Broadway Stores, Inc., was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home base and became in certain retail sectors a regional and national retailer in the 1970s and 1980s. The company was able to survive takeover attempts in 1984 and 1986, and also a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 1991 by selling off most of its assets until August 1995 when its banks refused to advance enough additional credit in order for the company to be able to pay off suppliers. At that point, the company sold itself to Federated Department Stores for $1.6 billion (~$2.92 billion in 2023) with the acquisition being completed on October 12, 1995.
History
Early history
In 1950, as Los Angeles began to grow in population very rapidly and assumed dominance within the state, the fast-growing The Broadway Department Stores (founded in 1896) based there negotiated an all-stock merger with Hale Bros. Stores, Inc.Edward W. Carter, president of The Broadway, became the president of Broadway-Hale Stores.
The newly enlarged company began to grow aggressively with its Broadway stores expanding south to San Diego in 1961 and east to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1968. A mail order firm named the Sunset House[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] was also acquired in 1968.[8][9] In 1970, the company acquired Emporium-Capwell Co.,[10][11] itself the holding company for Emporium in San Francisco (and suburbs) and Capwell's (H.C. Capwell Co.) in Oakland (and suburbs) and keeping their respective names on the stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Also in 1969, Broadway-Hale acquired the then 3-unit Neiman Marcus specialty department store, based in Dallas, Texas,[12][13] and the Walden Book Co. (known more commonly as Waldenbooks)[14] and began to actively grow those businesses, nationwide.
1970s–1980s
Carter Hawley Hale logo (c. 1974)
In 1972, Prentis Hale retired as chairman, Edward Carter assumed the chairmanship and Philip M. Hawley (who started as a women's sportswear buyer in 1958) became company president. In 1974, in a news release it states, CHH stated that to reflect the executives' contributions, the corporate parent was adopting the name Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc.[15] The new name was a major tongue twister, and stock analysts sometimes called it "Ego, Inc."[citation needed]The Wall Street Journal reported in 1984 that some critics accused Carter and Hawley on being on an "ego trip".[16] In 1977, Carter retired. Hawley was appointed CEO.[17]
The company continued to be an active acquirer, in 1972 acquiring Bergdorf Goodman in New York,[18][19] and Holt Renfrew of Montreal, Canada.[20] After attempting an ill-fated, unsuccessful hostile takeover of Marshall Field in 1977,[21][22][23][24] the company acquired the venerable but tattered John Wanamaker's of Philadelphia for $60 million (cash) in April 1978.[25][26] That was followed by a stock swap for Thalhimers of Richmond, Virginia in August 1978.[27] Contempo Casuals was a May 1979, takeover.[28] Emporium and Capwell's were merged to form a unified San Francisco Bay-area presence as Emporium-Capwell in 1980,[29][30] Weinstock's moved into Utah and Reno, Nevada, and The Broadway stores were split into separate Los Angeles and Phoenix–based divisions as the chain expanded into Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. Sales increased, but profits did not. The saying on Wall Street was "God gave them Southern California, and they blew it", which The Wall Street Journal had attributed to Monroe H. Greenstein, a retailing analyst at Bear Stearns.[16]
In 1980, CHH decided to get rid of units which catered to the lower economic markets. The first to go was the Sunset House mail order unit which also operated novelty shops in shopping malls.[31][32] CHH found a buyer that only wanted the mail order unit and the mall stores were closed in 1981.[33]
Faced with continuing poor results, and two hostile takeover attempts by The Limited in 1984[34] and 1986,[35] the company, still led by Phillip M. Hawley, reacted by first selling Waldenbooks to Kmart in 1984,[36] Holt Renfrew to the Weston Family in April 1986,[37][38] Wanamaker's to A. Alfred Taubman's Woodward & Lothrop in January 1987[39] and then splitting off the desirable specialty store business as Neiman-Marcus Group, Inc. (encompassing the Neiman-Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Contempo Casuals stores). The company that had rescued Carter Hawley Hale from The Limited takeover-attempts, theater owner/soft-drink bottler-cum-investment company General Cinema (later renamed Harcourt General), assumed majority ownership of Neiman-Marcus Group in 1986 as its reward.[40] Thalhimer's was sold to May Department Stores in December 1990.[41]
1990s and the end
From its heights in 1984 as the sixth-largest department store chain firm in the United States, CHH fell into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991.[42][43] Besides the financial problems of surviving the 1980s era of hostile takeovers, the main California department store business had faltered because of increasing competition from Nordstrom.
