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| Jordan Marsh | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department stores |
| Founded | 1841; 184 years ago (1841) inBoston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Founders |
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| Defunct | 1996; 29 years ago (1996) |
| Fate | Acquisition byFederated Department Stores |
| Successor | Macy's |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Products | |
| Parent |
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Jordan Marsh was an Americandepartment store chain founded in 1841 byEben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh. It was headquartered inBoston,Massachusetts, and operated throughoutNew England. The destruction of the historical flagship store onWashington Street inDowntown Crossing, built in 1861 and demolished in 1975, contributed to the creation of theBoston Landmarks Commission. The suburban store atShoppers' World inFramingham, built in 1951 and replaced in 1993, was a local landmark because of its large exterior dome.
Jordan Marsh was acquired by Hahn Department Stores in 1928, which itself was acquired byAllied Stores in 1935. Allied and competing department storeholding companyFederated Department Stores were purchased by theCampeau Corporation in 1988, which ultimately resulted in the bankruptcy of both and the consolidation of Allied into Federated in 1992. Federated dissolved Jordan Marsh and converted stores toMacy's in 1996.
A separate Jordan Marsh Florida division was operated by Allied from 1956 until being converted toBurdines in 1991.
In 1841,Eben Dyer Jordan left his job at aBoston dry goods store and went into business for himself, laying the foundation for the first Jordan Marsh. Ten years later, Jordan partnered with Boston merchant Benjamin L. Marsh. They began by selling linen, silk, and other dry goods fromEurope towholesale customers in and around Boston.[1]
As the business grew, the company moved from one location to another. In 1861, Jordan and Marsh decided to begin selling directly to the public. They acquired a brownstone building at 450 Washington Street, in the heart of present-dayDowntown Crossing in Boston. After theAmerican Civil War ended in 1865, Jordan and Marsh expanded into nearby buildings, offering an increasing quantity and variety of goods. The partners eventually established the nation's first departmentalized store, calling it Jordan Marsh and Company. During the second half of the 19th century, Eben Jordan's son, Jordan Jr., and George Mitton, a new partner, took over the company, turning it into a modern department store.[1]
In addition to establishing the first department store, Jordan Marsh introduced the concept of department shopping, combining an elegant atmosphere with excellent personal service and a wide range of merchandise. With many different departments displaying wares from around the world, the store drew shoppers from Boston and from the growingstreetcar suburbs. Once at the store, consumers could do more than just shop. Jordan Marsh offered fashion shows, a bakery famous for its blueberry muffins, art exhibitions, and even afternoon concerts.[2]
Jordan Marsh also pioneered new services for shoppers not available in more traditionalspecialty shops, offering credit, usually in the form of charge accounts. It introduced the customer-is-always right policy, and offered money-back guarantees. Jordan Marsh was implemented new technology, and was one of the first stores to feature electrical lights,glass showcases, telephones, and elevators. It also installed pneumatic tubes that delivered cash and credit information to individual departments.[2]
In 1935, the Jordan Marsh department store inBoston became one of the founders ofNew York City-basedAllied Stores Corporation, a successor to Hahn Department Stores, Inc., a holding company founded in 1928.
Following the end ofWorld War II in 1945, Jordan Marsh's management announced that it intended to build a new store inDowntown Boston. Jordan's five older buildings secured a new building, which consumed a full city block. Covering an area larger thanHarvard Stadium, it had two stories underground and another 14 that rose into the air. It had the latest technology, including air conditioning, automatic doorways, block-long show windows, and radiant-heated sidewalks.[1]
In 1949, after the addition of the new building, the Jordan Marsh Complex was split into four distinct units: the 1949 new store, the original main store, annex, and bristol building. TheBoston Redevelopment Authority estimated the complex's total retail space at 1,700,000 sq ft (160,000 m2), which made it the largest retail venue in Boston. At the same time, the company began moving into the suburbs. Jordan Marsh constructed its first branch stores in older suburban communities in the 1940s. By 1966, branch stores accounted for half of all department store sales.
Shopper's World shopping mall opened inFramingham, Massachusetts on October 4, 1951, and was one of the nation's earliest suburban shopping malls with Jordan Marsh standing at the mall's southern end as its sole anchor. It was the first mall-styled Jordan Marsh in the country and was unmistakable for its large white dome. The dome was visible from the air and was used on aeronautical charts as a visual reporting point for aircraft approaching Boston'sLogan Airport. It was reputed to be the third-largest in diameter unsupported dome in the world afterSt. Peter's Basilica in Rome andSt. Paul's Cathedral in London. Shopper's World quickly became the most recognizable Jordan Marsh outside its flagship store in Boston. Jordan Marsh also opened aSan Diego branch around the same time as the Florida stores in 1956, which occupied the formerSears store in downtown San Diego. The San Diego branch underperformed the Florida branches and was closed in 1958.
