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Emporium Capwell

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Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Emporium Capwell, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 24 July 20256 sources
Emporium Capwell Co.
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetail (department stores)
Founded1927
FounderHarris Cebert Capwell (Capwell's), Adolph Feist (The Emporium)
Defunct1996
FateAcquired by Federated Department Stores and converted to Macy's
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
Area served
San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California
ProductsDepartment store goods
Number of employees
Approximately 2,000 (1925, workforce size for The Emporium Country Club)
ParentCarter Hawley Hale Stores (from 1970), later Federated Department Stores (from 1995)

Emporium Capwell Co. was a prominent American department store chain that operated under various trade names including Capwell's, The Emporium, Emporium–Capwell, and simply Emporium throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The origins trace back to two separate establishments in San Francisco, California: Capwell's, launched in 1889 by Harris Cebert Capwell, and The Emporium, founded in 1896 by Adolph Feist. These entities combined to form Emporium Capwell Co. in 1927 but maintained distinct brand identities until 1980. By 1990, the unified stores adopted the Emporium name exclusively. Following the acquisition of their parent company, Carter Hawley Hale Stores, by Federated Department Stores in 1995, all remaining Emporium locations were transitioned to Macy's in 1996.

The flagship Emporium store located on Market Street stood as an iconic retail destination within San Francisco and was integrated with the San Francisco Centre shopping complex inaugurated in 1988. In 2024, it was briefly renamed Emporium Centre San Francisco as a tribute to the city's historical roots.

Origins

In 1871, Ansley G. Davis and his brothers established The Golden Rule Bazaar at 419 Kearny Street in San Francisco.

Harris Cebert Capwell opened his Oakland establishment in 1889 under the name The Lace House, which was rebranded to Capwell's two years later.

Adolph Feist founded The Emporium in 1896 as a cooperative of independent merchants housed within the Parrott Building, owned by Abby Parrott, a wealthy widow from the Gold Rush era.

By March 1897, Andrew M. Davis and associates incorporated the Golden Rule Bazaar. However, by August that same year, it ceased operations and reopened under the combined name Emporium and Golden Rule Bazaar.

That year also saw the merger of Golden Rule Bazaar with the newly formed Emporium Company managed by German immigrant Frederick W. Dohrmann, which expanded into a larger facility at 835 Market Street.

By 1898, A. B. C. Dohrmann, Frederick’s son, assumed an active managerial role and eventually succeeded his father as president following his death in 1914.

In 1925, The Emporium purchased a 32-acre estate in Fairfax, California from Charles Snowden Fairfax to create The Emporium Country Club for its workforce of approximately 2,000 employees; this site later became known as the Marin Town and Country Club.

Union of Capwell's and The Emporium

The year 1927 marked the merger between The Emporium and Oakland-based H.C. Capwell, resulting in the formation of Emporium Capwell Co., a holding company that preserved both brands separately. This alliance significantly increased their reach across Northern California.[1][2]

Following World War II, The Emporium extended its presence into suburban regions including San Mateo, Marin, Solano, Sonoma, and Santa Clara counties to align with demographic shifts in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, Capwell's concentrated its suburban growth nearer to Oakland by inaugurating stores in southern Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Carter Hawley Hale Acquisition

In 1970, Broadway-Hale Stores—later known as Carter Hawley Hale Stores—acquired Emporium-Capwell Co., consolidating Bay Area retail operations under the established Emporium and Capwell banners. By 1980, these divisions were merged into a single entity named Emporium-Capwell to optimize management structures and improve operational effectiveness.[3][4][5][6]

The brand was streamlined to simply Emporium in 1990. In the subsequent year, the company expanded its regional influence by acquiring Weinstock's department store chain based in Sacramento, thus enhancing its market penetration and product range.

Transformation into Macy's

In 1995, Federated Department Stores acquired the chain along with its parent company at the time, Broadway Stores. Federated consolidated Broadway, Emporium, and Weinstock's with its existing Macy's California and Bullock's outlets, creating Macy's West and rebranding all remaining stores under the Macy's name. The Emporium location at Stanford Shopping Center was relaunched in 1996 under Federated's Bloomingdale's division. Following extensive negotiations and renovations, the former Emporium flagship on Market Street reopened on September 28, 2006, as part of the enlarged Westfield San Francisco Centre, featuring a Bloomingdale's—the brand’s second-largest store after its Manhattan flagship. Several other former Emporium properties were converted to Target stores (such as The Shops at Tanforan and NewPark Mall) or Sears locations (including Oakland, Hillsdale Shopping Center, and Solano Town Center). Almaden Plaza was subdivided into various retail units, hosting tenants like Bed Bath & Beyond (which closed in 2023), Circuit City (now operating as Buy Buy Baby), and Diddam's Party & Toy Store.

The Emporium Flagship Store

The flagship store situated at 835 Market Street served as a premier shopping destination for Northern California consumers. Designed by Albert Pissis, a trailblazing American architect educated at the École des Beaux Arts, the building endured the 1906 earthquake but was reconstructed in 1908 after fire damage. It underwent numerous updates across several decades.

In 1947, William H. Meyer—founder of Gold Coast Shows and a former executive with Ringling Bros.—introduced a rooftop attraction at this site. The store gained renown for its annual holiday parade, where Santa Claus traditionally arrived via stagecoach or cable car.

During the late 1980s, this Market Street flagship was connected to the newly developed San Francisco Shopping Centre (known as Westfield San Francisco Centre until July 2023), anchored by a Nordstrom flagship that ultimately closed in August 2023. The Emporium ceased operations in February 1996; after discussions focused on historic preservation, Forest City Enterprises and The Westfield Group redeveloped the property as an extension of the mall. This redevelopment included opening a West Coast flagship Bloomingdale's in September 2006. The interior was upgraded to comply with modern seismic regulations while restoring the iconic historic domed glass roof, which now serves as a central architectural highlight. Developers incurred $2.5 million in penalties for demolishing portions of the original structure.

The expanded mall encompasses roughly 1.5 million square feet and once housed Bloomingdale's largest store outside of New York City, a nine-screen Century Theatres complex (closed June 2023), and a Bristol Farms gourmet grocery store (closed January 2017).

Capwell’s Oakland Location

The H.C. Capwell flagship store located at Broadway and 20th Street in downtown Oakland opened its doors in August 1929. For many years, it was a major retail hub for shoppers from the East Bay. After sustaining minor damage during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, it reopened early in 1990. The Emporium closed this location in February 1996, with Sears assuming occupancy in March of that year. Sears continued operations until summer 2014 when plans were made to renovate the building into a modern retail and office complex focused on technology companies. In 2015, Uber acquired and refurbished the property as Uptown Station for its headquarters before selling it to CIM Group in December 2017.

Capwell's Fremont Location

In 1968, Capwell's launched a retail outlet near Washington Hospital at 2500 Mowry Avenue in Fremont, which became a favored destination for automobile enthusiasts in the area. Although the original structure still stands, it is currently utilized by Washington Hospital West. Between 1987 and 1989, Capwell's moved across Interstate 880 to NewPark Mall, where it experienced multiple brand transformations before adopting the name "Emporium." Following Capwell's shutdown in 1996, the NewPark Mall site was acquired by Target.

See also

External links

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named wwd-1927mar17
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named wsj-1927oct10
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named lat-1970jun26
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named wsj-1970may12
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named wwd-1980feb21
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named lat-1980feb21
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