On the theme of America's great cities thread and why they fell, I thought it would be interesting to look at one aspect of American cities that signaled decline more then anything, and that is retail.
I cam across this Department Store Museum blog and he has interesting stats on various store in the USA and Canada.
http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.com/
Anyway he has the size of some of the downtown flagships listed and some were easy to find on the net, so I put together a small list of just some of the stores, to give a taste. He did not have stats for all stores, so that is why some major ones may not be here. But overall it gives you a sense of just how large some of these places were.
What I find amazing, is how cities like Newark, Hartford, and LA were pretty high up at one time in terms of the size of their stores. I don't think today that anyone would think Newark once had one of the largest stores outside of the super big American cities. Anyway an interesting little look into the world of American retail during its heyday, when stores build grand palaces of consumption, etc.
Stores in red are still in business today.
Marshall Field & Company, Downtown Chicago
2.2 million sq feet. Currently about 800,000 sq feet of retail space.
Hudson's, Downtown Detroit
2 million sq feet. Tallest store in the world, with 15 floors of shopping.
Macy's, Manhattan
2 million sq feet.
Abraham & Straus, Downtown Brooklyn
1.6 million sq feet. Now a Macy's.
Lazarus, Downtown Columbus, Ohio
1.3 million sq feet
Bamberger's, Downtown Newark, NJ
1.2 million sq feet.
Riches, Downtown Atlanta
1.2 Million Sq Feet.
G. Fox & Company, Downtown Hartford
1.1 million sq feet
The May Company, Downtown Cleveland
1.1 million sq feet
The May Company, Downtown L.A.
1 million sq feet
Kaufmann's, Downtown Pittsburgh
1 million sq feet. Now a Macy's. Current selling space about 650,000 sq feet. There is a threat of further downsizing by Macy's.
Sibley's, Downtown Rochester, NY
1 million sq feet.
Carson Pirie Scott & Co, Downtown Chicago
974,000 sq feet.
Bloomingdales, Manhattan
935,000 sq feet
The Bon Marche, Downtown Seattle
878,000 sq. feet
Bullocks, Downtown L.A.
806,000 sq feet
Foley's, Downtown Houston
788,000 sq feet. Now a Macy's.
Macy's, Downtown San Francisco
678,000 sq feet. Enlarged to 800,000 sq feet in the 1990's.
Famous-Barr, Downtown St. Louis
650,000 sq feet. Now a Macy's and just downsized to 250,000 sq feet.
The Hetch Company, Downtown D.C.
555,000 sq feet. Downsized to about 256,000 sq feet and now a Macy's.
Burdine's, Downtown Miami
529,000 sq feet, now a Macy's.