Harris Company

The Harris Company

File:Harris Department Store CA Final Logo.png
Company type	Department store
Industry	Retail
Founded	1905
Defunct	1998
Fate	Merged, became Harris-Gottschalks
Headquarters	San Bernardino, California
Products	Apparel, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, cosmetics, handbags, and household goods

The Harris Company was a retail business based in San Bernardino, California, operating a series of department store outlets under the name Harris exclusively throughout Southern California. Founded in 1905 by Philip, Arthur, and Herman Harris—nephews of Leopold Harris, who established the prominent Los Angeles–centered chain Harris & Frank—the enterprise began as a modest dry goods shop. Over time, the company expanded to encompass nine substantial department stores located in San Bernardino, Riverside, and Kern Counties.

In 1998, the chain was purchased by the Fresno-based retailer Gottschalks. Following this acquisition, some locations continued operations under the combined brand name Harris Gottschalks. However, after Gottschalks filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 and announced liquidation of all stores on March 31 of that year, every remaining original Harris location ceased operations by July 2009.

History

File:Harris Department Store, angle 2, E Street, San Bernardino, California LCCN2017703184.tif

1991

File:Harris Department Store, stair detail, E Street, San Bernardino, California LCCN2017703218.tif

stair detail, 1991

File:Harris Company building, San Bernardino.JPG

Harris Company building in San Bernardino

Origins

Philip, Arthur, and Herman Harris were nephews of Leopold Harris, the founder of the once-prominent Los Angeles–based department store chain Harris & Frank. Both Philip and Herman had previous experience working there. The three siblings launched the Harris Company in 1905 with a small-scale dry goods outlet situated on the ground floor of the Armory Building at 462 Third Street between D and E Streets. This initial storefront measured just 25 foot (7.6 m) in width.

Philip and Herman relocated inventory from their former White House store at 103 W. 4th Street in Santa Ana to San Bernardino. Arthur joined the venture in 1906 after employment at his brother-in-law's Anaheim store. With an investment of $2,500 from Arthur, the Harris Company relocated across the street. They employed a window dresser along with approximately twelve staff members and soon earned a reputation as the most fashionable store in the city. By 1907, a second floor was added to accommodate Millinery and Ready-to-Wear departments. That same year saw the installation of San Bernardino’s first elevator. Attempts to open a branch in Colton were unsuccessful; however, a Redlands branch launched in 1908 proved prosperous. By 1915, the primary store had expanded by incorporating the former Cartwright's Dry Goods building alongside an adjoining clothing retailer.

Flagship

In 1919, the company began acquiring property at the intersection of 3rd and E streets to construct a more spacious store, which officially opened on November 7, 1927. This new location featured three full floors in addition to a mezzanine, basement, and rooftop garden. Amenities included a tea room, lunch counter, beauty salon, barber shop, seated soda fountain, confectionery, stationery section, a grocery area known as Sage's Market, and a dining establishment called Café Madrid. The main entrance showcased an archway crafted from Italian marble that soared 29 feet high, while the lobby’s interior ceiling reached an impressive height of 32 feet. The doors were fashioned from hammered copper. The building’s exterior combined elaborate stone carvings with wrought iron decorative grills, incorporating the Harris family coat-of-arms molded into the stonework. The San Bernardino Sun remarked: "Towns do not have department stores. The Inland Empire has arrived."

1930s–1970s

The company navigated the challenges of the Great Depression by maintaining strict control over expenses and fostering strong business partnerships. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the store gained renown for its animated Christmas window displays along E Street and its beloved Santa Claus figure. In 1947, it introduced the Inland Empire’s first escalator, then referred to as a "motorstair." Harris expanded its footprint by growing its San Bernardino and Redlands locations and inaugurated a new branch at Riverside Plaza on September 30, 1957.

As suburban growth accelerated, efforts were made to rejuvenate downtown San Bernardino. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, under the Central City redevelopment initiative, the flagship store underwent structural renovations aimed at modernization and became a key anchor tenant within the newly established Central City Mall.

1980s–2009

In 1981, Spanish retail giant El Corte Inglés, S.A. acquired Harris Company along with its nine-store network comprising locations in Bakersfield, Hemet, Indio, Moreno Valley, Palmdale, Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Victorville. By 1997, Harris Company allocated $27 million toward modernizing its nine-store chain.

File:Harris-Gottchalks Transition Logo.png

Harris-Gottschalks logo

In 1998, Gottschalks acquired Harris Company and rebranded the stores initially as Harris-Gottschalks. Over time, most locations dropped the Harris name except for those in Bakersfield, Indio, and Moreno Valley which retained the combined branding. The original flagship in downtown San Bernardino ceased operations on January 31, 1999. Following this closure, the Riverside store became the chain’s largest location with a retail space of 204,000 square feet.

Gottschalks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 14, 2009. By March of that year, the company announced it had secured potential bidders prepared to liquidate the chain if a buyer was not found by March 30. On March 31, Gottschalks declared it would proceed with liquidation of all remaining stores. Subsequently, on July 12, 2009, every Gottschalks location was permanently closed.

Holiday seasons

The original Harris Company store, situated in downtown San Bernardino near Carousel Mall, remains fondly recalled for its spectacular Christmas and Easter promotional exhibits. The family extended this tradition of elaborate holiday decorations to their Riverside location and subsequently to other stores, featuring innovative, mechanized window displays that became a cherished custom among local shoppers. This practice persisted until 1998, well beyond the period when most retailers had scaled back on extravagant holiday presentations.

Store locations

As of November 2021, the initial Harris Company building on E Street in downtown San Bernardino stands unoccupied.

The largest store within the former Harris chain was the approximately 204,000-square-foot Riverside Plaza location in Riverside, California. This site also represented the biggest outlet in the Gottschalks chain. After Harris closed, the space was acquired by apparel retailer Forever 21, which launched a sizable new store there in August 2009. Following Forever 21’s closure in early 2013, the Riverside location underwent renovations in 2014 and is currently home to Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls, and Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Below is a summary table of various store locations:

City	Mall or address	Opening date	Sq. ft. at opening	Closing date	Current building use	Notes
Antelope Valley	Antelope Valley Mall	1990		2009	Dick's Sporting Goods
Bakersfield	East Hills Mall	1990		2009	Demolished
Hemet	Hemet Valley Mall	1980		2009	Hobby Lobby
Indio	Indio Fashion Mall	2/24/1975	60,000
Moreno Valley	Moreno Valley Mall	1992		2009
Palm Springs	Palm Springs Mall	originally Walker Scott (1970)				Former Walker Scott store converted to Harris-Gottschalks after later being a Buffums location
Redlands	17 East State Street	1915		1970s
Redlands	Redlands Mall	1977		2009
Riverside	Riverside Plaza	9/30/1957	205,000	July 2009	Jo-Ann Stores, Marshalls, Nordstrom Rack
San Bernardino	Third and E Streets	1927	250,000 sq. ft. after renovation	1999		Flagship location
San Bernardino	Inland Center	1995 (initially May Company California)		2009	JCPenney	Former Gottschalks location transitioned to Harris-Gottschalks
Victorville	The Mall of Victor Valley	1987		2008	Macy's

See also

• Gottschalks