Frederick & Nelson
Encyclopedia
Frederick & Nelson was a department store
chain in the northwestern United States
, based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acquired by Marshall Field & Company
in 1929. By 1980, the Frederick & Nelson chain had expanded to 10 stores, in two states (Washington and Oregon
), but the company went out of business in 1992. Its former Seattle flagship store building is now occupied by the flagship Nordstrom
store.
. They happened to connect shortly after Frederick arrived in Seattle on a steamer in 1890 and they pooled their resources to start a second-hand furniture business.
After setting up shop in several locations, the business was named J.G. Mecham and Company. Another mining pal arrived from Colorado and Nels B. Nelson, who was born in Sweden, purchased with cash a one-third interest in the business. Several months later Mecham sold his interest because of ill health. The name was changed to Frederick & Nelson and they vowed to create the largest and finest store west of the Mississippi
and north of San Francisco.
D.E. Frederick and Nels B. Nelson proved to be a natural team. Frederick had a keen instinct for merchandising and a high regard for service while Nelson's outgoing personality was the driving force for the store's success by making friends and forging partnerships. Early customers included the local Indians and a thriving populace fueled by the news that Seattle would become the western terminus for the Great Northern Railway.
In 1891, the partners acquired the Queen City Furniture Company and began selling new furniture. They proclaimed "What our customers want, we will give them. Service is our motto." Their sincerity was tested when just before closing time on a snowy Christmas Eve in 1890, a customer came in to purchase a second-hand rocker for his wife for Christmas, provided it was delivered that night. Frederick & Nelson both sloshed through the snow to the top of Denny Hill to deliver the heavy chair. This was the first delivery in the history of Frederick & Nelson. Legend has it that their first credit customer was an Indian woman who coveted a second-hand parlor stove. The stove was hers for weekly payments of berries, a woven mat and a sweet grass basket.
The Klondike Gold Rush
around the turn of the century fueled further growth of Seattle. There was a growing demand for fine furnishings in the blossoming hotel business as well as in the fine homes of the city's inhabitants. Their simple philosophy was that "If a customer asks for it, get it and if enough people want the same thing, start a department." There were departments for furniture, carpeting, housewares, china and draperies. They even had a mattress factory.
Munro was leery of rapid expansion and he soon parted company with Frederick & Nelson. Tragedy struck in 1907 when the ailing Nels Nelson was returning from a trip to a medical spa in Bohemia and died at sea. Frederick was left to run the entire operation.
Expansion plans floated in 1914 for a brand-new building six stories tall with a seventh floor in the basement. Despite a shortage of building materials that were needed elsewhere to fight the First World War, the building opened the day after Labor Day on September 3, 1918 at Pine Street and Fifth Avenue. Over 25,000 shoppers and guests made it through the doors that day. Frederick was forward-thinking enough to make the foundation strong enough to hold 10 stories. Even though businessmen and financiers branded the project "Frederick's Folly," his dream was finally realized three decades later.
In 1943, Frederick & Nelson opened a satellite store at Boeing
Field at the Boeing Airplane Company’s number 2 plant. They supported the war effort and built a loyalty among the airplane manufacturer’s 47,000 employees. Frederick’s also established a “Victory Post” on the main floor of the Seattle store, selling war bonds and stamps. Frederick’s was one of a handful of stores in the nation to receive a U.S. Treasury Department T-Flag. The T-Flag signified that over 90% of the employees invested at least 10 percent of their earnings in war bonds.
D.E. Frederick’s dreams for expansion of the original store at Pine Street and Fifth Avenue finally were realized when the grand re-opening was celebrated August 4, 1952. There were 10 floors above ground and two below. The building housed a beauty salon, post office, movie picture auditorium, a fully equipped medical facility and a nursery. There were reading and writing rooms and the large, elaborately furnished fifth-floor Tea Room could seat 400. On the tenth floor, the company built a modern candy kitchen that could turn out more than 500,000 pounds of Frango chocolate a year. Later a kindergarten and a children's barbershop were added. (The original Frederick & Nelson store reopened as Nordstrom
’s flagship store in 1998.)