In 1992, after one and one-half years of bankruptcy negotiations, financier Sam Zell and his Zell/Chilmark Fund completed the reorganization of the newly renamed Broadway Stores, Inc., taking a 75 percent stake.[44] The company finally emerged from bankruptcy in October 1992 and Hawley promptly announced his retirement.[45] In early 1993, the three Utah-based Weinstock's stores were closed and the store leases were sold to Mervyns,[46]Dillard's,[47] and ZCMI.[48]
After the takeover by Zell, Hawley was replaced as CEO by David Dworkin.[49] Dworkin tried to slow the outward flow of cash from the company by remodeling stores and streamlining operations.[50] In June 1994, the shareholders of Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc. voted to change the name of the company to Broadway Stores, Inc.[51] to symbolize a change in the ailing company, but it was too late to make a difference.
The final blow came on August 8, 1995, when the firm's lenders announced they would not advance the company any additional funds - which were needed to pay suppliers for new, as well as existing inventory.[52][53] A week later, the firm announced its sale to Federated Department Stores which effectively marked the beginning of the end to the remnant nameplates that the stores had operated under.[54][55]
The newly streamlined company was short-lived, however. In August 1995, Federated Department Stores agreed to acquire Broadway Stores. The acquisition was completed on October 12. The chain was dissolved in 1996 as Federated consolidated the former Broadway, Emporium and Weinstock's stores, along with its own Macy's California and Bullock's chains (acquired in 1994),[56] to form Macy's West.[57] Several duplicative units were sold to Sears or shuttered, while Federated also used the real estate of five stores (Emporium-Capwell Stanford Shopping Center, Broadway Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, Broadway Century City Shopping Center, Broadway Beverly Center, and Broadway Fashion Island Newport Beach) to finally bring its Bloomingdale's chain to the West Coast.[58]
On September 28, 2006, Emporium-Capwell's Market Street flagship was redeveloped to house another Bloomingdale's location as well as an expansion of the adjoining shopping center Westfield San Francisco Centre.[59] In addition, the one-time CHH Corporate Offices in the former Superior Oil Company Building at 550 South Flower Street in Los Angeles, right next door to The California Club (of which Carter and Hawley were members), were converted into a three-star boutique hotel called "The Standard."[60]
The Broadway division was the largest department store division within the company. The division could trace its roots to the Broadway Department Store that was founded in Los Angeles by Arthur Letts, Sr. in 1896. By 1992, the division expanded throughout Southern California and started expanded outside of California. In 1979, the division was split into the Phoenix-based Broadway Southwest to handle the out-of-state stores and the Los Angeles–based Broadway Southern California to handle the stores within California. The two separate divisions were consolidated in 1992 after many of the non-Californian stores were closed. At the time of its parent acquisition by Federated, Broadway had 52 stores.
Hale's
Former Hale's store in San Francisco at 5th and Market in 2008
The chain's beginnings date from The Criterion store founded in Sacramento, California, in 1880 by the Hale Brothers, Prentis Cobb Hale I and Marshal Hale and adopted their name later the same year. By 1936, scion Prentis Cobb Hale worked as a stock clerk in the family store after he graduated from Stanford University. The company had expanded throughout Northern California, including a location at 989 Market Street in San Francisco by 1902 (replaced in 1912 by a location at 901 Market Street). By 1949, the company had acquired its Sacramento-based rival Weinstock, Lubin & Co. Weinstock's was kept as a separate brand. Paradoxically, the Hale brand was later absorbed by the Weinstock's brand in Northern California.
