Simon Lazarus
Encyclopedia
Lazarus (department store)
F&R Lazarus & Company — commonly known as Lazarus — was a regional department store retail chain operating primarily in the U.S. Midwest, and based in Columbus, Ohio...
, an operation which blossomed into what is today known as Macy's, Inc
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....
, a major retail holding company in the U.S. In 1850, Lazarus, a rabbinical scholar, arrived in Columbus, and in 1851 he opened the Lazarus
Lazarus (department store)
F&R Lazarus & Company — commonly known as Lazarus — was a regional department store retail chain operating primarily in the U.S. Midwest, and based in Columbus, Ohio...
store. Assisted by his wife Amelia and sons Fred and Ralph, Simon and his store gradually began to prosper. Simon Lazarus was once described as "a good man, a gentle man, a scholar--and no merchant,"--and Simon's own grandson, the late Robert Lazarus, Sr., was the man who said it. By 1870, industry improvements (primarily attributable to the mass manufacture of men's uniforms for the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
), led the family to expand the business to include ready-made men's civilian clothing and eventually a complete line of merchandise. Simon Lazarus served as the first Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
of Central Ohio's oldest Reform synagogue, Temple Israel
Temple Israel (Columbus, Ohio)
Temple Israel is the oldest synagogue in Columbus, Ohio, and a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism. Formed as early as 1846 as the Orthodox Bene Jeshurun congregation, its first religious leader was Simon Lazarus, a clothing merchant who founded what would become Lazarus department...
.
Later Simon sons, Fred Lazarus, Sr. and Ralph Lazarus, joined the business, adding many innovative marketing techniques. After Simon's death in 1877, his widow Amelia continued running the store with their two sons. After Amelia's death in 1899, the store was renamed The F&R Lazarus & Company
Lazarus (department store)
F&R Lazarus & Company — commonly known as Lazarus — was a regional department store retail chain operating primarily in the U.S. Midwest, and based in Columbus, Ohio...
and positioned the company for rapid expansion of the company. In 1928, the company purchased The John Shillito Company
John Shillito Company
John Shillito & Co. was Cincinnati's first department store. It was founded by John Shillito and William McLaughlin in 1832 as "McLaughlin & Shillito", but their partnership soon broke up. In 1857, Shillito, now operating on his own, built a store on Fourth Street, designed by James W. McLaughlin...
department store in Cincinnati. In 1929, Federated Department Stores
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....
, Inc., was organized in Columbus, Ohio, as a holding company for founding members F&R Lazarus & Company
Lazarus (department store)
F&R Lazarus & Company — commonly known as Lazarus — was a regional department store retail chain operating primarily in the U.S. Midwest, and based in Columbus, Ohio...
, its subsidiary The John Shillito Company
John Shillito Company
John Shillito & Co. was Cincinnati's first department store. It was founded by John Shillito and William McLaughlin in 1832 as "McLaughlin & Shillito", but their partnership soon broke up. In 1857, Shillito, now operating on his own, built a store on Fourth Street, designed by James W. McLaughlin...
, William Filene's Sons & Company
Filene's
Filene's was a Boston-based department store owned by Federated Department Stores , and May Department Stores . It operated throughout New England and in New York.-Early years:...
and Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, in 1929 it became part of Federated Department Stores, which eliminated the A&S brand shortly after its 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company...
department stores. The group was led by Fred Lazarus, Jr.
Fred Lazarus, Jr.
Fred R. Lazarus, Jr. was the Jewish-American founder of Federated Department Stores . Born in Columbus, Ohio, Fred, the second of four brothers , grew up working in his family's store, F...
, whose namesake company was by then the dominant retail store in Columbus.
The Lazarus family pioneered many shopping firsts such as the concept of "one low price" (in which no bargain
Bargain
Bargain could mean some of the following:* The process whereby buyer and seller agree the price of goods or services. See bargaining.* An agreement to exchange goods at a price.* Such an agreement where one of the parties thinks the price is very favourable....
ing was required); theirs was also the first department store with escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
s and the first air conditioned store in the country. The family also successfully lobbied President Franklin Roosevelt to permanently set the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
, thereby ensuring a longer Christmas shopping season in those years in which November had 5 Thursdays.
Biographical information
- Many Happy Returns to Lazarus WOSU-TV Documentary
- Charles Lazarus Interview Columbus Jewish Historical Society
- Former Lazarus Chairman and Federated Director Charles Lazarus Dies at Age 93, Columbus Dispatch, May 14, 2007
- Charles Lazarus Recalled as Retail and Civic Leader, Columbus Dispatch, May 15, 2007
- Temple Israel Columbus History
- Best of times: Staffers remember when work seemed like a family, Columbus Business First, December 21, 2001
- Biography of Ralph Lazarus (1914 - 1988) University of Cincinnati
- Great Living Cincinnatians: Fred Lazarus, Jr. Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
- Prospecting Pays Time Magazine, December 9, 1946
- Shuffling the Lazari Time Magazine, September 29, 1967
- Time to Get Involved Time Magazine, January 19, 1968
- Personalities Time Magazine, April 3, 1964
- Family Affair Time Magazine, September 8, 1958
- How Much is Enough? Time Magazine, July 16, 1945
- Obituary of Philanthropist and New York Yankees Owner Charlotte Lazarus New York Times
- Interview with Charlotte Lazarus Witkind Columbus Jewish Historical Society
Other
- History of Federated Department Stores
- WOSU-TV Documentary: Many Happy Returns to Lazarus Documentary
- Business First Article: Staffers Remember When Work Seemed Like a Family
- Business First Article: So Long, Lazarus
- Columbus Dispatch Article: Name Change Hurt Macy's: Decision to drop ‘Lazarus’ not a hit here