Sakowitz

Infobox Company
name = Sakowitz

type = department store (former)
genre =
foundation = 1902
founder = Tobias & Simon Sakowitz
location_city = Houston, Texas
location_country = United States
area_served = Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Texas
industry = retail
products = clothing, footwear, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, furs
num_employees =
slogan =
homepage =
footnotes =
intl =

Sakowitz was a chain of family-owned department stores based in Houston, Texas, United States. The store was founded by two brothers, Tobias and Simon Sakowitz, in Galveston, Texas in 1902. Other family members were working in the cotton mills in Galveston. The two brothers, Simon and Tobias, began a peddler business, taking orders and delivering clothes on a bicycle to the many merchant seamen in Galveston at that time.Eventually, the chain expanded to thirteen locations, of which ten were in Texas.

L. J. Hooker, an Australian retail development firm, purchased the Sakowitz chain in 1988 so that a location could be opened at Forest Fair Mall (now Cincinnati Mills) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Due in part to the fact that Cincinnati was an untested market that proved to be too middle-class for the chain, Sakowitz was liquidated in 1990 and its stores closed. The Sakowitz name has survived in the form of Sakowitz Furs, a fur dealer with one store in Houston.

History

Sakowitz was founded by brothers Tobias and Simon Sakowitz, the sons of a Ukrainian immigrant, in 1902. The first location was in Galveston, Texas, with a second following in Houston, Texas fifteen years later.cite web |url=http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fsa63.html |title=Simon Sakowitz |accessdate=2007-12-13 |work=Handbook of Texas] cite web |url=http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fsatg.html |title=Bernard Sakowitz |accessdate=2007-12-13 |work=Handbook of Texas] The location in Galveston was closed in 1917 and consolidated into the Houston store.

By 1929, the original Houston store on 308 Main Street had relocated to the Gulf Building at 720 Main Street; this store was subsequently relocated even further down Main Street. Eventually, the chain grew to several locations throughout Houston, including a suburban location at Westheimer Road at Post Oak. With the increasing popularity of shopping malls, several mall-based locations were also added, including one each in the states of Arizona and Oklahoma. By the late 1980s, however, Sakowitz had scaled back operations, closing all but the Houston stores.

Purchase by L. J. Hooker

In the late 1980s, Australian developer L. J. Hooker proposed an upscale mall in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, to be named Forest Fair Mall. Hooker's plans called for Sakowitz to be one of the mall's anchor stores, along with B. Altman and Bonwit Teller, two upscale chains based in New York City. In 1988, Hooker purchased controlling interest in all three chains so that they could open locations at the new mall; however, the chains proved too upscale for the Cincinnati market, and were subsequently sold off.cite web |url=http://www.icsc.org/srch/sct/sct0103/page1c.php |title=Forest Fair finds a savior in Mills Corp. |accessdate=2007-12-13 |last=Mitchell |first=Donna |date=2003-01 |work=ICSC.org]

The Sakowitz chain was then auctioned off by L. J. Hooker, and all other locations were closed as well. [cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5DF143DF936A15756C0A966958260 |title=Sakowitz Stores To Be Auctioned |accessdate=2007-12-13 |date=1990-05-25 |work=The New York Times] The only remnant of the Sakowitz name is a Sakowitz Furs shop located in Houston.

Former locations

*Scottsdale, Arizona - Scottsdale Fashion Square - became a second Dillard's location, closed and converted to Neiman Marcus 1992
*Cincinnati, Ohio - Forest Fair Mall (now Cincinnati Mills) - opened 1988, closed 1990
*Tulsa, Oklahoma - Kensington Galleria - closed 1986, later Hampton's, then Dillard's, mall converted to offices
*Amarillo, Texas - Western Plaza Shopping Center - opened mid-1970s in former White & Kirk, closed and became Dunlaps 1980s, closed 2000s, mall torn down for redevelopment
*Dallas, Texas - Sakowitz Village - closed 1986, now Bed Bath & Beyond
*Galveston, Texas
*Houston, Texas:*308 Main St. - moved 1929:*720 Main St. (Gulf Building) - opened 1929, moved 1951:*1111 Main St. - opened 1951, closed mid-1980s, building now a parking garage:*5503 FM 1960 W. - now Sun & Ski Sports:*Shamrock Hotel - torn down 1987:*Nassau Bay - torn down early 1990's:*Town & Country Center - opened 1968, closed 1990:*Westheimer @ Post Oak - opened 1959
*Midland, Texas - Midland Park Mall - closed 1986
*San Antonio, Texas

References

External links

* [http://www.sakowitzfurs.net/ Sakowitz Furs]