Emporium-Capwell was created by the 1927 merger of the San Francisco–based Emporium Company and the Oakland-based H.C. Capwell Company.[61][62] This company kept the two brands separate and had opened many Emporium and Capwell stores respectively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area prior to its acquisition by Broadway-Hale in 1970. Under Carter Hawley Hale, there were 12 Emporiums and six Capwell stores when the two brands were merged to form the single Emporium-Capwell brand in 1980. There were 22 Emporium-Capwell stores left at the time of its parent's acquisition by Federated.
Weinstock's could trace its origins to the Sacramento-based Weinstock, Lubin & Co. There were 8 Weinstock's store left at the time of its parent's acquisition by Federated.
ERISA case
Carter Hawley Hale also is known as a famous case study regarding its retirement plans. Because it offered its employees a profit-sharing plan, and not a retirement fund, under the Federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) pension plan law, the trustee was under no obligation to diversify the fund. Because of the nondiversification and continued purchase of Carter Hawley Hale stock, the employee fund soon was stuck with a precipitous loss in value. Its employees' low morale contributed to its problems.[63][42]
Advertising
The longtime print and television-radio media advertising slogans during the 1970s until The Broadway closed for good were "It's at the Broadway" (radio and television only) and "The Broadway is Southern California" (all media). A baritone male voice-over announcer provided the verbalized slogan.
^Bush, Thomas W. (August 23, 1968). "Broadway-Hale Agrees to Buy Sunset House for $13.5 Million". Los Angeles Times. p. e13. Archived from the original on January 8, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Sunset House would operate under present management as an autonomous subsidiary of Broadway-Hale. Carter said acquisition of the company is "a first step in our announced program of corporate diversification, and Sunset House will provide us with new opportunities through its nationwide mail order distribution of consumer goods."Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Auerbach, Alexander (June 26, 1970). "Arrangements Set for Broadway-Hale, Emporium Merger". Los Angeles Times. p. d13. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Broadway-Hale Stores Inc. and Emporium-Capwell Co. Thursday announced a formal plan of merger and reorganization, following the lines of a preliminary merger plan announced May 11.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Emporium Capwell Co., Broadway-Hale Stores Agree to a Merger: Emporium Will Give 1 1/8 Shares for Each Share of Broadway-Hale; Holders of Both Must Approve". The Wall Street Journal. May 12, 1970. p. 16. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Emporium Capwell Co. and Broadway-Hale Stores Inc., both West Coast retailers, announced an agreement in principle to merge. Emporium Capwell would be the surviving corporation, but its name would be changed to Broadway-Hale Stores Inc. In a joint statement, the companies said that Prentis C. Hale, chairman of Broadway-Hale, and Edward W. Carter, its president and chief executive officer, would serve as chairman and president respectively of the merged corporation. Emporium Capwell stores would be operated under their present management.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Neiman-Marcus Holders Vote Merger Into Broadway-Hale". The Wall Street Journal. April 9, 1969. p. 29. Stockholders of Neiman-Marcus Co. approved the merger of Neiman·Marcus into Broadway·Hale Stores Inc., Los Angeles, at a special meeting. Broadway·Hale holders approved the merger last November.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Broadway Results Peak In 3d Quarter". Women's Wear Daily. Vol. 119, no. 105. December 1, 1969. p. 12. Broadway-Hale Stores, Inc., has acquired Walden Book Co., Stamford, Conn., a national retailer of books, a spokesman confirmed.Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Broadway's Parent to Take New Name". Los Angeles Times. February 12, 1974. p. c9. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2017. But when Broadway-Hale Stores Inc. directors decided it was time for a change they just looked around the table. The Los Angeles firm, parent of the Broadway Stores, Neiman-Marcus, Capwell's and other retail operations, will be known as Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., if the shareholders approve. The name is taken from its principal executives: Edward W. Carter, board chairman; Philip M. Hawley, president; and Prentis C. Hale, chairman of the executive committee. Operating divisions will retain their present names. The company said "Broadway-Hale" was too often confused with the Broadway Stores retailing unit.