By 1980, Frederick & Nelson had become one of the fastest growing stores in the nation, nearly quadrupling from four stores to 15. Marshall Field’s acquired three Liberty House
Stores in Portland
and two in Tacoma as well as six Lipman's stores in Oregon from the Dayton Hudson Corporation. They were all converted to Frederick & Nelson stores.
bought all of the outstanding stock of Marshall Field and Company. BATUS Retail Group now included Marshall Field’s, Saks Fifth Avenue
, Frederick and Nelson, Gimbels, Kohl's
and a number of other department stores. By the mid-1980s they were beginning to close the Oregon stores. One Oregon location at Washington Square
lasted until 1990.
BATUS sold the money-losing Frederick & Nelson to local investors in January 1986. Poor management decisions led to an over abundance of lower-priced, out-of-season merchandise and large investments in inventory at the wrong prices. No longer known for fashionable, high-end clothing, Frederick & Nelson proved ill-equipped to withstand competitive pressures, particularly when the Seattle area entered a recession in the late 1980s. Fading rapidly, the chain found itself in a fatal liquidity crisis and closed its doors for the last time in May 1992.
, the name Frango was first officially used on June 1, 1918. A popular item on the Tearoom menu was a frozen dessert called Frango and it was available in maple and orange flavors. The name probably originated by the combination of Fr from Frederick’s and the ango from the tango dance craze. In 1926, the consistency of the Frango Dessert was described as flaky, requiring the use of a fork, not a spoon, as you would use with ice cream. Eventually the Frango dessert line included pies, ice cream sodas and milk shakes. It was decided upon in 1928 or 1929 that Frederick’s should offer a chocolate mint truffle. Candy maker Ray Alden is credited with developing the Frango Mint. His secret recipe called for chocolate from cocoa beans grown on the African Coast and South America
, triple-distilled oil of Oregon
peppermint and 40 percent butter. A few months after Frederick sold out to Marshall Field
's in 1929, Frederick's candy makers in Seattle were summoned to Chicago
to introduce Frango chocolates to Marshall Field's to help build slumping sales during the Great Depression
. Soon, the candy kitchen at Marshall Field's had produced their own Mid-western interpretation of the Frango chocolate recipe.
Even after the store's demise, the F & N Frango lives on. In the Northwest
, they were sold in The Bon Marché
(now Macy's) as well as in Portland's Meier & Frank
. Frangos can still be found in Macy's
stores in Seattle in their familiar hexagonal box. In addition, they are still a favorite at the Macy's stores that were Marshall Field's.
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
chain in the northwestern United States
Northwestern United States
The Northwestern United States comprise the northwestern states up to the western Great Plains regions of the United States, and consistently include the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, to which part of southeast Alaska is also sometimes included...
, based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acquired by Marshall Field & Company
Marshall Field's
Marshall Field & Company was a department store in Chicago, Illinois that grew to become a major chain before being acquired by Macy's Inc...
in 1929. By 1980, the Frederick & Nelson chain had expanded to 10 stores, in two states (Washington and Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
), but the company went out of business in 1992. Its former Seattle flagship store building is now occupied by the flagship Nordstrom
Nordstrom
Nordstrom, Inc. is an upscale department store chain in the United States, founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. Initially a shoe retailer, the company today also sells clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and in some locations, home furnishings...
store.
History
Frederick & Nelson was the successor to a business founded by two partners, Donald E. Frederick and James Mecham, who had been mining pals back in ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. They happened to connect shortly after Frederick arrived in Seattle on a steamer in 1890 and they pooled their resources to start a second-hand furniture business.
After setting up shop in several locations, the business was named J.G. Mecham and Company. Another mining pal arrived from Colorado and Nels B. Nelson, who was born in Sweden, purchased with cash a one-third interest in the business. Several months later Mecham sold his interest because of ill health. The name was changed to Frederick & Nelson and they vowed to create the largest and finest store west of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and north of San Francisco.
