Miller & Rhoads
Encyclopedia
Miller & Rhoads was a Virginia
-based department store
chain. Throughout its 105 year life-span, the store played an active role in the Richmond
community, along with its friendly cross-street rival Thalhimers
.
Simon Gerhart relocated to Lynchburg, Virginia
in 1890 and opened his own store there. It was at this time that the nameplate of the Richmond store changed to Miller & Rhoads. By 1909, the Richmond Broad Street store covered nearly half a city block, and by 1924, it covered an entire block, stretching from Broad to Grace Street.
During the middle part of the 20th century, the growth of Miller & Rhoads in Richmond was at its peak. The store was home to the ever-popular Tea Room, which featured regular fashion shows, and signature menu items such as the Missouri Club, Brunswick stew, and chocolate silk pie.
As time progressed, Miller & Rhoads began to boast modern conveniences like a 1,000 car parking garage (shared with Thalhimers), air conditioning and escalators. The store also hosted famous writers, art exhibits and other community events that helped add a cosmopolitan flair to the city.
For many years, Miller & Rhoads' Santa was purported to be "the real Santa Claus." A number of actors, many featuring a snowy white real beard, portrayed Santa. The man widely considered to be the best of the Santas was killed in a car accident in the late 1950s.
Miller & Rhoads' Santas included stage and screen actor (and Richmond native) Hansford Rowe
in the late 1950s and 1960s. When Hansford Rowe relinquished the role in the 1960s, his brother Dan Rowe took over the role of Santa, and still performs it in the modern day version of Santaland.
Arthur Hood took on the role in the late 1960s and through the 1970s. His wife, Frances, made his velvet costumes by hand. The Snow Queen would chat with waiting children, asking them their name. This fed into an ear piece worn by Santa, who could then greet each child by name.
Santaland became so much a part of the Richmond store's folklore that the company began doing commercials with the tagline "Miller & Rhoads - Where Christmas is a Legend"
Even now, years after Miller & Rhoads closed its doors, Santa Claus still holds court in downtown Richmond, first shifting to Thalhimers in 1990, then to the Sixth Street Marketplace (more below) after Thalhimers closed, and currently sees children at the Children's Museum of Richmond each holiday season.
The real magic of the Miller & Rhoads' Santas was that they "somehow" knew every child's name - greeting them by name as they walked up to him - a tradition that lives on today. Stories exist of parents who've driven their children to Richmond from as far away as Texas - or grandparents who've flown their grandchilden from Colorado just to see THIS Santa.
and Roanoke
. The stores were full-line, multi-level operations that were traditional in design and included many features popular at the Richmnond store, like the Tea Room.
By the late 1960s, the chain also added new suburban stores at Southside Plaza and Willow Lawn in Richmond, Walnut Plaza in Petersburg
, Newmarket Shopping Center in Newport News
, Southern Shopping Center in Norfolk
, Pembroke Mall
in Virginia Beach
, Barracks Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville, Pittman Plaza in Lynchburg and Roanoke-Salem Plaza in Roanoke. Generally, the first wave of Miller & Rhoads' suburban expansion was smaller specialty stores that focused on family apparel, primarily ladies' ready-to-wear.
In 1967, Miller & Rhoads merged with Washington, DC-based department store Julius Garfinkel & Co
and New York-based specialty chain Brooks Brothers
to form Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc.
.
In the mid-1970s, Miller & Rhoads opened three large stores in new shopping malls Regency Square and Chesterfield Mall in suburban Richmond and Newmarket North Mall
in Hampton, with the latter relocating from a shopping center across the street. It also opened a number of specialty stores in Roanoke and Portsmouth, Virginia
and Greensboro
, Charlotte
, Raleigh
and Fayetteville, North Carolina
.
Miller & Rhoads continued to expand to other cities in Virginia and North Carolina
into the early 1980s, relocating its downtown Lynchburg and Charlottesville stores into shopping malls and opening large new locations at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach and Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake
.
Even as its stores grew more contemporary, the chain adhered to many old traditions. Miller & Rhoads stores almost always had engraved metal name plaques at their entrances, even on mall entrances. An early 1980s redesign of the store logo featured curvaceous script reminiscent of calligraphy.
in 1982. This marked a low point in the chain's history, as Allied closed many of the smaller stores, exiting the North Carolina market except for Raleigh, and began to neglect the maintenance on its larger stores in an effort to cut operating costs. Allied opened a small number of new, larger locations in Virginia. The downtown Roanoke store was closed in this period and replaced by a store at Valley View Mall.
