F&R Lazarus & Company – commonly known as Lazarus – was a regional department store with its retail chain operating primarily in the
U.S. Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...
, and based in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...
. For over 150 years, Lazarus was influential in the American retail industry, particularly during the early 20th century as a founding partner in
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shilli ...
, and continued until the nameplate was retired on March 6, 2005, in favor of
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
.
History
Beginnings
Family patriarch
Simon Lazarus
Simon Lazarus (1807–1877) was an American clothing retailer and the founder of the predecessor of what was to become Lazarus (department store), The F&R Lazarus & Co., an operation which blossomed into what is today known as Federated Department ...
(1808–1877) opened a one-room men's clothing store in downtown Columbus in 1851. By 1870, with improvements to the industry in the mass manufacture of men's uniforms for the Civil War, the family business expanded to include ready-made men's civilian clothing, and eventually, a complete line of merchandise.
Sons Fred Lazarus Sr. (1850–1917) and Ralph Lazarus (1852–1903) joined the business and added many innovative marketing techniques. The company acquired the
John Shillito Company of Cincinnati in 1928 (established in 1830), and a year later, was one of the four founding members of
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shilli ...
(along with
Williams Filene's Sons Co. and
Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...
).
Bloomingdale Brothers joined the company in 1930.
Lazarus developed or was an early adopter of many shopping innovations such as "one low price" (no bargaining necessary, earlier implemented by the
John Wanamaker Store
John Wanamaker Department Store was one of the first department stores in the United States. Founded by John Wanamaker in Philadelphia, it was influential in the development of the retail industry including as the first store to use price tags. ...
), first department store escalators in the country, first air-conditioned store in the country, and Fred Lazarus Jr. successfully lobbied President Franklin Roosevelt to permanently fix Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November, ensuring a stable timetable for the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
Those who worked at Lazarus were not called employees, but associates.
Fred Lazarus Jr. (1884–1973)
Fred Lazarus Jr.
Fred R. Lazarus Jr. (October 29, 1884 – May 27, 1973) was an American founder of Federated Department Stores, which became Macy's, Inc.
Early life
Fred Lazarus Jr. was born to a Jewish family on October 29, 1884, the son of Rose (née Eichberg) ...
served as president of Federated Department Stores, Inc. from its founding until 1947, and thereafter, served as board chairman until his death. He was succeeded by his son Ralph Lazarus (1914–1988), who led Federated through the 1980s. Various Lazarus family members also held key positions on Federated's board and within its various divisions, namely, Foley's, Filene's, Lazarus and Shillito's. Robert Lazarus Jr. (1927–2013) was the last family member with an official role at Federated, serving as assistant to Ron Klein in 2002, then chairman and CEO of the Rich's/Lazarus/Goldsmith's operating unit of Federated, now a portion of
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
.
Expansion

Primarily operating in central Ohio, Lazarus dominated its market, driving the last of its traditional rivals out of business by 1982. Eventually expanding into
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...
, in 1973 and
Huntington, West Virginia, in 1981; in 1986 Lazarus merged with fellow Federated division Shillito–Rike's, itself the result of 1982 merger between Shillito's (John Shillito Co.) and
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...
-based
Rike's
The Rike-Kumler Company (commonly known as Rike's) was an American department store in Dayton, Ohio. In 1959, Rike's became part of the Federated Department Stores conglomerate. In 1982, Federated merged Rike's with its Cincinnati unit, Shillito ...
, acquired by Federated in 1959. The new division adopted the Lazarus nameplate, while assuming Shillito–Rike's headquarters in Cincinnati.
In 1987, Federated acquired
William H. Block
The William H. Block Company was a department store chain in Indianapolis and other cities in Indiana. It was founded in 1874 by Herman Wilhelm Bloch, an immigrant from Austria-Hungary who had Americanized his name to William H. Block. The mai ...
Company of Indianapolis, Indiana (including Wren's,
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northe ...
) and
Herpolsheimer's of Grand Rapids, Michigan from
Allied Stores
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Store ...
and incorporated them into Lazarus. In 1989, Lazarus' sprawling downtown Columbus flagship store became one of the three anchors of
Columbus City Center mall, when developer Taubman Centers constructed a pedestrian skywalk to it over South High Street.
Federated experimented with several different formats in the Lazarus division. In 1967, Federated opened its
Gold Circle discount department store division in Columbus, locating stores directly across from Lazarus stores at
Northland Northland may refer to:
Corporations
* Northland Organic Foods Corporation, headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota
* Northland Resources, a mining business
* Northland Communications, an American cable television, telephone and internet service ...
,
Eastland and
Westland malls. In the mid-1970s Federated opened its "Capri" shops, off-mall Lazarus stores that budget store goods. Lazarus eventually opened three "Capri" shops, but they were later converted to limited-assortment Lazarus stores. Lazarus was the only Federated division to open full-line stores in tertiary markets such as
Lima, Ohio
Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, southwest of Toledo, and southeast of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
As o ...
; Huntington, West Virginia and
Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield is a city in and the county seat of Richland County, Ohio, United States. Located midway between Columbus and Cleveland via Interstate 71, it is part of Northeast Ohio region in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau. The c ...
. Federated also experimented with "Home Works at Lazarus" which was somewhat similar to today's
HomeGoods
HomeGoods is a chain of home furnishing stores headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was founded as a small chain in 1992, and grew to include hundreds of locations throughout the United States. HomeGoods sells furniture, linens, cooking ...
or
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. The chain operates many stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 5 ...
stores. Finally, in the mid-1980s Lazarus experimented with small-market stores in
Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Lo ...
; and
Lancaster,
Newark and
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capital ...
, all of which have since closed.
Merger with Horne's
In 1994,
Joseph Horne Co.,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...
, was acquired by Federated and its 10 locations absorbed by Lazarus. Lazarus moved into the Horne's building for one year before building a new more modern location,
Merge with Rich's
Having absorbed several department stores itself over the years, in 1995 the chain was integrated into an
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
-based division of Federated along with that city's
Rich's and
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...
's
Goldsmith's, while retaining its name in local markets.
Merge with Macy's
The so-called RLG division was among Federated's five smaller nameplates absorbed into the
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
brand, along with
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
's
Burdines
Burdines (} ) was an American chain of department stores operating in the state of Florida, headquartered in Miami. The original store opened in Bartow, Florida in 1896 as a carriage-trade shop. Over its nearly 110-year history, Burdines grew i ...
and
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
's
The Bon Marché. The Lazarus stores were eventually co-branded with Macy's in 2003, becoming Lazarus-Macy's prior to the 2005 name change.
The converted former Lazarus stores initially were part of the
Macy's South division. In early 2007, after systems integrations were complete, the stores comprising the former Lazarus franchise in
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
, West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...
were transferred to the Macy's Midwest division, based in
St. Louis, Missouri. By February 2008, Macy's Midwest was merged with Atlanta-based Macy's South to form a newly constituted Macy's Central division.
References
{{Macy's history
Retail companies established in 1851
Defunct department stores based in Columbus, Ohio
Macy's
Clothing retailers of the United States
Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area
Retail companies disestablished in 2005
Defunct companies based in Columbus, Ohio
1851 establishments in Ohio