About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Hecht's

Encyclopedia : H : HE : HEC : Hecht's

 

Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores located mainly in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

As of 2005, Hecht's had some 81 stores in 19 markets in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Its locations in New Jersey, Delaware, and the majority of those in Pennsylvania were operated under the name of Strawbridge's. Hecht's headquarters was in Arlington, Virginia.

Hecht's was founded and was long operated as a family firm. It was purchased in 1959 by May Department Stores which in turn, was acquired by Federated Department Stores on August 30, 2005. On February 1, 2006, Federated dissolved the former May Company divisions and the existing Hecht's stores were divided between Macy's East and Macy's South and the replacement Hecht's store in Chevy Chase, Maryland, scheduled to open in 2007 will be assumed by Bloomingdale's. By Fall 2006, the Hecht's name will be phased out in favor of the nationally known Macy's.

Contents

History

The Hecht Company was founded in 1857 by Samuel Hecht, Jr. The Hecht family was Jewish and came from near Heidelberg, Germany. Samuel's father was murdered in Germany. His widow and children, including Samuel, left Germany and immigrated to the United States during the 1840s. Samuel himself arrived by ship in Baltimore, Maryland in 1847 at the age of 17.

Samuel Hecht became an itinerant peddler selling his goods in and around Baltimore and on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. After a decade of itinerant peddling, he settled down and started what would become the Hecht stores.

Baltimore stores

In 1857 Samuel Hecht opened a used furniture store on Aliceanna Street (near South Broadway) in Baltimore.

By 1870 this venture had moved to a more auspicious location at 412 South Broadway where the name "HECHT" can still be seen, carved in foot-high letters into the granite lintel over the doorway. Clothing was added to the lineup in 1879 under the name of Hecht's Reliable. Shortly thereafter, a carpet and matting establishment was opened in Baltimore at 310 West Lexington Street.

Over the front of the new store on Lexington Street was a sign reading "Samuel Hecht, Jr. & Sons," reflecting the development of the firm as a family enterprise. Four of Samuel's sons eventually joined him in business. They were, in order of age: Emanuel (Manny), Albert S., Alexander (Alex), and Moses S. Hecht.

Emanuel Hecht joined his father in business in 1880. In 1886 he and Albert were listed as partners with their father. Alex and Moses came into the firm later and contributed to its success. Samuel Hecht died in 1907. His sons and, later, his grandsons carried on the business.

The growth of the firm continued in Baltimore with the opening of the Hecht Brothers store on Baltimore and Pine streets in 1885, the Hub store in Baltimore in 1897, and Hecht Brothers at Howard and Franklin streets in 1926. Hecht stores were also established in New York City and Easton, Maryland. There was also a branch in Annapolis, Maryland. However, the most important move was into Washington, D.C.

Washington stores

The Hechts opened a store in Washington on March 20, 1896, which moved to a grand glass and marble store at the corner of 7th and F Streets Northwest in November of 1925. Alexander Hecht directed the Washington part of the business for the family.

Hecht's was the first store in Washington to offer national brands. It also boasted the first parking garage and first elevator. Its relatively open policies made it popular among African-Americans as well as the white populace. [link]

A tour of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings, intended to rally support for the Allied cause in World War II and the purchase of war bonds, premiered at the store in 1943.

In July, 1951 a mixed race group began to picket outside the store, protesting racial segregation in the store's cafeteria. The offending policy was changed in January of the following year.

The vacated building, now across from the Verizon Center, was extensively renovated and reopened in 2003 as Terrell Place, honoring Mary Church Terrell's role in desegregating that and other public accommodations in Washington.

Hecht's operates the last department store in downtown Washington, a structure at the corner of 12th and G Streets NW built in 1985 and renovated in 2003. The building has a direct entrance to the Metro Center station of the Washington Metro.

Into the suburbs

After World War II, Hecht Company began to build new stores in the suburbs around Washington and Baltimore. In 1947 they opened a large three-story department store in a cornfield in Silver Spring, Maryland, just north of Washington, D.C. The wisdom of this move was initially questioned; however, within a few years, more room was needed, and a fourth story was added to the building. Outside the center of Baltimore, Hecht's opened a store in Edmondson Village in 1955, followed by another in Northwood in 1956.

May Company

The Hecht chain was acquired by the May Company in 1959. At this time, the historic 1924 Bernheim-Leader store on the corner of Howard and Lexington Streets in Baltimore was renamed Hecht's, becoming its flagship store in the Baltimore area. It closed in 1988, one of the last department stores to remain in the downtown district. In 1998 it was declared a city landmark, and has since been renovated into condominiums.

Many other stores acquired later were also rebranded as Hecht's:

Former Hecht's locations as of December 31, 2005

  • Washington, D.C. - Metro Center (Downtown at the corner of 12th and G Streets NW) (opened 1985)

  • Harrisburg - Harrisburg Mall (formerly Harrisburg East Mall) (opened 1995 in former Hess's and Gimbel's location)
  • Harrisburg MSA/Camp Hill - Capital City Mall (opened 1995 in former Hess's location)
  • York - West Manchester Mall (opened 1995 in former Hess's location)

Former Hecht's locations, closed previously

Competitors

Competitors to The Hecht Company in Baltimore included:

References

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: