Department Stores

The Department Stores Shopping Mall Development

The department store is historically rooted in innovation and influence. Department stores first appeared in North America in the mid 19th Century, and the rise of the urban department store was an urban phenomenon. As cities began to expand, and roadways, streetcars, subways and a larger concentration of people began to congregate and reside within cities, retailers began locating business within these heavily populated areas.

J.L. Hudson Company was once one of the largest department stores in the world, second to Macy’s. They had a commanding presence in the downtown core of Detroit in the early 60’s where residents who live in the downtown core and also in the surrounding suburbs would visit. This store had more than two million square feet, 32 levels, and 48 escalators inside to move the customers around the building with ease. Department stores acted as attractions for citizens and visitors to a city. These attractions had a similar cultural character as banks, railway stations, stadium, or exhibition halls. As stated by David Chaney, ‘the department store was a significant element in the emergence of a consumer culture, that is a set of institutionalized values and forms of relationships based upon the purchase and acquisition of commodities.’ 1

cities began to expand, so did the population. Moving out of the urban centre, residents in the core of a city moved to the periphery and the suburbs, sparking a new form of consumerism – a form made possible through the suburbanization of cities. Gruen began to realize the automobile and the dispersion of the suburban communities would change the way that department stores would be occupied. In 1947, Gruen had an opportunity to design and build a shopping center that catered to the people through the implementation of the

Although department stores were innovative and an ‘urban phenomenon’, when

Figure 1.7: Parking ramp leading towards rooftop parking lot

automobile into the design 1 . Millirons opened it’s first branch in Westchester, a post war development situated in the Western part of greater Los Angeles. The required square footage of the retail program would have led to a three story building in a downtown location, given the expansive area of the site gruen was able to program the departments over a single story design and lending to the unique element of parking on the roof. Two ramps guided retailers driving from the additional surface parking lot as well as the street edge up the west side of the building facade. At the center of the building was only a single core that led shoppers down to the ground level. The building was set back from the street edge which allowed for walkable promenades along Sepulveda Boulevard and showed the prominent Millirons signage.

The store opened its doors on St. Patricks Day in 1949, to an even larger number of retailers than expected. A store executive, John Muchmore, kept the community in mind when he stated, “We want to coordinate our store activities to the best advantage of the community.” Milliron was a new type of department store that kept the community in mind and catered to the suburban typology.