and an upgraded décor. The most publicly anticipated stores that opened during this period were those located in expansions ofThe Florida Mall inOrlando andAventura Mall inAventura, while other stores opened with new shopping malls such asCitrus Park Town Center inCitrus Park andThe Mall at Wellington Green inWellington.
During this period, Burdines also tried another new layout at their store inSt. Petersburg'sTyrone Square Mall, in an attempt to improve convenience for shoppers. The store upgraded to use a central checkout system and was expected to be more popular among shoppers since they would only need to see a cashier once before leaving. However, the design failed as an employee had to manually apply a coded sticker (identifying who made the sale) to the price tag of each item before customers left the store. Thus, this convenience plan was quickly abandoned by Burdines, and the company resumed using traditional cashier layouts.
The former flagship store inMiami, built in stages from the 1910s through the 1930s, continued to operate as a Macy's until it was closed in March 2018.[3]Ross Stores leased the building in 2019, and redeveloped it to relocate a nearby store whose building was set to be demolished in favor of a 92-story skyscraper. The redevelopment permitted a second store to be located on the first floor of the building.[4] The new store opened on March 7, 2020.[5]
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| Preceded by N/A | Tallest building in Miami 1912–1917 | Succeeded by |