Shillito's, Cincinnati, Ohio

A great new book by a
devoted Cincinnati author
that covers Shillito's

Shillito's, seen here from the corner which it occupied
since 1879, consisted of an 1879 building that was
expanded, modernized, and sheathed in an art-deco
limestone facade in 1937.

The position of leading department store in Cincinnati
was held by Shillito's - whose annual sales at one
time exceeded those of its three major competitors.

Shillito's, in addition to being Cincinnati's
largest department store, was a landmark of
the city, and one of the oldest in the country,
having been founded in 1830. This view shows
the re-faced stoe and the 7-story addition that
was also added in 1937.

"Truth Always - Facts Only"

The John Shillito Company (Shillito’s)
7th & Race Sts.,
Cincinnati, Ohio (1830)

DUnbar 1-7000

Basement
Charlie’s Downstairs • Shillito’s Budget Store

Street Floor
Fine Jewelry (q142) • Fashion Jewelry (q140) • Handbags (q170) • Small Leather Goods (q170) • La Petite Boutique (q170) • Gloves (q260) • Umbrellas (q180) • Hosiery (Q250) • Dress Accessories (q235) • Scarves (275) • Little Hat Box (q415) • Bra and Girdle Bar (q455) • Cosmetics (q120) • Tourneur Beauty Bar • Health & Beauty Aids (q123) • Pharmacy (q738) • Top Shop (q230) • Sportswear Bar (q230) • Pavilion Lingerie (q447) • Notions (q100) • Stationery (q200) • Games (q200) • Calculator Center (q200) • Bake Shop (q210) • La Gourmandise (q210) • Candy Shop (q210) • Wine Cellar (q210) • Men’s Bar (q510) • Men’s Furnishings (q510) • Men's Sportswear (q512,4) • Shillito’s Coffee Shop

Street Floor-Upper Level
Books (q190) • Stamp and Coin Center (q191)

Balcony
Men’s Clothing (q501) • Men’s Outerwear (q501) • Men's Sport Clothing (q505) • Men’s Shoes (q540) • Men's Hats (q540) • University Shop (q551) • Trendsetter • Levi’s Shop • University Shop (q551) • Formal Wear Rental • Boys' Furnishings (q554) • Jr. Boys (q552) • Little Boys’ 2-7 (q462) • Boy Scouts (q559) • Prep Shop (q553) • Luggage (q560) • General Repair Office (q759) • Cobbler Shop (q752) • Photoreflex Studio (q767) • Optical (q130) • Hearing Aids (q130) • World Wide Travel • Abbey Rents (q751) • Employment Office

Second Floor
Infants’ Wear (q460) • Infants' Furniture (q461) • Toddlers’ Wear (q470) • Children’s Shoes (q479) • Teens' Shoes (q478) • Girls' 1-3 Shop (q463) • Girls’ 4-6x Shop (q465) • Girls' 7-14 Shop (q466) • Girls' Accessories (q469) • Teens' Accessories (q473) • Toys (q660) • Pet Shop (q514) • Junior Sportswear (q389) • Junior Dresses (q374) • Junior Coats (q373) • Young Junior Shop (q467) • Wig Salon (q410) • Shoe Salon (q421) • Pavilion Shoes (q429) • Pappagallo Shop • Etienne Aigner Shop • Sport Shoes (q424) • The Shoe Box (q478) • Millinery (q410) • Town Hall • Place Elegant

Third Floor
Sport Shop (q384) • Dress Salon (q335) • Women''s Salon (q335) • Casual Dresses (q382) • Gallery Dresses and Knits • Coat Salon (q310) • Suit Salon (q300) • All Weather Coats (q310) • Pavilion Millinery (q410) • Contemporaries Shop • Town and Country Shop (q382) • Miss Shillito Shop (q354) • Regency Room (q357) • Regency Place (q357) • La Boutique (q140) • Young Designer Shop • Clubhouse Sportswear • Cosmopolitan Dresses • Fur Salon (q405) • Bridal Shop (q335) • Discovery Sportswear • Sportique • Signature Sportswear • Lite Bite