The main building of Boston's Jordan Marsh complex, an ornate brownstone edifice with a landmark corner clock tower designed byNathaniel J. Bradlee in the 1860s, was torn down in 1975, along with its entire row of historic annex buildings. Local architect Leslie Larson founded a coalition called the City Conservation League to try to save the main building, which made way for a low modern brick structure that sits there today as Macy's. Some outraged customers cut up their credit cards in protest of the demolition. The protests and preservationist grassroots efforts led to the creation of the Boston Landmarks Commission.
In 1986, the CanadianCampeau Corporation acquired Allied Stores Corporation, which was reorganized under the merger agreement. In February 1987, Campeau mergedD.M. Read Co. ofBridgeport, Connecticut, into Jordan Marsh, and merged Jordan Marsh Florida withMaas Brothers ofTampa, Florida, as the new Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh Florida division.
In 1988, Campeau Corporation acquired Federated Department Stores. To consolidate with Federated, Allied's New York headquarters moved toCincinnati.[3]
In 1990, saddled by debt resulting from the highly leveraged Campeau takeover of Federated, both Federated and Allied filed for bankruptcy. Campeau Corp. U.S., Inc., was renamed Federated Stores, Inc. The following year, in 1991, the operations of Jordan Marsh Florida andMaas Brothers were absorbed byBurdines in 1991.
In February 1992, a new public company, Federated Department Stores, Inc., emerged, and Allied Stores Corporation was merged into it. A consolidation of theA&S and Jordan Marsh divisions resulted in the A&S/Jordan Marsh division, headquartered inBrooklyn, New York.
In 1994, the A&S/Jordan Marsh division merged withMacy's East, and the A&S stores were renamed Macy's in 1995. In 1996, Jordan Marsh stores in theNortheast U.S., which were already part of Macy's East division, were converted to Macy's name and branding.[4]
From the 1940s until 1972 and again in the early 1990s, Jordan Marsh's flagship store inDowntown Crossing in Boston was home to Enchanted Village, a lavishChristmas display which at its height consumed an entire floor of thedepartment store and was spotlighted in the store's display windows. The display's centerpiece, besidesSanta Claus, was an eight-setLionel electric train display. In what started as a marketing gimmick, Enchanted Village quickly became a legendary Boston tradition and an annual mainstay of the city's holiday season.
In 1998, Macy's discontinued Enchanted Village when it was moved toCity Hall Plaza.[5] More recently, it was housed in theHynes Convention Center.[citation needed]
On June 16, 2009, Enchanted Village, including all itsprops and figures was sold at auction, after the City of Boston said it no longer could afford to sponsor the annual event.[6] Enchanted Village was subsequently sold toJordan's Furniture, a unit ofWarren Buffett'sBerkshire Hathaway with no connection to the former Jordan Marsh, and is on display inAvon, Massachusetts during the holiday season.
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 Exterior of the former Jordan Marsh store atPalm Beach Mall inWest Palm Beach (1971) | |
| Jordan Marsh | |
| Company type | Division |
| Founded | 1956; 69 years ago (1956) inMiami,Florida, United States |
| Defunct | October 20, 1991; 33 years ago (1991-10-20) |
| Fate | Bankruptcy by Allied, acquisition by Federated |
| Successor | Burdines |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida, United States |
Number of locations | 13 (at peak) |
| Parent | Allied Stores |
Allied opened the first Jordan Marsh store inFlorida on Biscayne Boulevard indowntown Miami in 1956. It competed withBurdines in this market, which successfully pursued acquisition byFederated Department Stores for capital investment to compete with Jordan Marsh.[7] It was comparatively more upmarket than local competion; the regional flagship store in Miami, advertised as "the store with eveything, with a Florida flair", featured a swimming pool and boating dock to attract affluent customers.[8] Allied operated the Jordan Marsh Florida division separately from the New England stores, and it expanded to 13 stores in the state.
The economic decline in the Florida market, paired with the financial difficulties Allied experienced during Campeau ownership, contributed to Allied's 1990 bankruptcy and 1992 acquisition by Federated. Jordan Marsh Florida,Tampa-basedMaas Brothers, and Burdines were merged into a single division, and all were converted to Burdines on October 20, 1991.[9] Burdines was co-branded as Burdines–Macy's in 2003 and fully converted toMacy's in 2005, and ultimately experienced the same fate as the New England stores.
42°21′19″N71°03′38″W / 42.355142°N 71.060462°W /42.355142; -71.060462