The Fair Store

The Fair

File:The Fair Department Store IL.png
File:Historic American Buildings Survey Harold Allen, Photographer 22 June 1964 SOUTHWEST CORNER - DEARBORN AND ADAMS STREETS WEST ELEVATION - Fair Store, 126-144 South State Street, HABS ILL,16-CHIG,62-2.tif
Company type	Discount department store
Industry	Retail
Founded	1874
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Products	Clothing, textiles, furniture, sewing machines, baby carriages, toys and adult games, affordable household goods

The Fair was established as a discount department store in 1874 in Chicago, Illinois.

History

The store’s founder, Ernst J. Lehmann, chose the name "The Fair" to reflect the variety of inexpensive merchandise available, likening it to a fair with numerous items offered at low prices. Lehmann operated on a strict cash-only policy and set prices using odd amounts (not rounded to five-cent increments) to provide customers with small savings on each purchase. In 1875, the main store relocated to the intersection of State and Adams Streets; by 1891, a contemporary twelve-story structure designed by William Le Baron Jenney was completed on this site.

During the early twentieth century, The Fair positioned itself as a discount department store. A 1915 publication by the company described it as "always has been and undoubtedly always will be, the store of the people, the downtown shopping destination for Savers, the marketplace for the Thrifty." Ownership changed hands in 1925 when a syndicate led by S.S. Kresge (the forerunner of Kmart) acquired the business. Under this new leadership, additional locations opened at Milwaukee Avenue (1929), Oak Park, Illinois (1929), Evergreen Plaza Shopping Center (1952), and Old Orchard Shopping Center (1956).

In 1957, Montgomery Ward expanded its Chicago presence by purchasing The Fair’s flagship State Street store along with its Oak Park, Evergreen Plaza, and Old Orchard branches from the Kresge group. Unlike many competitors who had quickly developed branch stores after World War II, Montgomery Ward had delayed such expansion. Initially retaining The Fair branding on these locations, Montgomery Ward opened another The Fair outlet at Randhurst Mall in 1962. However, this Randhurst location was the first to transition to the Montgomery Ward nameplate in August 1963; the remaining stores followed suit in 1964. The original State Street flagship closed in 1984 and was demolished the following year. Although redevelopment plans were made for this prime location, no new construction occurred until 2001.