Goldblatt's was an American chain of local

discount store Discount stores offer a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs. Types (Uni ...

s that operated in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, as well as

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. Founded in 1914, the chain grew to more than twenty stores at its peak, gradually closing some stores in the 1990s and selling others to

Ames AMES, short Air Ministry Experimental Station, was the name given to the British Air Ministry's radar development team at Bawdsey Manor (afterwards RAF Bawdsey) in the immediate pre-World War II era. The team was forced to move on three occasion ...

before finally closing completely in 2000.

History

Early beginnings

Goldblatt's was founded in 1914 by brothers

Nate Nate or NATE may refer to: People and fictional characters *Nate (given name) *A nickname for Nathanael *A nickname for Nathaniel Organizations *National Association for the Teaching of English, the UK subject teacher association for all aspects ...

and Maurice Goldblatt. Immigrants from Poland, the Goldblatt family ran a grocery store and butcher shop on Chicago's West Side. Nate and Maurice opened their first store near the corner of Ashland and

Chicago Avenue Chicago Avenue is a major east–west street in Chicago, Illinois, that runs at 800 north from 385 east to 5968 west in the Chicago street address system from which point it enters the suburbs and goes into several different suburban addr ...

. By 1922, the store recorded sales of over $800,000. By 1928 the brothers formed Goldblatt Brothers Inc. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s Goldblatt's did well, and the brothers were able to purchase several smaller department stores. In 1936, Goldblatt's opened its State Street flagship store at

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and Van Buren. Goldblatt's moved towards more upscale products and offered small appliances, a deli, and confectionery goods. GOLDBLATT COIN-TOKEN

Bankruptcy

By 1946 Goldblatt's was operating 15 stores with $62 million in annual sales. Things went well even as the Goldblatt brothers began to quarrel. In 1941, a one-store expansion into

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, was met with little success; the store closed on November 27, 1948, following a unionization attempt by the employees. By the 1950s growth began to stall, with profits flat-lining and new store openings averaging four a year. By the mid-1960s, retailers such as

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

Woolco Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in Columbus, Ohio, by the F. W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At ...

Zayre Zayre () was a chain of discount stores that operated in the eastern half of the United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters were in Framingham, Massachusetts. In October 1988, Zayre's parent company, Zayre Corp., sold the store ...

, and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

were digging into Goldblatt's market. Expansion into the

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

proved to be a difficult obstacle for Goldblatt's. Middle class shoppers were not enticed to shop at Goldblatt's. The company declared bankruptcy in 1981. In 1982, Goldblatt's reopened with six stores. The mission of the company was restored to selling to low income families. The flagship store, which was to be sold to City of Chicago under Mayor

Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of ...

for a public library location, later sold to DePaul University when the

Harold Washington Library The Harold Washington Library Center is the central library for the Chicago Public Library System. It is located just south of the Loop 'L', at 400 South State Street in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a full-service library and ...

was built. Without the money from the City of Chicago Goldblatt's would have closed.

Jerrold Wexler Jerrold Wexler (June 27, 1924 – November 10, 1992) was a noted American businessman and film producer. He was the brother of cinematographer Haskell Wexler and the stepfather of actress Daryl Hannah. Early life and education Wexler was bor ...

helped save the firm from bankruptcy. By 1985 Goldblatt's was profitable. However, changing markets, increasing competition, and old stores doomed the chain. In 2000, Goldblatt's closed once again.

purchased several former stores to enter the Chicago market again (Ames had taken over many of

's former Chicago stores, all of them later closed). But later in that same year, it returned and reopened its 47th and Ashland location. Goldblatt's later reclaimed four more locations when Ames closed its Chicago stores. In 2003, the company closed its stores for good and

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

Ames

Shortly after Goldblatt's closed its stores, discount retailer

purchased seven of the stores for $7.6 million in April 2000.

References

External links

''Encyclopedia of Chicago''
* {{National Register of Historic Places Defunct companies based in Chicago 1914 establishments in Illinois Retail companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct discount stores of the United States Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places American companies established in 1914 Retail companies established in 1914 2000 disestablishments in Illinois Chicago Landmarks