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^ abGottschalk, Earl C. Jr. (April 12, 1984). "Carter Hawley Chief Finds Firm Is Target Of Takeover After Own '70s Buying Binge". The Wall Street Journal (Eastern ed.). p. 1. Archived from the original on January 8, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. In the past few years Carter Hawley has also lost market share In California because of a retailing invasion by R.H. Macy & Co. and Nordstrom, retailers says. "God gave them California and they blew it," says Monroe H. Greenstein, retailing analyst at Bear, Stearns & Co... Mr. Hawley's personality is at the heart of the company's operations, and that seems to be a mixed blessing... In 1972 he was appointed president of Broadway Hale Stores Inc. Three years later, the company changed its name to Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., provoking some gripes that Edward W. Carter, chairman, and Mr. Hawley were on an "ego trip". In 1977 Mr. Hawley was named chief executive officer, replacing Mr. Carter. Last year, when Mr Carter retired, Mr. Hawley became chairman.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Getze, John (January 6, 1977). "Hawley Named Chief of Broadway Stores Parent". Los Angeles Times. p. D10. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Philip M. Hawley Wednesday was elected chief executive officer of Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., the nation's seventh-largest department store chain. Hawley, 51, has been president of the Los Angeles-based company since 1972. He joined the firm in 1958 and became president of the Broadway Slores division in 1968. Hawley, who will assume his new responsibilities Feb. 1. succeeds Edward W. Carter. the company's 65-year-old chairman of the board, in the post of chief executive. Carter will remain chairman and continue to be active in the firm's management. Carter has been chief executive since 1946, when the company consisted of three Broadway department storesAlternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Broadway-Hale Stores Allowed by FTC to Buy Bergdorf Goodman Co.: Panel Agrees New York Retailer Likely Would Close Without Merger for Lack of Funding". The Wall Street Journal. April 14, 1972. p. 30. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. The Federal Trade Commission approved Broadway-Hale Stores Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Bergdort Goodman Co., a New York fashion store. Broadway-Hale, a Los Angeles-based chain of department stores, is required by a previous agreement with the commission to obtain FTC approval for such acquisitions. The FTC said its approval was based largely on the companies' contention that the Bergdorf store on New York's Fifth Avenue probably would have to be closed unless the acquisition was allowed. The FTC said Broadway-Hale argued that "massive financing" needed to expand the store probably wouldn't have been available to Bergdorf because of its "unstable financial condition."Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Sloane, Leonard (March 25, 1971). "West Coast Chain To Buy Bergdorf's: Bergdorf Goodman to Be Bought by Broadway-Hale Stores, a West Coast Chain". The New York Times. p. 1. Bergdorf Goodman, the Fifth Avenue specialty store, has signed an agreement in principle to be acquired by Broadway-Hale Stores, Inc., the largestdepartment store organization in the West and one of the 50 largest retailers in the United States. Presently, Broadway-Hale operates 29 full-line department stores called Broadway in southern California, Arizona and Nevada. It also owns the 13 Weinstock stores in Northern California and Nevada; 14 Emporium and Capwell stores in San Francisco and Oakland; four Neiman-Marcus stores in Texas; Sunset House, a leading mail-order business, and the Walden Book Company which has stores in 44 states.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Broadway-Hale to Acquire 19-Store Canadian Retailer". Los Angeles Times. December 22, 1971. p. d13. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Broadway-Hale Stores Inc. of Los Angeles reported Tuesday that it has agreed to purchase Holt, Renfrew & Co. Ltd., a 19-store Canadian fashion retailing chain, from a subsidiary of CIT Financial Corp... Canadian Acceptance Corp., Ltd., a unit of New York-based CIT.