Maison Blanche Department Stores

Maison Blanche Department Stores PDF Author: Edward J. Branley
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738588179
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
On October 30, 1897, S.J. Shwartz, Gus Schullhoefer, and Hartwig D. Newman--with financial backing from banker Isidore Newman--opened the Maison Blanche at the corner of Canal Street and Rue Dauphine in New Orleans. Converting Shwartz's dry goods store into the city's first department store, the trio created a retail brand whose name lasted over a century. In 1908, Shwartz tore his store down and built what was the city's largest building--13 stories, with his Maison Blanche occupying the first five floors. The MB Building became, and still is, a New Orleans icon, and Maison Blanche was a retail leader in the city, attracting some of the best and brightest people in the business. One of those employees, display manager Emile Alline, created the store's second icon, the Christmas character "Mr. Bingle," in 1947. Mr. Bingle continues to spark the imagination of New Orleans children of all ages. Even though Maison Blanche has become part of New Orleans's past, the landmark Canal Street store lives on as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Maison Blanche Department Stores

Maison Blanche Department Stores PDF Author: Edward J. Branley
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738588179
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
On October 30, 1897, S.J. Shwartz, Gus Schullhoefer, and Hartwig D. Newman--with financial backing from banker Isidore Newman--opened the Maison Blanche at the corner of Canal Street and Rue Dauphine in New Orleans. Converting Shwartz's dry goods store into the city's first department store, the trio created a retail brand whose name lasted over a century. In 1908, Shwartz tore his store down and built what was the city's largest building--13 stories, with his Maison Blanche occupying the first five floors. The MB Building became, and still is, a New Orleans icon, and Maison Blanche was a retail leader in the city, attracting some of the best and brightest people in the business. One of those employees, display manager Emile Alline, created the store's second icon, the Christmas character "Mr. Bingle," in 1947. Mr. Bingle continues to spark the imagination of New Orleans children of all ages. Even though Maison Blanche has become part of New Orleans's past, the landmark Canal Street store lives on as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

We Were Merchants

We Were Merchants PDF Author: Hans J. Sternberg
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807142247
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
The words "Goudchaux's/Maison Blanche" conjure up a wealth of fond memories for local shoppers. At this landmark Louisiana department store, clerks greeted you by name; children received a nickel to buy a Coke and for every report-card A; families anticipated the holiday arrival of the beloved puppet Mr. Bingle almost as much as Santa; teenagers applied for their first job; and customers enjoyed interest-free charge accounts and personal assistance selecting attire and gifts for the most significant occasions in life -- baptisms, funerals, and everything in between. While most former patrons have a favorite story to tell about Goudchaux's/Maison Blanche, not many know the personal tale behind this beloved institution. In We Were Merchants, Hans Sternberg provides a captivating account of how his parents, Erich and Lea, fled from Nazi Germany to the United States, embraced their new home, and together with their children built Goudchaux's into a Baton Rouge legend that eventually became Goudchaux's/Maison Blanche -- an independent retail force during the golden era of the department store and, by 1989, the largest family-owned department store in America. With a mercantile line extending back five generations to a small shop in eighteenth-century Germany, the Sternbergs were born to be shopkeepers. In 1936, as Nazi harassment of Jews intensified, Erich smuggled $24,000 out of Germany and settled in Baton Rouge. His wife and three children joined him a year later, and in 1939, Erich bought Goudchaux's and set about transforming it from a nondescript apparel shop into a true department store. He made buying trips to New York for quality fashions and furs, introduced imaginative sales promotions, and coached his staff in impeccable customer service, while also training his children to follow in his footsteps. Hans details the manifold challenges of operating the store -- from planning financial strategies and creating marketing campaigns to implementing desegregation and accommodating the repeal of blue laws. Through many transforming events -- Erich's death in 1965, expansion into suburban shopping malls, the purchase in the 1980s of New Orleans retail icon Maison Blanche -- the Sternbergs successfully maintained the company's core values: quality merchandise, employee loyalty, and superior customer service. At its height, Goudchaux's/Maison Blanche operated twenty-four stores in Louisiana and Florida and employed more than 8,000 people. With the economic downturn of the early 1990s, Hans made the difficult decision to sell the business, thus bringing to an end the Sternbergs' centuries-long mercantile tradition. Supplementing the fascinating narrative are the recollections of former customers and employees, a wealth of pertinent photos, and even Hans's tried-and-true guidelines for negotiating a business transaction. At once a family, business, and community story, We Were Merchants richly recalls a bygone era when department stores were near-magical wonderlands and family businesses commanded the retail landscape.

We Were Merchants

We Were Merchants PDF Author: Hans J. Sternberg
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807142239
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
"While most former patrons have a favorite story to tell about Goudchaux?s/Maison Blanche, not many know the personal tale behind this beloved institution. In We Were Merchants, Hans Sternberg provides a captivating account of how his parents, Erich and Lea, fled from Nazi Germany to the United States, embraced their new home, and together with their children built Goudchaux?s into a Baton Rouge legend that eventually became Goudchaux?s/Maison Blanche?an independent retail force during the golden era of the department store and, by 1989, the largest family-owned department store in America"--P. [2] of cover.

Service and Style

Service and Style PDF Author: Jan Whitaker
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312326357
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
Publisher Description

Krauss: The New Orleans Value Store

Krauss: The New Orleans Value Store PDF Author: Edward J. Branley
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625858620
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
Gumbo -- Shopping on Canal -- Krauss Department Store -- Treme, Storyville and Creoles -- Heymann at the helm -- Krauss at war -- Expansion and boom -- Fabrics, foundations and food -- Canal Street versus shopping malls -- The end of an era.

Canal Street

Canal Street PDF Author:
Publisher: Pelican Publishing
ISBN: 9781455601882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Ext: general view.

Dainty Dining

Dainty Dining PDF Author: Angela Webster McRae
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780615533452
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
Dainty Dining gives readers a glimpse inside some of the department store tea rooms of yesteryear, where the customers enjoyed such classics as Frozen Fruit Salad, Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Salad and Wellesley Fudge Cake. Features recipes and images from 20 flagship department stores!

Saving Mr. Bingle

Saving Mr. Bingle PDF Author: Sean Patrick Doles
Publisher:
ISBN: 0975899600
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Covers the story of how Mr. Bingle came to be created as a New Orleans Christmas character for a local department store and evetually as a familiar New Orleans advertising character.

Fire Island, Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, 101st Airborne Division, Vicksburg

Fire Island, Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, 101st Airborne Division, Vicksburg PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : National parks and reserves
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description


New Orleans Style

New Orleans Style PDF Author: Andi Eaton
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625851731
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
After more than three hundred years, New Orleans style is not just sartorial but also venerable. A melting pot of cultures gives rise to the diverse fashion influences of French sophistication, Spanish exuberance and deep Creole roots. Classic trends like jazz style, the ebullient irreverence of Mardi Gras' festive fashion and seersucker's cool lines are quintessentially New Orleans. The local aesthetic established by the keen eyes at Maison Blanche and D.H. Holmes, master haberdashers at Rubensteins, milliners like Yvonne LaFleur and perfumers Hove Parfumeur formed a foundation on which the city's rising stars reinvigorate and build a new fashion capital. Join author and designer Andi Eaton and discover the Big Easy's stylish legacy and a new side of New Orleans.