Maas Brothers was a leading

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

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

founded by Abe and Isaac Maas in 1886 that grew from a small store to a chain of 39 stores throughout the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The Maas Brothers brand went defunct in 1991 when it was consolidated into the

Burdines Burdines was an American department store chain founded in 1898 by William M. and John Burdine. It operated exclusively in Florida, with its flagship store and headquarters both located in Miami. It evolved from a carriage-trade shop into a ful ...

department store chain, which in turn merged with

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

in 2005.

History

Abe and Isaac Maas started their retail career in Cochran, Georgia, working with their brothers, Jacob and Sol. By 1880, Abe was operating a store in Dublin, Georgia, and Isaac was operating a millinery store in Ocala by 1885. In 1886, Abe decided to move to a better location and chose Tampa, at the time a small village on Florida's west coast. Abe had been quoted as saying, "It's a waterfront town. Who knows? It may amount to something someday." Abe Maas opened the Dry Goods Palace on December 10, 1886. His brother, Isaac, formally joined his brother on September 15, 1887, and the store became Maas Brothers. After outgrowing its first two locations, Maas Brothers opened its third, and largest, store in 1921. This store was the second largest department store in Florida, and it contained the first escalator installed in Florida. By 1929, Maas Brothers dominated Florida's West Coast. It was known as "Greater Tampa's Greatest Store." FIRST MAAS 011406-1

Allied Stores

In 1929, Abe and Isaac Maas sold Maas Brothers to Hahn Department Stores. Maas Brothers gained the buying power of the 28 department stores while Hahn gained the addition of another successful chain with a loyal customer base. In 1935, Hahn Department Stores changed its name to

Allied Stores Corporation Allied Stores was a holding company of department store chains 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 ...

. Despite being owned by a national company, Maas Brothers was still operated by the Maas family. In 1935, Isaac Maas, who was serving as chairman of the board died at the age of 71. Abe Maas, who was president, became chairman. Jerome A. Waterman, Abe and Isaac's nephew, became president. Jerome joined Maas Brothers in 1907. Abe Maas died in 1941 at the age of 86.

Expansion

In 1948, Maas Brothers opened its first full line branch store in downtown

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. Other branch stores opened in downtown Lakeland in 1954, downtown

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

in 1956 and downtown Clearwater in 1961. Maas Brothers opened its first mall store, in 1965, in the Edison Mall in

Fort Myers A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

. By 1981, Maas Brothers opened its 17th store in Gulf View Square Mall in Port Richey. This was the last Maas Brothers store built. In 1985, Maas Brothers absorbed the

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, based stores of fellow Allied nameplate Levy's of Savannah (founded in 1871 as B. H. Levy & Bro.). MAAS BROS 02-00-1991-003

Campeau takeover

In 1986, Maas Brothers celebrated its 100th anniversary. It was in the same year that Canadian real estate developer Robert Campeau completed his takeover of

. As part of liquidation and cost cutting, Maas Brothers was consolidated with the weaker Jordan Marsh Florida franchise on Florida's East Coast in 1987 (Allied's

Jordan Marsh Jordan Marsh was an American department store chain founded in 1841 by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh. It was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. The destruction of the historical flagship store o ...

had expanded from New England in 1956, later forming a separate Allied division). The plan was that the stronger Maas Brothers would help the weaker Jordan Marsh. This brought the total number of combined stores to 39 throughout

and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. In 1989 the official store name was changed to Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh. In 1988, Campeau launched a successful takeover battle with

for

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

. Ironically, Federated would acquire Macy's in 1994. With the acquisition of Federated, Maas Brothers' formal rival, Miami-based

, became its sister store. As with the Allied acquisition, in order to cut costs, several back office operations for Maas Brothers, Jordan Marsh, and Burdines were consolidated. Maas Brothers-Jordan Marsh Merger Logo

Bankruptcy and merger

By 1989, Federated and Allied were struggling to make its debt payments incurred from the takeovers. On January 16, 1990, Federated and Allied filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Several underperforming stores were closed, including the flagship downtown Tampa store in February 1991. As part of its plan of reorganization, the Florida operations would be consolidated and several stores would be closed. The Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh headquarters was closed and consolidated with Burdines in July 1991. On October 20, 1991, the Maas Brothers stores officially became Burdines. The majority of the former Jordan Marsh stores were sold off since they competed directly with Burdines. Burdines, along with the other Federated divisions except Bloomingdales, were converted to Macy's in 2005.

Former Locations

Disposition of the stores

Many of the Maas Brothers stores developed as mall anchor stores remain as

stores. However, the downtown stores were closed and only one remains occupied today. * Sarasota. The downtown Sarasota store was closed in 1991 was demolished in October 1996 to make way for a 20 screen theater. * St. Petersburg. The downtown St. Petersburg enjoyed an interesting afterlife and redevelopment. The store included its original store at the northeast corner of 1st Avenue and 3rd Street North (known as "The Sunshine Corner") and several expansions covering nearly an entire City block. After closing of the store in 1991, the buildings sat vacant for a few years until they were leased to the Florida International Museum (FIM) from 1995 to 2005. During its operation, the FIM borrowed funds from the city of St. Petersburg to purchase the property as a way to eliminate leasing expenses. Although the 2008 Titanic exhibit drew 800,000 visitors to the FIM, the museum thereafter was unable to reach the attendance goals needed to support the limited run "blockbuster" exhibits which served as the centerpiece of the museum's programming. Ultimately, the museum defaulted on its loans and the City took possession of the property. As owner, the City proposed an ambitious redevelopment plan that would include: 1) a new downtown campus for St. Petersburg College to be housed in the former Maas Brothers furniture store comprising nearly the entire north one-half of the block, with the FIM to operate a smaller, and hopefully more sustainable, museum in part of the college space; 2) redevelopment of the original store property at the "Sunshine Corner" with a new 16-storey Florida operations headquarters for Progress Energy, Inc. (formerly Florida Power, then Florida Progress, and now merging with Duke Energy); and 3) redevelopment of the southeast corner of the block with a 29-story Grand Bohemian Hotel and condominium, proposed by Orlando-based Kessler Collection (neither the hotel nor the condominium ever broke ground and the lot is vacant). In July and August 2005, after the city had reached agreements with the three proposed users, the original store and its east addition on the south one-half of the block were demolished to allow the Progress Energy headquarters to begin construction, and St. Petersburg College began modifications for conversion of the furniture store to an educational facility. As a condition for construction of the new Progress Energy headquarters, city officials required the removal of the large vintage terrazzo and brass medallion inlaid into the sidewalk at what was the main entrance to the original store. The medallion reads "The Sunshine Corner," and depicts a map of Florida and a sun with one very long brass ray reaching to touch this location in St. Petersburg. When the Progress Energy Tower was completed, the medallion was reinstalled in its original location in the sidewalk to be preserved for future generations. * Tampa. In 2006 the downtown Tampa store after sitting empty and neglected for 15 years was demolished, to make room for a condo tower. After the real estate bust plans for condo were shelved and the property was sold and has become a parking lot. * Clearwater. The downtown Clearwater store became the Harborview Center was scheduled to be demolished in May 2010. In August 2010 a film crew leased the building for five months filming the move "A Dolphin's Tale" giving the building a brief reprieve. * Lakeland. The downtown Lakeland store remained open as Burdines until 1994 when it was relocated to Lakeland Square Mall. It serves as the headquarters for Watkins Trucking, now part of

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