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Wiener, Leonard (February 2, 1978). "Carter Hawley raises its bid to buy Fields". Chicago Tribune. p. C6. Carter Hawley Hale Stores. Inc., announced plans Wednesday to take its Marshall Field & Co. takeover offer directly to Fields shareholders. The management and directors of Fields have been fighting an attempt by Carter Hawley to force merger negotiations. That is why Carter Hawley has begun the process to bypass Field executives and make a $378 million public offer to buy "any or all shares" of Fields. Fields has stores in Cleveland and the Pacific Northwest, in addition to Chicago.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Auerbach, Alexander (February 2, 1978). "Carter Hawley Hale Will Push Field Bid: Planned Tender Offer May Total $380 Million". Los Angeles Times. p. e12. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., Los Angeles, Wednesday announced plans (or a tender offer for the stock of Marshall Field & Co., Chicago). At current prices, the offer could be worth a total of $380 million. Field's officers and directors unanimously rejected an informal merger proposal by Carter Hawley Hale last month.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Wiener, Leonard (February 23, 1978). "Business: Carter Hawley withdraws bid for Fields Bid to control Fields dropped". Chicago Tribune. p. c7. Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc., Wednesday dropped its attempt to take over Marshall Field & Co. Carter Hawley, based in Los Angeles, operates department stores across the country and has been publicly courting Fields since December. Other big retailing chains also have been reported interested in Fields, a retailer with a well-regarded name but one that only recently has begun to overcome past management and financial problems.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Auerbach, Alexander (February 23, 1978). "Carter Hawley Hale Drops Bid for Field: Offer No Longer Makes Economic Sense to L.A. Firm". Los Angeles Times. p. d13. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., Los Angeles, Wednesday said it is withdrawing its proposed offer to acquire Marshall Field & Co., Chicago, because the hotly contested bid "no longer makes economic sense." The action ended a four-month effort by Carter Hawley to acquire the reluctant Field. Despite an offer of twice its market price, the Chicago firm escaped by throwing up a curtain of lawsuits and transforming itself into a company no longer attractive to its pursuer.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Wanamaker Takeover". The Washington Post. March 10, 1978. p. B8. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Carter Hawley Hales Stores, Inc., has reached an agreement in principle to acquire the 15-store John Wanamaker department store chain for $12.6 million in cash and 12 million shares of Carter Hawley Hale common stock worth about $65 million. Wanamaker has stores in the Philadelphia, New York and Wilmington areas.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Knight, Jerry (June 20, 1978). "Thalhimer's Acquired by Carter Hawley". The Washington Post. pp. E1–E2. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Carter Hawley Hales Stores Inc., the big retailer that has been on a shopping spree for department stores, yesterday agreed to acquire Thalnimer Brothers of Richmond for stock worth $70 million.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Carter Hawley Acquisition". The Wall Street Journal. May 17, 1979. p. 14. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc. said it acquired the outstanding stock of Contempo Casuals, a retailer of women's sportswear, in a private cash transaction.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Merge Emporium, Capwell Divisions". WWD. Vol. 140, no. 36. February 21, 1980. pp. 1–2. The Emporium and H.C. Capwell divisions of Carter Hawley Hale have been combined into a single division, Emporium Capwell, with a single management team. Hawley noted the two divisions, now operating as one, will be able to make a stronger impact in use of media and customers now will have charge accounts in 18 stores.Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Carter Hawley to Sell Assets of Sunset House Unit". Los Angeles Times. November 11, 1980. p. e2. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. In a move that signals the new strategy of Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc. to go after the affluent consumer, the Los Angeles-based retailer announced Monday that it has made arrangements to sell the assets of its Sunset House division to a group of private investors. The sale price for Sunset House, a specialized retailer which has a nationwide gifts and novelties mail order business and 42 stores in the Southwest, was not disclosed, nor were the names of the investors.