In an effort to revitalize the decaying downtown Richmond retail core, the city government, Miller & Rhoads, and Thalhimers teamed together in 1985 in the development of the Sixth Street Marketplace, an urban shopping center that took the place of the street that separated the two stores. Though it started out relatively popular, the downtown mall did not remain a success, and was razed by 2004. Miller & Rhoads' suburban stores continued to grow, but the downtown store's sales were generally stagnant with the exception of the Christmas season.
In 1987, following its own ill-fated buyout by Campeau
Corp., Allied sold Miller & Rhoads to Philadelphia
developer Kevin Donohue and store management, who began to renovate stores and plan a major expansion. At the time, Miller & Rhoads numbered 21 stores.
Only two years later, in 1989, the company's future was dimming. Faced with increasing competition from stores like Leggett
and Hess's
and dwindling finances, Miller & Rhoads filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and by 1990, all Miller & Rhoads stores closed their doors for good.
The May Department Stores Company purchased four of Miller & Rhoads' larger suburban units in Richmond and Hampton Roads for about $22.7 million and reopened them as Hecht's
in late 1990. May would in turn take over Thalhimers that same year and eventually combine that chain with Hecht's as well.
At both Regency Square and Lynnhaven Mall, Hecht's would operate 2 stores, one each in the former Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers spaces. Hecht's eventually consolidated its Lynnhaven Mall stores into a single location, but at Regency Square, both stores were occupied by the chain until September 2006 when the Hecht's name was replaced with Macy's
.
Many of the remaining former Miller & Rhoads stores were converted to department stores like Montgomery Ward
, Stone & Thomas
and Value City
or subdivided for other retail uses, while some were turned into offices and others demolished.
In 2006, work began to convert the long shuttered Miller & Rhoads flagship store in downtown Richmond into a hotel and residential spaces. The old department store is now home to a 250-room Hilton Garden Inn
and 130 apartments or condominiums. The $100 million project is being overseen by Richmond's Broad Street Community Development Authority.
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
-based department store
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. Throughout its 105 year life-span, the store played an active role in the Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
community, along with its friendly cross-street rival Thalhimers
Thalhimer's
Thalhimers was a department store in the Southern United States. Based in Richmond, Virginia, the venerable chain at its peak operated dozens of stores in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and one store in Memphis, Tennessee....
.
Origins
In 1885, Linton Miller, Webster Rhoads, and Simon Gerhart opened a dry goods store in Richmond, Virginia. The store—Miller, Rhoads, & Gerhart—opened with an initial investment of $3,000. In 1888, Miller, Rhoads, & Gerhart moved to 509 E. Broad Street.Simon Gerhart relocated to Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
in 1890 and opened his own store there. It was at this time that the nameplate of the Richmond store changed to Miller & Rhoads. By 1909, the Richmond Broad Street store covered nearly half a city block, and by 1924, it covered an entire block, stretching from Broad to Grace Street.
During the middle part of the 20th century, the growth of Miller & Rhoads in Richmond was at its peak. The store was home to the ever-popular Tea Room, which featured regular fashion shows, and signature menu items such as the Missouri Club, Brunswick stew, and chocolate silk pie.
As time progressed, Miller & Rhoads began to boast modern conveniences like a 1,000 car parking garage (shared with Thalhimers), air conditioning and escalators. The store also hosted famous writers, art exhibits and other community events that helped add a cosmopolitan flair to the city.
Santaland and the "real" Santa Claus
Every Christmas season, a room on the 7th floor of Miller & Rhoads transformed into a magic wonderland called Santaland. The room was dimly lit, but thousands of tiny, white lights gave the appearance of night stars overhead. Woodland scenes with lifelike, animated animals were strategically placed throughout the room. Fully decorated trees adorned a path leading to the beautiful stage. Onstage were a huge fireplace, a Christmas tree, and a golden chair with a red velvet back and seat where Santa Claus sat.For many years, Miller & Rhoads' Santa was purported to be "the real Santa Claus." A number of actors, many featuring a snowy white real beard, portrayed Santa. The man widely considered to be the best of the Santas was killed in a car accident in the late 1950s.
