Halle Brothers Co.

Infobox_Company
company_name = Halle Brothers Company
company_
company_type = Department store
foundation = 1891
dissolved = 1982
location = Cleveland, Ohio
industry = Retail
products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
homepage = None

Halle Brothers Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, commonly referred to as Halle's, is a defunct department store chain.

History

The Halle Brothers Co. (1891-1982) was considered the leading department store company in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded on 7 February 1891 by brothers Samuel Horatio Halle and Salmon Potland Chase Halle, the very first store was at 221 Superior Avenue near the city's Public Square, where the brothers bought out a hat and furrier shop owned by T.S. Paddock. Two years later, they moved to Euclid Avenue and East 4th Street in 1893, adding ready-to-wear clothing to the mix. The firm was officially incorporated in 1902 as the Halle Bros. Co. After growing and moving several times, the company eventually built its main store at 1228 Euclid Avenue by 1910. By 1927, their new $5 million Huron-Prospect Building was opened, creating an emporium at the city's Playhouse Square Center theatre district.

Although the company sustained losses during the Great Depression, business grew again after World War II as Halle's began developing suburban branches starting in 1948 under the leadership of Walter Murphy Halle, while completing a $10 million modernization at Playhouse Square that included a new service building on Prospect Avenue and the West Wing addition to its original building in 1949. Over time, the store came to be enjoyed by the city's carriage trade society, especially during the Christmas season when the flagship store had its very own popular version of Santa Claus, a man named Mr. Jingeling, who could be found, as a TV and radio jingle reminded kids, "on Halle's seventh floor" serving as Santa's "Keeper Of The Keys."

The 1960s brought hard times to the family business. Suffering from an overbuilt flagship, the abandonment of Downtown Cleveland and overexpansion into the outlying areas, the company was sold to Marshall Field's in 1970, under which it deteriorated, falling behind local rivals Higbee's and May Company. Attempts to lure less upscale patrons with mid-priced goods failed, forcing the 1974 resignation of then-president/CEO Chisholm Halle--Walter's son and the grandson of Samuel H. Halle who had died in 1954.

Halle's was well regarded as a high end department store, receiving praise for opening stores beyond the usual shopping district of Public Square in downtown Cleveland. When the flagship store expanded in 1927, Time Magazine praised the business for helping to turn the city of Cleveland into a more metropolitan city and compared Halle's to Lord & Taylor, B. Altman & Co., R.H. Stearns, Marshall Field's, Bullock's, and Maison Blanche [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,736763,00.html Time Magazine, "Pioneer Buildings," June 6, 1927] ] .

As of 1927, Halle's selling region included western New York, Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, and Indiana [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,736763,00.html Time Magazine, "Pioneer Buildings," June 6, 1927] ] .

In November 1981 Field's sold Halle's (now numbering 15 stores in Ohio & Pennsylvania) to Associated Investors Corporation, led by Columbus, Ohio businessman Jerome Schottenstein, whose primary holdings included the Value City discount store chain. The Schottensteins subsequently liquidated the company in 1982, with all the stores either sold or closed despite attempts to operate as a smaller suburban six-unit operation. [ [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=HBC Encyclopedia of Cleveland History] The history of Halle Brothers Co. Accessed September 7 2006] A location at Randall Park Mall in North Randall, Ohio was planned for the early 1980s, but was canceled when the store was liquidated. The space sat empty until a multiscreen cineplex was built in the late 1990s.

Its former flagship store at Playhouse Square Center was redeveloped as offices by Forest City Enterprises with space for retail shops on the main floor and a food court in the former Downstairs Store. [ [http://www.forestcity.net/PROPERTIES/halle-building.asp Halle Building] , Forest City Enterprises. Accessed 2007-08-23.] During the late 1990s, the building was also used as the main location of the fictional Winfred-Louder store in "The Drew Carey Show" on ABC. [cite news |first=Tom |last=Feran |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Cleveland getting last laugh on TV |url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%200F80D01DD87DC7CB%20)&p_docid=0F80D01DD87DC7CB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_queryname=0F80D01DD87DC7CB&f_openurl=yes&p_nbid=B5EK49DBMTIxNzI4MzU2Ni4zMDk0MDA6MToxMjoxOTguMzAuMjI4LjA&&p_multi=CPDB |work=The Plain Dealer |publisher= |date=1998-06-09 |accessdate=2008-07-28 ]

Actress Halle Berry, who was born and raised in Cleveland, was named for the famed department store.

Former locations

Ohio
*Akron - Summit Mall ("opened 1965, became Higbee's 1982, Dillard's 1992")
*Cleveland - Playhouse Square Center ("flagship; opened 1910, expanded 1915, 1928 & 1949, closed 1982, converted to office/retail space 1984")
*Cleveland - Shaker Square ("opened 1948, closed 1982, converted to private offices")
*Cleveland Heights - Severance Town Center ("opened 1963, closed 1982, converted to Joseph Horne Co. 1987, Dillard's West 1993, closed 1995, demolished")
*Columbus - Downtown ("closed 1982, demolished for Columbus City Center")
*Columbus - Kingsdale Shopping Center (Upper Arlington, Ohio)
*Columbus - Northland Mall
*Columbus - Town & Country Shopping Center ("closed 1982, became new Lazarus store, which closed 1992")
*Columbus - Chillicothe Mall
*Fairview Park - Westgate Mall ("opened 1954, closed 1982, converted to Joseph Horne Co. 1986, Dillard's North 1993, closed 2005, demolished 2006")
*Middleburg Heights - Southland Shopping Center ("opened 1950s, closed 1982, now Burlington Coat Factory")
*North Canton - Westfield Belden Village ("opened mid-1960s, became Higbee's 1982, Dillard's 1992")
*University Heights - Cedar Center ("closed late 1960s became Pier One, now demolished")

Pennsylvania
*Erie - Millcreek Mall ("now Burlington Coat Factory")
*Erie - downtown

ee also

*List of defunct department stores of the United States

References

External links

* [http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/press&CISOPTR=400&REC=2 Halle's Severance Center Mall Entrance]