J.W. Mays

J.W. Mays, Inc.

Company type	Public company
Industry	Real estate, Retail (former)
Founded	1929
Founder	Joe Weinstein
Defunct	1988 (retail operations)
Fate	Closed retail stores; transitioned to real estate firm
Headquarters	Brooklyn, New York , United States
Area served	New York City metropolitan region
Number of employees	5,000 (peak retail) (early 1970s)

Not to be confused with The May Department Stores Company.

J.W. Mays, Inc. is a real estate enterprise headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Between 1927 and 1988, the business operated a discount department store chain known as Mays, serving the New York City metropolitan region with locations across three of the city's five boroughs, as well as in Long Island and Putnam County. During its retail peak in the early 1970s, the company employed approximately 5,000 staff members across nine stores.

History

The origins of the chain trace back to 1924 when Joe Weinstein, a Polish Jewish immigrant from Galicia, launched a women's apparel shop in Brooklyn. The enterprise was formally incorporated in 1929, at which point Weinstein appended his initials to the company name. The inaugural store commenced operations at 510 Fulton Street in Brooklyn that September. Weinstein chose the name because it evoked images of rural landscapes, flowers, and springtime.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Mays expanded significantly. Its marketing featured the tagline "Every day's a sale day at Mays," prominently displayed in large red script on all white paper shopping bags and cardboard boxes. Mondays were designated as "super-sales" days, drawing particularly high customer traffic. Weinstein adopted an assertive strategy to compete with other discount retailers such as Ohrbach's and Alexander's, along with more upscale department stores. At one stage, there were discussions about merging Mays with its two principal discount rivals; however, this merger never materialized.

By the 1970s, Mays operated nine retail outlets and maintained a workforce of roughly 5,000 employees. However, during the late 1970s, it began losing market presence to emerging discount competitors. This decline led to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1982. Subsequently, five stores located outside New York City were shuttered, leaving one store in Manhattan, two in Queens, and the original Brooklyn location.

In 1987, one of the two Glen Oaks stores in Queens was closed, reducing the chain to three stores. The company continued operations briefly but announced on December 28, 1988, that all remaining stores would close immediately, with final sales concluding on December 31 of that year. Starting January 1, 1989, J.W. Mays, Inc. transitioned into a real estate firm utilizing the properties formerly occupied by its retail outlets.

External links

• J.W. Mays