Higbee's

Higbee's

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	September 10, 1860 (1860-09-10) in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Founder	Edwin Converse Higbee, John G. Hower
Defunct	1992 (1992)
Fate	Rebranded as Dillard's
Headquarters	Cleveland , United States
Products	Department store goods

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English

Higbee's was a department store established in 1860 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, ownership transferred to a partnership between Dillard's department stores and Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr., a developer based in Youngstown, Ohio. The Higbee's brand remained in use until 1992, when DeBartolo divested his interest to his partners, leading to the rebranding of the chain as Dillard's.

History

The origins of Higbee's trace back to September 10, 1860, when Edwin Converse Higbee and John G. Hower launched Higbee & Hower Dry Goods. On its opening day, the store recorded $100 in sales. Following Hower’s passing, the company was restructured as The Higbee Co. in 1902 and relocated from its initial Public Square location to a newly constructed five-story building at Playhouse Square Center, situated directly opposite its chief competitor, Halle Brothers Co.

In 1929, the Van Sweringen brothers acquired the store and moved it into their $179 million Terminal Tower complex on Public Square. This relocation responded partly to requests from women residing in the Van Sweringens’ new Shaker Heights suburb who wished to travel via their rail lines into the city for high-quality shopping experiences. However, with the collapse of the Van Sweringen empire during the Great Depression, Higbee's declared bankruptcy in 1935. Under the leadership of Charles P. Bradley and John Murphy, the company underwent reorganization and prospered for many subsequent years.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Higbee's expanded by opening multiple suburban locations as well as stores in Akron and Canton, Ohio. This growth occurred under president Herbert Strawbridge, who also championed revitalizing The Flats district in downtown Cleveland.

In 1984, Industrial Equity—a subsidiary of Brierly Investments—purchased Higbee's but sold it three years later to a joint venture between Dillard's and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., who intended to merge Higbee's with a planned acquisition of Horne's stores. However, this plan was abruptly canceled, triggering several years of legal disputes. Eventually, in 1992 Dillard's acquired DeBartolo’s shares and rebranded Higbee’s along with five Northern Ohio Horne’s locations under the Dillard’s banner. Throughout the 1990s, some inner-ring stores were shuttered while newer locations farther from downtown were either opened or expanded.

The flagship Public Square store stood eleven stories tall at 192 feet and was renowned for its Silver Grille restaurant on the tenth floor until its closure in January 2002. In 2007, restoration efforts revived the main floor along with the second and third floors to accommodate offices for Greater Cleveland’s Convention & Visitors Bureau and Greater Cleveland Partnership; concurrently, the Silver Grille was refurbished for hosting special events.

A comprehensive renovation took place in 2011, culminating in the building’s reopening on May 14, 2012 as Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. It was later renamed Jack Cleveland Casino when Rock Gaming LLC assumed management on May 11, 2016.

In popular culture

• The Public Square location of the store played a significant role in the 1983 film A Christmas Story as well as its 2022 sequel, A Christmas Story Christmas.
• In Season 7, Episode 12 of Mad Men, Higbee's was mentioned.
• The store also appeared as a reference in Season 1, Episode 20 of the television series 30 Rock.

External links

• Archival materials related to the Higbee Company housed at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School