Miller & Rhoads' Santas included stage and screen actor (and Richmond native) Hansford Rowe
Hansford Rowe
Hansford Rowe is an American character actor who has starred in films and on television. He has been known to play ministers in some of his roles....
in the late 1950s and 1960s. When Hansford Rowe relinquished the role in the 1960s, his brother Dan Rowe took over the role of Santa, and still performs it in the modern day version of Santaland.
Arthur Hood took on the role in the late 1960s and through the 1970s. His wife, Frances, made his velvet costumes by hand. The Snow Queen would chat with waiting children, asking them their name. This fed into an ear piece worn by Santa, who could then greet each child by name.
Santaland became so much a part of the Richmond store's folklore that the company began doing commercials with the tagline "Miller & Rhoads - Where Christmas is a Legend"
Even now, years after Miller & Rhoads closed its doors, Santa Claus still holds court in downtown Richmond, first shifting to Thalhimers in 1990, then to the Sixth Street Marketplace (more below) after Thalhimers closed, and currently sees children at the Children's Museum of Richmond each holiday season.
The real magic of the Miller & Rhoads' Santas was that they "somehow" knew every child's name - greeting them by name as they walked up to him - a tradition that lives on today. Stories exist of parents who've driven their children to Richmond from as far away as Texas - or grandparents who've flown their grandchilden from Colorado just to see THIS Santa.
Postwar expansion
Between 1956 and 1960, Miller & Rhoads began to expand, opening stores in downtown Lynchburg, CharlottesvilleCharlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
and Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
. The stores were full-line, multi-level operations that were traditional in design and included many features popular at the Richmnond store, like the Tea Room.
By the late 1960s, the chain also added new suburban stores at Southside Plaza and Willow Lawn in Richmond, Walnut Plaza in Petersburg
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
, Newmarket Shopping Center in Newport News
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
, Southern Shopping Center in Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, Pembroke Mall
Pembroke Mall
Pembroke Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. Opened in March 1966 as the first shopping mall in the Hampton Roads MSA, it comprises more than 100 stores, including anchor stores Kohl's, Sears and Stein Mart, as well as a food court, and a movie...
in Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
, Barracks Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville, Pittman Plaza in Lynchburg and Roanoke-Salem Plaza in Roanoke. Generally, the first wave of Miller & Rhoads' suburban expansion was smaller specialty stores that focused on family apparel, primarily ladies' ready-to-wear.
In 1967, Miller & Rhoads merged with Washington, DC-based department store Julius Garfinkel & Co
Garfinckel's
Garfinckel's was a prominent department store chain based in Washington, D.C., that catered to a clientele of wealthy consumers. It declared Chapter 11, in June 1990, and ceased operations in 1990.-History:...
and New York-based specialty chain Brooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers is the oldest men's clothier chain in the United States. Founded in 1818 as a family business, the privately owned company is now owned by Retail Brand Alliance, also features clothing for women, and is headquartered on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.-History:On April 7,...
to form Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc.
Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc.
Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc. was a Washington, D.C.-based national retail conglomerate that existed from 1967 to 1981.-History:...
.
The suburban age
After successfully opening smaller suburban locations, Miller & Rhoads set its sites on large stores in regional malls. However, its first attempt at a larger store in the suburban Richmond market was thwarted because of a clause in a lease on an existing location. Because of a section in their lease at Southside Plaza that prevented additional locations within five miles of that shopping center, Miller & Rhoads was unable to be an anchor at Cloverleaf Mall, Richmond’s first large regional mall, which was only four miles away.In the mid-1970s, Miller & Rhoads opened three large stores in new shopping malls Regency Square and Chesterfield Mall in suburban Richmond and Newmarket North Mall
Newmarket North Mall
Newmarket North Mall was a mall located in Hampton, Virginia that opened in 1975. Its three anchors were Miller & Rhoads, Leggett and Sears.In 1989, Goodman Segar Hogan bought the property and began a two-year, $9 million renovation and expansion project...
in Hampton, with the latter relocating from a shopping center across the street. It also opened a number of specialty stores in Roanoke and Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
and Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
, Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
and Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
.