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Carter Hawley Hale to Sell Unit's Assets". The New York Times (Late (East Coast) ed.). November 11, 1980. p. D.4. Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc. of Los Angeles, a nationwide operator of department and specialty stores that include such units as Neiman-Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, announced yesterday that it has made arrangements to sell the assets of its Sunset House division, a specialty merchandise operation based in Los Angeles. Carter Hawley Hale did not disclose to whom it was selling the assets. Nor did it disclose how much money was involved in the sale, which is expected to be made final during the current fiscal year, which ends on the Saturday closest to Jan. 31. But the company did say that the sale of the assets was expected to produce a slight gain over their book value. A spokesman said the sale reflected the fact that "Sunset no longer fits our corporate retailing strategy." Sunset House conducts a nationwide mail order, gift and novelty business from its Los Angeles headquarters. It also operates shopping center mall specialty shops that sell gifts and accessories for the home. The unit, acquired by Carter Hawley Hale in 1968, includes 42 stores with a total floor space of 100,000 square feet.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"N.Y. Firm to Buy Portion of Sunset House". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 1981. p. f2. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. Unit Buying Service Co. Inc., a catalogue mail-order merchandiser, disclosed Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase the mail-order portion of Sunset House Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., Los Angeles. A spokesman for the Hicksville, N.Y.-based retailer said the company will pay between $3.5 million and $5 million for the trademark and trade names "Sunset House" and "Beauty Showcase;" the complete customer mailing list, and certain outlets located in the Southwest. Carter Hawley Hale would not comment on the fate of the stores or on the agreement. Carter Hawley Hale purchased the Sunset House unit in 1968 but put it up for sale last year, saying itno longer fit into the chain's "corporate strategy."Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^Adelson, Andrea (October 10, 1992). "Retirement Set at Carter Hawley Hale". The New York Times. Philip M. Hawley, chairman and chief executive of Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., said today that he would retire from the department store chain on Jan. 31... Carter Hawley Hale, based in Los Angeles, is the West's biggest retailer, with 87 department stores. The company emerged this week from bankruptcy protection with lower overhead costs, mostly as a result of a debt-for-equity swap with the Zell/ Chilmark Fund of Chicago.
^White, George & Apodaca, Patrice (October 13, 1995). "All Bullock's Stores to Be Converted to Macy's". Los Angeles Times. Federated executives disclosed their plans to The Times one day after the company completed its acquisition of Los Angeles-based Broadway Stores Inc. Federated had already announced that it will drop the Broadway name.
^"$12,000,000 Dept. Store Merger Closed On Coast: Gapwell's Of Oakland, Cal., And Emporium Of San Francisco Combined As H. C. Capwell Department Stores Co., Effective June 1—To Erect Oakland Building Containing Almost 12 Acres Of Floor Space". Women's Wear Daily. Vol. 34, no. 63. March 17, 1927. p. 1. Announcement made in Oakland by H. C. Capwell and here by the executive board of the Emporium Co. reveal the merger of the H.C. Capwell organization of Oakland and the Emporium of San Francisco, involving $12,000,000. The original Emporium was opened in May 1896, on a cooperative plan whereby each department was operated by a different owner. In July, 1897, the present Emporium was organized as a single corporation under the leadership of F. W. Dohrmann.Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
^"Emporium Corporation". The Wall Street Journal. October 10, 1927. p. 5. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2017. A. B. C. Dohrmann, president of Emporium Corp. announces the formation of Emporium, Capwell Co., to hold common stock of Emporium Corp., capital stock of H. C. Capwell Co., of Oakland, stock of realty subsidiaries, formed or to be formed, and stock of The Eighth Street Store.Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
.jpg)
.JPG)