Fourth Floor
Pavilion Sportswear (q390) • Pavilion Dresses (q368) • Pavilion Coats (q312) • Women's Pavilion (q348) • Robes and Loungewear (q480) •  Lingerie (q440) • Foundations (q450) • Maternity Shop (q359) • Junior Lingerie (q449) • Daytowne Dresses (q490) • Studio 4 Meeting Room• Women’s Sport Shop (q383) • Women’s World (q348) • China (q650) • Glassware (q650) • Fine Silver (q160) • Table Linens (060) • Bridal Gift Registry • Gifts & Home Accessories (q280) • Pictures and Mirrors (q703) • Bed Linens (070, 080) • Closet Shop • Credit Office

Fifth Floor
Fine Art Galleries • Furniture (q601,2) • Gallery Furniture (q605) • Circa Gallery (q607) • Recliners • Home Decorating Studio • Slumber Shop (q608) • Broadloom (q610) • Accent Rugs (q610) • Old World Shop • Homeworks • Contemporary Accent Shop • Draperies (q630) • Reupholstery (q639) • Holiday House

Sixth Floor
Housewares (q670) • Small Appliances (q674) • Cleaning Supplies (q670) • Bath Shop (q678) • Gourmet Housewares (q670) • Gourmet Cookware (q670) • Clock Shop • Lamps (q640) • Aristocrat Shop • Lifestyle Shop • Casual Living Shop (q670) • Hardware • Garden Shop (q691) • Fashion Fabric Center (q002) • Sewing Center (q697) • Art Needlework (q270) • Hertz Rental Servicenter (q750) • Trim the Tree • Candle and Party Goods Shop (q670) • The Tea Room

Seventh Floor
Rob Paris Portrait Studio • Beauty Salon (q753) • Canned Ego • Tonsorial Parlour for Men

Garage Store
Appliances (q691,2,3,4) • Vacuums • Televisions (q713) • Sound Center (q711) • Music Center (q714) • Records (q715) • Modern Living Center (q672) • Home Improvement (q675) • Paints (q676) • Wallpaper (q679) • Cameras (q290) • Sporting Goods (q571) • Ski Chalet • Auto Accessories (q575) • Shillito's Driving School (q754)
(840,000 sq. ft.)

Tri-County

Princeton and Kemper Roads
September 26, 1960
(230,000 sq. ft.)
Charlie's

Western Woods

Glenway Avenue at Park Crest
August 12, 1963
(189,000 sq. ft.)
The Patio Grill

Kenwood Mall
Montgomery Rd. and Kenwood Ave.
August 8,1966

(209,000 sq. ft.)
Snack Bar

Beechmont Mall (1969)

Beechmont Ave. and Collinsdale Rd.
October 6, 1969
 161,000 sq. ft.

Oxmoor Mall
August 8, 1970
Shelbyville Rd. and Watterson Expwy.

Louisville Kentucky

(281,000 sq. ft.)
Le Château Restaurant
Lettuce Patch Counter

Fayette Mall

Nicholasville Pike and Reynolds Rd.
Lexington Kentucky
October 11, 1971

(185,000 sq. ft.)
The Fox and Pheasant

Florence Mall
I-75 and Burlington Pike

Florence, Kentucky
February 27, 1977

(125,000 sq. ft.)

Jefferson Mall (1979)

Outer Loop and Preston Highway
Louisville, Kentucky

150,000 sq. ft.

John Shillito (1808-1879), known as "The Pioneer Mechant," came to Cincinnati in 1817 from his native Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Though only nine years old at the time, he almost immediately took a job with local merchants Blatchley & Simpson, where he worked until 1830. In that year, he left his employer and formed a partnership with William McLughlin. The dry goods business of Shillito & McLaughlin lasted about a year or so until Mr. McLughlin left and a new partnership was formed by Shillito and Messrs. Robert W. Burnett and James Pullen.

John Shillito

Cincinnati's Fourth Street in 1830

Shillito, Burnett & Pullen's business was such that a larger premises on the other side of Main Street between Fourth and Fifth streets was secured in 1833, but even this location was superseded when Shillito bought out his partners in 1837, and renaming the business John Shillito & Company. At this time the store moved to larger quarters on the north side of Fourth Street. Shillito's business was based on the slogan "Truth Always - Facts Only" and his reputation as not just an honest businessman but a dedicated Cincinnati citizen became widely known. In 1842, he gained sole ownership of the store, which dealt in the wholesale and retail trade.

