Lazarus (department store)

Lazarus

Company type	Department store chain
Industry	Retail
Founded	1851 (1851)
Founder	Simon Lazarus
Defunct	2005 (2005)
Fate	Rebranded and absorbed into Macy's
Headquarters	Columbus , United States
Area served	Midwest United States
Key people	Simon Lazarus, Fred Lazarus Sr., Fred Lazarus Jr., Ralph Lazarus, Robert Lazarus Jr.
Products	Clothing, department store merchandise
Parent	Federated Department Stores (later Macy's, Inc.)

Lazarus was a prominent American department store chain established in 1851 by Simon Lazarus. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, the company operated extensively across the Midwest region. In 1929, Lazarus became a founding member of the Federated Department Stores conglomerate. The brand was rebranded as Lazarus–Macy's in 2003 before being fully absorbed and phased out in favor of Macy's by 2005.

Beginnings

File:Simon lazarus portrait.jpg

Simon Lazarus, the entrepreneur who founded F&R Lazarus & Co., which ultimately evolved into Macy's, Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores).

See also: Lazarus Building

In 1851, family patriarch Simon Lazarus (1808–1877) launched a modest one-room men’s clothing shop in downtown Columbus. By the 1870s, advancements in mass production of Civil War uniforms enabled the business to broaden its offerings to include ready-to-wear men’s civilian apparel and eventually a full range of merchandise.

Fred Lazarus Sr. (1850–1917) and Ralph Lazarus (1852–1903), Simon’s sons, joined the enterprise and introduced numerous pioneering marketing strategies. The firm expanded through acquisition by purchasing Cincinnati’s John Shillito Company in 1928—an establishment dating back to 1830—and in 1929 became one of the four founding companies of Federated Department Stores, alongside Williams Filene’s Sons Co. and Abraham & Straus. Bloomingdale Brothers became part of the group in 1930.

Lazarus was recognized for adopting or pioneering several retail innovations, including implementing “one low price” policies that eliminated bargaining—a concept previously introduced by John Wanamaker—and introducing the nation’s first department store escalators as well as the first air-conditioned store. Additionally, Fred Lazarus Jr. played a key role in persuading President Franklin Roosevelt to officially set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November, thereby stabilizing the start date for the Christmas shopping season.

Staff members at Lazarus were referred to not as employees but as associates.

Formation of Federated

File:Lazarus cormer.JPG

Lazarus plaque

Fred Lazarus Jr. held the position of president at Federated Department Stores, Inc. from its inception until 1947, after which he became chairman of the board until his passing. His leadership was followed by his son, Ralph Lazarus (1914–1988), who guided Federated throughout the 1980s. Several members of the Lazarus family occupied significant roles on Federated's board and within its divisions, including Foley's, Filene's, Lazarus, and Shillito's. Robert Lazarus Jr. (1927–2013) was the final family member to maintain an official role at Federated, initially serving as assistant to Ron Klein in 2002, and later as chairman and CEO of the Rich's/Lazarus/Goldsmith's operating unit, now part of Macy's.

Growth and Development

Lazarus maintained a dominant presence primarily in central Ohio, successfully eliminating its last traditional competitors by 1982. The company expanded into Indianapolis, Indiana in 1973 and later into Huntington, West Virginia in 1981. In 1986, Lazarus merged with Shillito–Rike's, another Federated division formed from the 1982 combination of Shillito's (John Shillito Co.) and Dayton, Ohio-based Rike's, which Federated had acquired in 1959. The merged entity adopted the Lazarus brand while relocating headquarters to Shillito–Rike's Cincinnati offices.

In 1987, Federated purchased the William H. Block Company of Indianapolis (including Wren's in Springfield, Ohio) along with Herpolsheimer's of Grand Rapids, Michigan from Allied Stores, integrating them into Lazarus. The Grand Rapids Lazarus locations, which had been rebranded from Herpolsheimer's in late 1987, closed their doors in September 1990. By 1989, the expansive downtown Columbus flagship store of Lazarus became one of three anchor tenants for the newly developed Columbus City Center mall when Taubman Centers constructed a pedestrian skywalk connecting it over South High Street.

Federated explored various retail approaches within the Lazarus division. In 1967, it launched its discount department store chain Gold Circle in Columbus, strategically positioning these outlets opposite existing Lazarus stores at Northland, Eastland, and Westland malls. During the mid-1970s, Federated introduced "Capri" shops—off-mall Lazarus locations offering budget-friendly merchandise. Although three Capri stores were established initially, they were eventually converted into limited-assortment Lazarus outlets. Notably, Lazarus was unique among Federated divisions for opening full-line stores in smaller markets such as Lima, Ohio, Huntington, West Virginia, and Mansfield, Ohio. Additionally, Federated tested "Home Works at Lazarus," a concept resembling today's HomeGoods or Bed Bath & Beyond. In the mid-1980s, Lazarus also experimented with smaller market stores in locations including Owensboro, Kentucky, as well as Lancaster, Newark, and Zanesville, Ohio—all of which have since ceased operations.

In 1994, Federated acquired Joseph Horne Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; its ten stores were absorbed into the Lazarus division. For one year following the acquisition, Lazarus operated out of Horne’s approximately 630000sqft facility before relocating to a newly constructed modern store.

Transition to Macy's

File:Lazarus-Macy's Department Store Transition Logo.png

Lazarus-Macy's emblem (2003–2005)

After acquiring multiple department stores over time, the chain became part of a Federated division headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia in 1995, joining forces with that city's Rich's and Memphis, Tennessee's Goldsmith's. Despite this consolidation, the Lazarus name continued to be used in its respective local markets. In 2003, Lazarus was one of five smaller Federated nameplates—including The Bon Marché, Burdines, Goldsmith's, and Rich's—that were consolidated under the Macy's brand. Initially, these locations operated under the Lazarus-Macy's banner before fully adopting the Macy's name by 2005.

Following the rebranding, former Lazarus outlets were incorporated into the Macy's South division. Once system integrations were finalized in early 2007, stores located in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and Kentucky were reassigned to the Macy's Midwest division headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. By February 2008, Macy's Midwest combined with Atlanta-based Macy's South to create the newly formed Macy's Central division.

See also

• List of defunct department stores of the United States
• List of department stores converted to Macy's