Bond Clothing Stores

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Bond Clothing Stores
company_
fate = Liquidation
foundation = 1914
defunct = ca. 1982
location = New York and Nationwide
industry = Retail
key_people =
products = Men's apparel and accessiories
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =

Bond Clothing Stores, Bond Clothes, Bond Clothiers, or Bond Stores, was a men's clothing manufacturing company and retailer. The company catered to the middle class consumer.

History

The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914, when Mortimer Slater, with Charles Bond and Lester Cohen, founded the stores as a retail outlet for their suit manufacturing company. The first store featured fifteen-dollar men's suits. As president Mr. Slater built the concern into a million-dollar corporation, increasing the number of employees from fifty to more than 4,000. At his retirement in 1924, the concern had twenty-eight stores in large cities. Bond Stores, Inc. was organized in Maryland on March 19, 1937 by the consolidation of Bond Clothing Company, a Maryland corporation, and its subsidiary, Bond Stores, Inc. The principal executive offices of the corporation were located at 261 Fifth Avenue in New York City. [ [http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/lehman/chrono.html?company=bond_stores_inc Harvard Business School, Lehman Brothers Collection - Twentieth-Century Business Archives Bond Stores,Inc. historical collection (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] .]

During the 1930's and 40's, it became the largest retail chain of men's clothing in the United States, best known for selling two-pant suits. In 1975, the company was sold to foreign investors, then broken up and sold in smaller groups to its management. For instance, 13 stores were operated by the Proud Wind, Inc. company. ["Bonds to Close F Street Store Jan. 23," by Jerry Knight, "The Washington Post", Dec 18, 1981, p. D7.]

Manufacturing Operations

In 1933, company president Barney S. Ruben (1885-1959) moved the manufacturing center of Bond Clothes from New Brunswick, New Jersey to Rochester, New York where he spent his youth and got his start in the clothing industry with Fashion Park Clothes. ["Mr. Ruben Dies; Headed Bond Stores," "The Washington Post, Times Herald", Oct 29, 1959, p. B2.] By the end of the 1930's, the manufacturer grew to employ over 2,500 people. During the 1940's the company expanded to larger manufacturing facilities on North Goodman St. In 1956, wholly owned manufacturing plants operated at New Brunswick, New York City, and Rochester. The Rochester facility was later sold to General Dynamics. The company's manufacturing facilities remained in Rochester until 1979, when the factory was finally closed. [ [http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=797 Finding Aid to records in the Rare Books and Special Collections department, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] ]

Retail Stores

Bond Stores operated numerous retail outlets in the United States. Principally a men's clothier, by the mid-1950's some stores also carried women's clothing, and later became known as "family apparel centers." In 1956, the chain operated nearly 100 outlets from coast to coast in principal cities, in addition to more than 50 agency stores that sold goods in smaller communities. ["Bond to Serve Both Men and Women," "The Washington Post and Times Herald", Oct 3, 1956, p. 50.] In the late-1960's there were around 150 retail outlets. By 1982, that number had dwindled to 50.

New York City

Its New York City flagship store was at 372 Fifth Avenue at 35th Street, the former flagship of Best & Co. Known as "Bond Fifth Avenue," they began leasing the store and the adjoining 12-story office tower from Best & Co. in 1947. In 1948, Bond renovated the entire building with ultra-modern interiors under the direction of designer Morris Lapidus. Bond stayed in the building until the mid-1970's. The building has most recently been redeveloped by the Paratis Group as a commercial / residential complex known as the "372 Fifth Avenue Loft." [ [http://www.paratis.com/372fifth/history.html Paratis Group, 372 Fifth Avenue: SoHo in Midtown, History webpage (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] .]

The company also operated a store at Times Square. That outlet opened in 1940, was dubbed "the cathedral of clothing." [ [http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID-TimesSquare.htm New York Architecture Images- Midtown (Times Square) (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] .] The store closed in 1977. [Trager, James (2004) "The New York Chronology: The Ultimate Compendium of Events, People, and Anecdotes from the Dutch to the Present", HarperCollins (p. 736). ISBN 9780060740627] The building now houses a restaurant called [http://www.bond45.com/ Bond 45] .

Washington D.C. and vicinity

Bond Stores first entered the Washington, D.C. market in 1925. In Washington, D.C., the local flagship store was at 1335 F Street, NW, in the heart of the downtown shopping district. It opened in the early 1930's and closed in January 1982. ["Bonds to Close F Street Store Jan. 23," by Jerry Knight, "The Washington Post", Dec 18, 1981, p. D7.]

Suburban locations in Northern Virginia operated at Landmark Mall in Alexandria (opened 1966) ["Bond to Open Store," "The Washington Post, Times Herald", Apr 21, 1966, p. C8.] and Seven Corners Shopping Center in Falls Church (opened October 1956, closed 1976). [Area Roundup, "The Washington Post", Dec 31, 1976, p. D7.] Outlets in suburban Maryland operated at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Prince George's Plaza in Hyattsville (opened 1959, closed ca. 1982) ["It's Fashionable For Whole Family To Shop Together," "The Washington Post and Times Herald" May 7, 1959, p. C22.] , and Marlow Heights Shopping Center at Marlow Heights.

Buffalo, New York

Bond Stores operated at least two locations in the Buffalo, New York area. In 1940, they took over the Givens, Inc. women's and children's apparel store at 452-54 Main Street in downtown Buffalo. A suburban location opened in 1962, at the new Boulevard Mall. [Rizzo, Michael F. (2007) "Nine Nine Eight: The Glory Days of Buffalo Shopping" Lulu Enterprises, Inc.; Morrisville, North Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4303-1386-1.]

Times Square Sign

Between 1948 and 1954, Bond Clothes operated a massive sign on the east side block of Broadway between 44th and 45th St. in New York's Times Square. The sign had nearly 2 miles of neon and included two 7-story tall nude figures, a man and a woman, as bookends. Between the nude figures, there was a 27 feet high and 132 feet wide waterfall with 50,000 gallons of recirculated water. Beneath the waterfall was a 278 foot long zipper sign with scrolling messages. The Bond zipper was made up of over 20,000 light bulbs. Above the waterfall was a digital clock with the wording "Every Day 3,490 People Buy at Bond." [ [http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID-TimesSquare.htm New York Architecture Images- Midtown (Times Square) (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] .] Some of the sign remained in place to advertise the Bond Stores location until the stores closure in 1977. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dKXHhWXTzY&feature=related New Years Eve at Times Square, 1976-77 (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] .]

References

External links

* [http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID-TimesSquare.htm New York Architecture Images- Midtown (Times Square) includes postcards showing Times Square Bond Clothes sign (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] .
* [http://www.you-are-here.com/broadway/forrester.html Photograph of Forrester Building, 640 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, California (home of Bond Clothing Stores, Inc., ca. 1939 to 1973) (accessed Sep 16, 2008)] .