Steiger's

Steiger's

File:Steiger's Department Store Final Logo.png
File:Albert Steiger Company, Springfield, Massachusetts. LOC gsc.5a22202.jpg Springfield flagship store's menswear and furniture sections, 1953
Industry	Retail
Founded	1896 (1896)
Defunct	Template:End date and age
Fate	Purchased by May Department Stores
Successor	Macy's
Products	Apparel, shoes, bedding, furniture, jewelry, cosmetics, and household goods.
Parent	May Department Stores (1994-1995)

Steiger's was a department store chain based in New England, United States, operating during the late 19th and throughout the 20th century. Established in 1896 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, its primary store for much of its existence was located in Springfield, Massachusetts. When acquired by May Department Stores, Steiger's was recognized as the last family-operated department store chain in the New England region.

History

Albert Steiger (1860–1938), born on May 12, 1860, in Ravensburg, Germany, was the eldest son of Jacob and Mary (née Felerabend) Steiger. His grandfather, John Ulrich Steiger, originally from Switzerland, had emigrated to the United States after his wife's passing and founded a bedspread manufacturing enterprise in Huntington, Massachusetts. In 1869, Albert Steiger moved with his family to America to join this family business. However, following the deaths of John Steiger in 1871 and subsequently Albert’s father and uncle by 1873, the responsibility of supporting his widowed mother and two younger sisters fell on young Albert at age thirteen. For nearly two decades, he earned a living by buying dry goods from Darwin Gillett of Westfield, Massachusetts and reselling them at a profit throughout the Hilltowns region.

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Constructed in 1899, the Steiger Building was Holyoke’s first purpose-built department store.

At age 34 in 1894, Steiger temporarily relocated from Massachusetts to Port Chester, New York, just north of New York City, where he briefly operated his initial dry goods outlet. Returning to Western Massachusetts two years later in 1896, he established The Albert Steiger Company department store in Holyoke, Massachusetts, which swiftly became a prominent retail fixture. The Holyoke location featured a four-story beaux arts style building designed by architect George P. B. Alderman, situated on High Street opposite Holyoke City Hall. This former department store structure continues to serve as office space today.

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Traditional logo

Around the early 1900s, Albert Steiger expanded by opening additional stores across Fall River, Massachusetts, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1918 he further extended operations with a branch in Hartford, Connecticut. By the time of his passing in 1938, the combined revenue from Steiger’s locations throughout western New York and New England was estimated at $25 million — equivalent to over $450 million in 2020 dollars.

Mid to late 20th century

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Two of Steiger's Department Stores, Springfield, Mass. (1906 / 1960)

During the mid to late 1900s, the chain's centerpiece was its five-story Art Deco building located in downtown Springfield. Unlike Springfield's other prominent department store, Forbes & Wallace, which offered comprehensive full-service retailing, Steiger's specialized primarily in upscale apparel. The enterprise was sustained across multiple generations within the Steiger family. Albert E. Steiger Jr., grandson of founder Albert Steiger, led the company as president from 1959 until 1992, while his younger sibling Ralph A. Steiger served as treasurer and vice president starting in 1947 and subsequently became CEO from 1992 through 1995.

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Elegant and spacious: Steiger's flagship store, Springfield, Mass. 1953.

As time progressed, the standalone downtown stores were phased out and replaced by leased spaces within shopping malls. The Hartford location was divested in 1962, leaving only the Springfield and Holyoke stores as traditional urban department outlets. Expansion into mall venues included openings at Longmeadow Shops (1961), Springfield Plaza (1964), Friendly Shops in Westfield, Massachusetts (1965), Eastfield Mall (1967), Enfield Square Mall (1972), Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Massachusetts (1978), Holyoke Mall at Ingleside (1979), and Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester, Connecticut (1990).

Final phase

In 1994, The May Department Stores Company acquired Steiger's, leading to the discontinuation of both the company and its brand. For example, the Eastfield Mall location was succeeded by a Filene's, then a Macy's in 2006 before closing permanently in 2016. The flagship store situated downtown Springfield ceased operations in 1995 and was demolished shortly afterward; the site has since been converted into a public park.

See also

• Forbes & Wallace, another now-defunct department store with a flagship presence in Springfield, Massachusetts
• List of department stores converted to Macy's

Excursus

Relatives of Albert Steiger (1860-1938) from Switzerland/Germany:

Ulrich Steiger, brother of Albert's father Jacob – co-founder of Steiger & Deschler, a leading textile firm operating in Ulm, Krumbach, and Ravensburg, Germany

Walther Steiger, Albert's cousin – engineer and founder of the Steiger automobile company based in Burgrieden near Ulm, Germany.

External links

• Albert Steiger Co, featured on The Department Store Museum website
• "Claiming and Quantifying Space", a section from From Main to High: Consumers, Class, and the Spatial Reorientation of an Industrial City, focusing on Holyoke, Massachusetts, which includes discussion of Steiger's influence in the area