Miller & Rhoads continued to expand to other cities in Virginia and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
into the early 1980s, relocating its downtown Lynchburg and Charlottesville stores into shopping malls and opening large new locations at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach and Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake
Chesapeake, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 199,184 people, 69,900 households, and 54,172 families residing in the city. The population density was 584.6 people per square mile . There were 72,672 housing units at an average density of 213.3 per square mile...
.
Even as its stores grew more contemporary, the chain adhered to many old traditions. Miller & Rhoads stores almost always had engraved metal name plaques at their entrances, even on mall entrances. An early 1980s redesign of the store logo featured curvaceous script reminiscent of calligraphy.
The beginning of the end, and new beginnings
The Garfinkel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads company was acquired by Allied StoresAllied Stores
Allied Stores was a department store chain 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's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928...
in 1982. This marked a low point in the chain's history, as Allied closed many of the smaller stores, exiting the North Carolina market except for Raleigh, and began to neglect the maintenance on its larger stores in an effort to cut operating costs. Allied opened a small number of new, larger locations in Virginia. The downtown Roanoke store was closed in this period and replaced by a store at Valley View Mall.
In an effort to revitalize the decaying downtown Richmond retail core, the city government, Miller & Rhoads, and Thalhimers teamed together in 1985 in the development of the Sixth Street Marketplace, an urban shopping center that took the place of the street that separated the two stores. Though it started out relatively popular, the downtown mall did not remain a success, and was razed by 2004. Miller & Rhoads' suburban stores continued to grow, but the downtown store's sales were generally stagnant with the exception of the Christmas season.
In 1987, following its own ill-fated buyout by Campeau
Campeau
Campeau may refer to:* Charles-Édouard Campeau , politician* Frank Campeau , actor* Jean Campeau , businessman and politician* Lucien Campeau , cardiologist* Robert Campeau , businessman...
Corp., Allied sold Miller & Rhoads to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
developer Kevin Donohue and store management, who began to renovate stores and plan a major expansion. At the time, Miller & Rhoads numbered 21 stores.
Only two years later, in 1989, the company's future was dimming. Faced with increasing competition from stores like Leggett
Belk
Belk is a department store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South via the chain in the USA, with its stores primarily located in the...
and Hess's
Hess's
Hess's was a department store chain based in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania in the United States.- History :The department store known as Hess Brothers was founded on February 19, 1897, by Charles and Max Hess. Max Hess came to Allentown in 1896 on a business trip and envisioned a...
and dwindling finances, Miller & Rhoads filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and by 1990, all Miller & Rhoads stores closed their doors for good.
The May Department Stores Company purchased four of Miller & Rhoads' larger suburban units in Richmond and Hampton Roads for about $22.7 million and reopened them as Hecht's
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 and southern region of the United States....
in late 1990. May would in turn take over Thalhimers that same year and eventually combine that chain with Hecht's as well.
At both Regency Square and Lynnhaven Mall, Hecht's would operate 2 stores, one each in the former Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers spaces. Hecht's eventually consolidated its Lynnhaven Mall stores into a single location, but at Regency Square, both stores were occupied by the chain until September 2006 when the Hecht's name was replaced with 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...
.
Many of the remaining former Miller & Rhoads stores were converted to department stores like Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
, Stone & Thomas
Stone & Thomas
Stone & Thomas was a United States chain of department stores. Based in Wheeling, West Virginia, the chain had stores located in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. The company was bought out in 1998 by Elder-Beerman, an Ohio-based chain of department stores.-History:Stone and Thomas was...
and Value City
Value City
Value City was an American discount department store chain with 113 locations. It was founded in 1917 by Ephraim Schottenstein, a travelling salesman in central Ohio. The store was an off-price retailer that sold clothing, jewelry, and home goods below the manufacturer suggested retail price...
or subdivided for other retail uses, while some were turned into offices and others demolished.
In 2006, work began to convert the long shuttered Miller & Rhoads flagship store in downtown Richmond into a hotel and residential spaces. The old department store is now home to a 250-room Hilton Garden Inn
Hilton Garden Inn
Hilton Garden Inn is a chain of hotels trademarked by the Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Garden Inns are considered to be upscale mid-priced hotels that are designed for both business and leisure travelers. The hotel brand is similar to that of the Courtyard by Marriott brand, a key competitor...
and 130 apartments or condominiums. The $100 million project is being overseen by Richmond's Broad Street Community Development Authority.