The 1837 Store

Twenty years after the move to Fourth Street, in 1857, Shillito acquired property on the opposite side the street and erected a grand retail palace that his store occupied for a further 21 years. Competitor McAlpin's eventually took over the 5-story building after Shillito's vacated it.

Shillito's in 1857

By 1877, even the large Fourth Street store had outgrown the needs of the business and the city it served. Shillito acuired a site three blocks to the north, on the west side of Race street between Seventh Street George (Later Shillito Place) streets. Consequently Shillito erected a 6-story red brick Chicago-style commercial building that the Cincinnati Enquirer referred to as a "grand architectural pile" and featured a soaring octagonal light well capped by a dome with gothic details. The store required a staff of 1000 to operate.

John Shillito died suddenly at the age of 71 shortly after opening the new store. The man eulogized as "enterprising merchant, faithful friend, and honest man" left his business in the hands of his sons Walter, John, Jr., Stewart and Gordon, who had the business incorporated in 1882, and changed its formal name to The John Shillito Company. Stewart Shillito bought his brothers' share of the business by 1899, and discontinued its wholesale operation in 1913 so that the store could focus on the retail trade.

The big Shillito store of 1879

Bad times hit Shillito's in the 1920s, when a crash in the price of fabrics left the store overstocked with high-priced goods. In the ensuing years, the store's volume dropped such that its position among Cincinnati's major department stores fell from first to fourth place, and it was rumoured in Cincinnati that the business would not live to see its hundredth anniversary.

The Lazarus brothers of Columbus, Ohio, operated an extremely successful department store in Ohio's capitol city. Their mother hailed from Cincinnati, so they were intimately familiar with the city. By 1928, Shillito's store was described as "a terribly maintained building full of low-quality goods," and Stewart Shillito was able to negotiate a sale of the business to the Lazarus family. John Shillito, Jr., who had been running Shillito's at the time, immediately retired form the business and the Lazarus brothers embarked upon a major program of cleaning, expansion, and improvement.

Accordingly, the "new" Shillito's opened on November 11th, 1928, stocked with new merchandise and soon offering new features like a tea room and a "French Room" for ladies' designer apparel. For the actual grand opening gale, Shillito's provided seven orchestras (one playing on each floor of the store) and events that presaged the success that the revitalized business would find in CIncinnati in the years to come.

Shillito's experienced a revival under Lazarus ownership

In fact, Shillito's prospered during the depression years, and found itself again with a shortage of space in its 58-year old store. A major program of expansion culminated in 1937 with the unveiling of an enlarged "Greater Shillito's" with a modern Bedford limestone façade and seven-store addition extending as far west as Elm Street. A part of this new building was used for an innovation at the time: an indoor parking garage accommodating 250 cars.

Shillito's new face in 1937

After World War II, Shillito's built a new garage across Elm Street, kitty-corner from the store. The former garage space in the main building was converted to retail space, and the main floor of the garage itself, referred to as the "garage store" housed more sales space as Shillito's grew. in 1956 the garage was expanded and the top floor housed the offices of Shillito's parent company, Federated Department Stores, Inc.

To compete with this behemoth, Cincinnati's other department stores led in the race to open suburban branches while Shillito's remained a one-store operation. That all changed in 1960 when Shillito's opened its large, full-line store in the Tri-County Mall north of Cincinnati. When the city was ringed with branches opened in the years 1960-1969, the store expanded in to Kentucky by opening two stores in Louisville, one in Lexington, and a further branch in the Kentucky communities south of Cincinnati.

Federated deaprtment stores was involved in the Campeau debacle, and after recovering, went all out on a program of consolidation that eliminated many famous department store names across the country. First, Shillito's took over neigboring Dayton, Ohio's long-standing Rike-Kumler Co., clumsily renaming all stores Shillito-Rikes, and later combined with its one-time savior Lazarus, dropping the Shillito name altogether. Eventually, the remaining stores were known as Lazarus-Macy's until the Macy brand name was selected to adorn all of the stores owned by the former Federated organization.

The John Shillito Comany's Seventh and Race Street store was converted to apartments, and perhaps the only silver lining in the dedcline and fall of this famous name is that the ocatagonal atrium, closed up since early in the twentieth centurey, was restored to it's nineteenth century glory in the famous building's changeover to residential use.

MISCELLANY

Personal Shopper: Nancy Harper