D.E. Frederick and Nels B. Nelson proved to be a natural team. Frederick had a keen instinct for merchandising and a high regard for service while Nelson's outgoing personality was the driving force for the store's success by making friends and forging partnerships. Early customers included the local Indians and a thriving populace fueled by the news that Seattle would become the western terminus for the Great Northern Railway.
In 1891, the partners acquired the Queen City Furniture Company and began selling new furniture. They proclaimed "What our customers want, we will give them. Service is our motto." Their sincerity was tested when just before closing time on a snowy Christmas Eve in 1890, a customer came in to purchase a second-hand rocker for his wife for Christmas, provided it was delivered that night. Frederick & Nelson both sloshed through the snow to the top of Denny Hill to deliver the heavy chair. This was the first delivery in the history of Frederick & Nelson. Legend has it that their first credit customer was an Indian woman who coveted a second-hand parlor stove. The stove was hers for weekly payments of berries, a woven mat and a sweet grass basket.
The Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
around the turn of the century fueled further growth of Seattle. There was a growing demand for fine furnishings in the blossoming hotel business as well as in the fine homes of the city's inhabitants. Their simple philosophy was that "If a customer asks for it, get it and if enough people want the same thing, start a department." There were departments for furniture, carpeting, housewares, china and draperies. They even had a mattress factory.
Munro was leery of rapid expansion and he soon parted company with Frederick & Nelson. Tragedy struck in 1907 when the ailing Nels Nelson was returning from a trip to a medical spa in Bohemia and died at sea. Frederick was left to run the entire operation.
Expansion plans floated in 1914 for a brand-new building six stories tall with a seventh floor in the basement. Despite a shortage of building materials that were needed elsewhere to fight the First World War, the building opened the day after Labor Day on September 3, 1918 at Pine Street and Fifth Avenue. Over 25,000 shoppers and guests made it through the doors that day. Frederick was forward-thinking enough to make the foundation strong enough to hold 10 stories. Even though businessmen and financiers branded the project "Frederick's Folly," his dream was finally realized three decades later.
Marshall Field's
At the age of 69, D.E. Frederick decided to retire and sell the store to the Marshall Field Company in 1929 for six million dollars. He was most impressed with the policies of Marshall Field and had even patterned Frederick & Nelson after Marshall Field and Company. They signed a 99-year lease on the property that would pay Frederick (and later his estate) $100,000 a year.In 1943, Frederick & Nelson opened a satellite store at Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
Field at the Boeing Airplane Company’s number 2 plant. They supported the war effort and built a loyalty among the airplane manufacturer’s 47,000 employees. Frederick’s also established a “Victory Post” on the main floor of the Seattle store, selling war bonds and stamps. Frederick’s was one of a handful of stores in the nation to receive a U.S. Treasury Department T-Flag. The T-Flag signified that over 90% of the employees invested at least 10 percent of their earnings in war bonds.
D.E. Frederick’s dreams for expansion of the original store at Pine Street and Fifth Avenue finally were realized when the grand re-opening was celebrated August 4, 1952. There were 10 floors above ground and two below. The building housed a beauty salon, post office, movie picture auditorium, a fully equipped medical facility and a nursery. There were reading and writing rooms and the large, elaborately furnished fifth-floor Tea Room could seat 400. On the tenth floor, the company built a modern candy kitchen that could turn out more than 500,000 pounds of Frango chocolate a year. Later a kindergarten and a children's barbershop were added. (The original Frederick & Nelson store reopened as Nordstrom
Nordstrom
Nordstrom, Inc. is an upscale department store chain in the United States, founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. Initially a shoe retailer, the company today also sells clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and in some locations, home furnishings...
’s flagship store in 1998.)
By 1980, Frederick & Nelson had become one of the fastest growing stores in the nation, nearly quadrupling from four stores to 15. Marshall Field’s acquired three Liberty House
Liberty House
Liberty House, headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, was a department store and specialty store chain with locations throughout the Hawaiian Islands and on Guam, as well as several locations on the mainland U.S.-History:...
Stores in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
and two in Tacoma as well as six Lipman's stores in Oregon from the Dayton Hudson Corporation. They were all converted to Frederick & Nelson stores.
