The May Company Ohio was a chain of

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s that was based in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States.

History

In 1899, David May, the founder of

May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many c ...

, acquired E. R. Hull & Dutton Co. of Cleveland on Ontario Street, renaming it May Company, Cleveland. In 1914 May added an additional landmark building on Euclid Avenue, fronting on the southeast corner of

Public Square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

. The high-rise building stands 149 feet and contains 8 floors of space, though floors 7 and 8 were not added until 1931. In 1939 May Co. acquired majority control of another Cleveland store, William Taylor Son & Co., which maintained a separate identity until 1961. Expansion to the suburbs began in the 1950s, with Sheffield Shopping Center, Lorain in 1953 (originally opened as an O'Neil's store which was a May Company subsidiary and then changed over to a May Company location in 1967) and Cedar-Center Plaza at Cedar and Warrensville Roads in University Heights in late 1956 (known locally as "May's on the Heights"). In 1960 a branch was opened at Parmatown Mall in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

, and another in 1961 at Southgate Shopping Center in Maple Heights (the Southgate store having been originally opened in 1958 by William Taylor & Son Co.). Several mall stores followed in the 1960s and 1970s, including Great Lakes Mall (1964) Great Northern Mall (Ohio) in

North Olmsted North Olmsted is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 32,442. North Olmsted is a west side suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and is the 8th most ...

(1965), Randall Park Mall in North Randall (1976), Euclid Square Mall in

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...

(1977) and Sandusky Mall in Sandusky (1979). The company also constructed a nine-story warehouse (six stories tall, with three sub basements) attached to the south side of the Cedar Center Store, designed to handle furniture distribution for Cleveland's eastside. The red brick facility, designed to look like an integrated part of the colossal four story store was used for a short time, but remained empty from 1960 until the University Heights store was demolished and re-built in 2002 by this time it was re-branded as Kaufmann's. The May Company specialized in mid to higher end fashion merchandise and home furnishings, but target price points placed May Company merchandise at, or below its two major competitors in the Cleveland market

Higbee's Higbee's was a department store founded in 1860 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, Higbee's was sold to the joint partnership of Dillard's department stores and Youngstown-based developer, Edward J. DeBartolo. The stores continued to operate unde ...

and Halle's. May Company was the first local department store to issue its own personal charge card, announcing it on July 16, 1966 in a Cleveland Plain Dealer article, breaking away from being part of the Department Stores Charge Plate (a metal card that was notched for each store and used at all participating members which included William Taylor Son & Co., Bailey's, Sterling-Lindner-Davis, The Higbee Company and The Halle Bros. Co.) Higbee's and Halle's continued to remain part of this system until they each issued their own individual plastic charge cards respectively in 1969. In addition to its merchandise, the company was known for its sponsorship of the Eagle Stamp program."Kaufmann's, A Division Of The May Department Stores Co."
The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Retrieved 2012-06-03 Consumers could earn Eagle Stamps on purchases at The May Company as well as on purchases at Pick-N-Pay Supermarkets, Leader Drug Stores, and participating gas stations and dry cleaners. Completed stamp booklets could be redeemed at May Company for $3 credits toward merchandise purchases at May Company stores. The trading stamp program was administered by the May Company owned Eagle Stamp Company of St. Louis from 1903 to 1987. In 1989 May Company, Cleveland and O'Neil's, based in

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

were merged to form May Company Ohio, as the

began consolidating its regional department store divisions. On January 31, 1993 May Company, Ohio was merged into

Kaufmann's Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Summary The store was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of the famous Fallingwater house. In the post-war years, the store became a regio ...

Pittsburgh 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 Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and its Downtown Cleveland store was closed. Many of its former locations became

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 ...

in 2006.

May Company Cleveland building

May's Cleveland headquarters building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1974. In late 2013, it was announced that the May Co building was set to potentially house over 350 apartments. Bedrock-Detroit, a real estate company co-founded by

Dan Gilbert Daniel Gilbert (born January 17, 1962) is an American billionaire businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and majority owner of Rocket Mortgage, founder of Rock Ventures, and owner of the National Basketball Association' ...

, bought the May Company Building on Public Square in 2017 for $12 million and now has plans to convert it to 308 apartments, almost 600 interior parking spaces, retail stores and rooftops for entertainment and green areas for residents' use. The opening date for the $140M renovation was expected to be in June 2020, but construction has been delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

References

{{authority control History of Cleveland National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio Defunct department stores based in Cleveland Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Commercial buildings completed in 1914 Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places Defunct companies based in Cleveland Residential skyscrapers in Cleveland Retail companies established in 1898 Retail companies disestablished in 1993 1898 establishments in Ohio Chicago school architecture in Ohio