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Bloom Brothers Department Stores

From Alfawiki
Bloom Brothers Department Stores
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetail
FoundedApril 24, 1897; 129 years ago (1897-04-24) in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, United States
FounderSimon Conn and Benjamin Bloom
DefunctMarch 1, 1944 (1944-03-01)
Headquarters
Chambersburg
,
United States
Area served
Franklin County, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland
Key people
Isaac H. Bloom (president and principal buyer), Eli F. Bloom (treasurer), Harry H. Bloom (sales manager)
ProductsDry goods, men's furnishings, millinery, clothing, china, household furnishings, carpets

Bloom Brothers Department Stores operated locations in Franklin County, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland from their establishment in 1897, originally known as The Old Reliable Dry Goods Store, until the closure of the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania branch in 1944.

History

On April 24, 1897, The Old Reliable Dry Goods Store, under the proprietorship of Conn and Bloom, began business at 84 South Main Street in downtown Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Simon Conn (1860–1932) and Benjamin Bloom (1861–1904), an uncle-nephew duo whose forebears had emigrated from western Lithuania to Louisiana and Kansas during the 1840s, launched the store after years of traveling sales between farms in south-central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland since the mid-1880s. A subsequent store named "Bloom and Conn" was established in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania from 1898 to 1899 but failed to prosper. Concurrently, a third Bloom and Conn establishment operated successfully as a grocery outlet serving the remote Path Valley area in Dry Run, Pennsylvania, northwest of Chambersburg. A fourth store opened briefly in April 1899 in the small community of Burnt Cabins, Pennsylvania, Fulton County, but closed due to insufficient space. Between 1900 and 1905, two additional Bloom stores specializing in men's apparel and furnishings opened in East Baltimore; however, both shuttered within a year.

By February 1900, with extended Bloom and Conn families settled across south-central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland, the partnership dissolved, prompting each family to pursue independent ventures. During the "Conn and Bloom" period, the Bloom family’s eldest son, Jacob Bloom (1869–1898), succumbed to tuberculosis. Subsequently, his brothers Ben and Isaac H. Bloom (1872–1955) inaugurated the first Bloom Brothers location at 84 South Main in Chambersburg on March 10, 1900. Eli F. Bloom (1876–1941), serving as treasurer, oversaw financial operations from an office overlooking the main retail area, while Harry H. Bloom (1880–1969) advanced to sales manager after gaining experience as a clerk under Isaac at the Waynesboro store. The second Bloom Brothers outlet opened on March 21, 1901, occupying the former Old City Hall at Waynesboro's Town Square. Following the partnership's end in 1900, ownership of the Dry Run store reverted to the Conn family.

Benjamin Bloom passed away from tuberculosis in March 1904 at age 32; nevertheless, under Isaac’s leadership as president and principal buyer, Bloom Brothers prospered by attracting loyal customers through advertising "15% to 25% lower prices than other stores" in publications such as the Chambersburg Valley Spirit and Waynesboro Herald. The Chambersburg location outgrew its original premises and relocated in April 1903 to 83 South Main Street at the northwest corner of Main and Queen Streets. There, the company established a tradition of offering seven distinct departments: dry goods; men's furnishings including footwear; millinery; clothing; china; household furnishings; and carpets.

West Main fire
A fire destroyed former Bloom Brothers Waynesboro #2 premises (Zenith and Sherman's), located at 23-25 West Main Street on June 28, 1973. The Bloom Building stood between Sherman's store and the columned First National Bank (Waynesboro Record Herald)

The company's strategy of aggressive discounting attracted thrifty farmers and merchants from surrounding Pennsylvania and Maryland areas—many belonging to Amish and Mennonite communities—who frequented Bloom Brothers every Saturday. After outgrowing its initial space on Waynesboro’s Town Square first floor, the Waynesboro store moved in March 1903 to a larger double-storefront at 23-25 West Main Street where it remained until closure.

In 1905, following the death of their mother earlier that year, Morris Bloom (1838-1925), father of the brothers, opened men’s clothing and furnishings shops at 32 and 100 Exeter Street in East Baltimore. However, Morris departed for South Africa in October 1906 to assist a brother afflicted with tuberculosis while engaged in dairy farming near Boksburg. Upon returning to the United States several years later—having fulfilled a lifelong ambition by attending Harvard University while residing with his sister’s family in Boston—the Baltimore stores did not reopen.

The Chambersburg location was recognized as the largest department store within that borough and was among Franklin County’s first retail establishments to implement an overhead cash carrier system. Over time, household furniture, carpeting, and china were phased out from inventory; by the 1930s, clothing became their primary merchandise.

Chambersburg Heritage Center Children's Room painting
A painting in the Chambersburg Heritage Center Children's Room depicting Main Street circa 1913 includes Bloom Brothers Chambersburg #3, active between 1913-39

While remaining at its second site on West Main Street until its closure during the Great Depression in 1933, the Waynesboro branch experienced no further relocations. In contrast, Chambersburg saw four distinct locations throughout its history: beginning at 84 South Main as "The Old Reliable Conn and Bloom," moving across to northeast corner of Queen and South Main from 1903 until 1913; then relocating to three floors within the Reisher Building on South Main Street's first block from spring 1913; followed by a final move in 1939 into larger quarters occupying three floors of the Keefer Building at Queen and South Main's southeast corner. Due to wartime shortages during World War II and with younger family members serving overseas militarily, the Chambersburg store ceased operations on March 1, 1944—a closure that made front-page news locally and surprised many community members.

The Bloom Building—a commercial office structure at 17 West Main Street carved out of portions of Waynesboro's National Hotel/Hotel Werner after construction of granite headquarters for First National Bank of Waynesboro—remained intact until repurchased by the bank for annex purposes in December 1972. On June 28, 1973, a fire destroyed what had been the former Bloom Brothers Waynesboro #2 location (then occupied by Sherman's Shoe Store), accelerating demolition plans by the bank.

Isaac H. Bloom—who never married—divided his efforts between managing store operations and banking from 1912 through 1926. Serving simultaneously as chief buyer for Bloom stores and second vice-president plus senior lending officer at Waynesboro Trust Company located diagonally across Town Square from their Waynesboro store branch, he also obtained credentials as a Maryland real estate agent and investment banker. After Waynesboro Trust merged with First National Bank in 1926, Isaac relocated permanently to Baltimore where his wife Hannah Jaffe Bloom had resided since early in their marriage except for weekends. Continuing his role as buyer for Bloom Brothers remotely from Baltimore, he established the Bloom Building and Loan Association—a commercial lending institution initially housed on downtown Baltimore’s sixth floor of the Equitable Life Building from 1925 to 1929 before moving permanently to a storefront on North Avenue where it operated until Isaac’s death in June 1955. The area remains known for housing numerous storefront lending companies.

References

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