Demise
Ownership would change three more times in the next nine years as business went on a downward spiral. Management changes occurred in 1982 when BATUS Inc. of Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
bought all of the outstanding stock of Marshall Field and Company. BATUS Retail Group now included Marshall Field’s, Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...
, Frederick and Nelson, Gimbels, Kohl's
Kohl's
Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating , 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500...
and a number of other department stores. By the mid-1980s they were beginning to close the Oregon stores. One Oregon location at Washington Square
Washington Square, Oregon
Washington Square is a shopping mall in the city of Tigard, Oregon, United States. Located in the Portland metropolitan area along Oregon Route 217, the shopping complex is one of the top grossing malls per square foot in the United States, with sales of $716/ft²...
lasted until 1990.
BATUS sold the money-losing Frederick & Nelson to local investors in January 1986. Poor management decisions led to an over abundance of lower-priced, out-of-season merchandise and large investments in inventory at the wrong prices. No longer known for fashionable, high-end clothing, Frederick & Nelson proved ill-equipped to withstand competitive pressures, particularly when the Seattle area entered a recession in the late 1980s. Fading rapidly, the chain found itself in a fatal liquidity crisis and closed its doors for the last time in May 1992.
Frango
Frango's exact year of creation and the origin of the name have been lost to history. According to a trademark document from the U.S. Patent OfficeUnited States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
, the name Frango was first officially used on June 1, 1918. A popular item on the Tearoom menu was a frozen dessert called Frango and it was available in maple and orange flavors. The name probably originated by the combination of Fr from Frederick’s and the ango from the tango dance craze. In 1926, the consistency of the Frango Dessert was described as flaky, requiring the use of a fork, not a spoon, as you would use with ice cream. Eventually the Frango dessert line included pies, ice cream sodas and milk shakes. It was decided upon in 1928 or 1929 that Frederick’s should offer a chocolate mint truffle. Candy maker Ray Alden is credited with developing the Frango Mint. His secret recipe called for chocolate from cocoa beans grown on the African Coast and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, triple-distilled oil of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
peppermint and 40 percent butter. A few months after Frederick sold out to Marshall Field
Marshall Field
Marshall Field was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores.-Life and career:...
's in 1929, Frederick's candy makers in Seattle were summoned to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to introduce Frango chocolates to Marshall Field's to help build slumping sales during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Soon, the candy kitchen at Marshall Field's had produced their own Mid-western interpretation of the Frango chocolate recipe.
Even after the store's demise, the F & N Frango lives on. In the Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
, they were sold in The Bon Marché
The Bon Marché
The Bon Marché, whose name means "the good deal" or "the good market", was the name chosen for a department store launched in Seattle, Washington, United States, in 1890 by Edward Nordhoff. The name comes from Le Bon Marché, a noted Paris retailer and one of the world's first department stores,...
(now Macy's) as well as in Portland's Meier & Frank
Meier & Frank
Meier & Frank was a chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, and later bought out by the May Department Stores Company. Meier & Frank operated in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006.-History:Summary...
. Frangos can still be found in Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
stores in Seattle in their familiar hexagonal box. In addition, they are still a favorite at the Macy's stores that were Marshall Field's.
Further reading
- PDXHistory.com
- The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History 2001 essay by David Wilma
- The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History 2002 essay by founder's great grandson Gordon Padelford
- Seattle Daily Journal of CommerceSeattle Daily Journal of CommerceThe Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce is a daily newspaper based in Seattle. Specializing in business, construction, real estate, and legal news and public notices, it began publication in 1895 as the Bulletin, later the Daily Bulletin and the Seattle Daily Bulletin...
archives - Mourning Frederick's the Great: Patrons and employees remember the store as the 'ultimate in luxury', Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 22, 1992.
- Spector, Robert. More Than A Store: Frederick & Nelson 1890 to 1990. Bellevue: Documentary Book Publishers Corp., 1990.
- R.L. Polk & Co. : Seattle City Directory 1942 - 1993
- R.L. Polk & Co. : Spokane City Directory 1942 - 1993
- The Seattle TimesThe Seattle TimesThe Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
Archives (1984 - 1993)