Ala Moana Center unveiled its new Ewa Wing this fall, and it’s packed with shoppers today. Many of the companies there have some amazing histories, and I thought I’d look at several of them.
First, a quiz: Which chain was founded by a man who struck it rich in the Klondike Gold Rush? Which new company to Ala Moana originally sold hoop skirts as its main product? Which local company was so named because its first store was located halfway between downtown and the North Shore?
Which retailer invented the tea bag and introduced America to the baked potato? Which clothing retailer began by outfitting those who were going on safaris?
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Swedish-born John Nordstrom came to America and taught himself English by reading the newspaper. When he read that gold had been discovered in the Klondike of Alaska in 1897, he left for it the next day.
In two years he found $13,000 in gold ($365,000 today) and with it opened the world’s largest shoe store in Seattle with a friend, Carl Wallin. In 1960 the company expanded beyond shoes to meet the wardrobe needs of the entire family.
Today Nordstrom operates 296 stores and has revenues of over $13 billion.
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Brothers Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale founded Bloomingdale’s in 1861 on Third Avenue in New York. This was just four years after Central Park opened.
Their ladies notions’ shop focused on hoop skirts. Hoop skirts were the rage then. They held long skirts away from ladies’ legs. Ten years later they moved on to other women’s and men’s fashions. Today they have over 50 stores and are owned by Macy’s.
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Town & Country Surf Designs first opened in Pearl City in 1971. It was so named because it was halfway between downtown and the North Shore. They have seven stores on Oahu today.
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Macy’s was founded by Rowland Hussey Macy, who left his Nantucket, Mass., home at the age of 15 in 1837 aboard a whaler.
A few years later he opened a dry goods store. It was a failure. He then moved to California but failed to find gold in the gold rush. Over the next 10 years, six other retail ventures failed.
Macy learned from his mistakes, and his seventh store, R.H. Macy & Co., which opened in 1851, was a success. Macy’s had the first in-store Santa Claus and has sponsored the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade since 1924.
A Macy’s wine and food buyer, William Titon, invented the tea bag in 1912. In 1926 he introduced America to the Idaho baked potato.
Macy said he was once lost at sea but found a star to guide him to shore. Soon after, he received a red star tattoo as a remembrance of the event. Macy’s star logo was inspired by that tattoo.
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David Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch founded what would become the world’s largest sporting goods store in the world in New York in 1892. It occupied an entire 12-story building.
It sold the highest-quality camping, fishing and hunting gear and contained a rifle range, hot air balloons, trampolines, leopard collars and everything a person could possibly need for falconry.
They outfitted many great hunting and exploration expeditions, like Theodore Roosevelt’s trips to Africa and the Amazon, and Robert Peary’s expedition to the North Pole. Other famous clients included Ernest Hemingway, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Katherine Hepburn, the Duke of Windsor and Presidents Taft, Harding, Eisenhower and Kennedy.
Today Abercrombie & Fitch focuses on casualwear for young consumers. It employs over 65,000 and has sales of over $1 billion annually.
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Hollister Co. is a subsidiary of Abercrombie & Fitch. It began in 2000 and has a “fictional history” that says it was founded by John Hollister Sr., who lived in the Dutch East Indies.
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Shirokiya literally means “white tree store,” and was named for the white birch. It was founded in Nihonbashi, Edo (now Tokyo), when Hikotaro Omura opened a notions and draper’s shop in 1662. It was one of the first stores to trade with the West.
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Mort Feldman and wife Janice Moody named their clothing business for a daughter — Victoria — and son — Richard in 1956. Tori Richard is now one of the nation’s premier purveyors of upscale resort sportswear.
Tori Richards shirts were worn by “Hawaii Five-0” actors Jack Lord and Alex O’Loughlin. They have nine stores in Hawaii and wholesale throughout the world.
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I’ll write about more of our retail stores in the future. For now I wish all my readers safe and happy holidays.
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Michael Horowitz, Visiting Scholar at the East-West Center, is looking for current residents of Hawaii who descended from one of the approximately 50 Jewish families who settled here before 1900. Please contact him at horowitm@eastwestcenter.org or call 944-7343.
Bob Sigall, author of the Companies We Keep books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@yahoo.com.
