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Joske's flagship store at Alamo and Commerce Streets in downtown San Antonio, Texas. This postcard is believed to depict the store before the 1909 expansion.
A postcard believed to be depicting the downtown flagship store after it was expanded in 1909, but before the Art Deco facade was added in 1939.

Joske's, founded by German immigrant Julius Joske[1] in 1867, was a department store chain originally based in San Antonio, Texas. In December 1928 Hahn Department Stores acquired the company along with the Titche-Goettinger department store of Dallas, and three years later Hahn became part of Allied Stores. Allied was taken over by Campeau in 1986, and Campeau in turn sold the Joske's chain in 1987 to Dillard's. All Joske's stores were then quickly converted into Dillard's locations.

Origins

File:Joskes alamo street late 1800s.jpg
Joske Bros. on Alamo Street in the late 1800s. Eventually Joske's would move one last time, across the street where its flagship store would be built.

Joske's first store, located on Main Plaza in San Antonio and known as J. Joske, opened in 1867 and operated until 1873, when Joske sold it and went back to Berlin for his family. After returning to San Antonio the same year, Joske opened a new store on Austin Street called J. Joske and Sons. Joske moved the store to Alamo Plaza and changed its name to Joske Brothers.

Flagship store

File:St Josephpt.jpg
St. Joseph's Catholic Church (affectionately referred to by locals as "St. Joske's" even years after the acquisition by Dillard's) is surrounded on three sides by the former Joske's flagship store.
Dillard's only occupies two floors of the flagship store's southwest wing.

In 1887 the store was moved across the street to the corner of Alamo and Commerce Streets, overlooking historic Alamo Plaza. New floors and elevators were added during a 1909 expansion. In 1936, the five-level store became the first fully air-conditioned store in Texas, and the store became known as "The Big Store."

The store was expanded and renovated again in 1939, sporting a new Art Deco facade as well as the first escalators installed in a Texas store. To make way for this expansion, the rooftop electric sign (the largest electric sign in Texas) where a cowboy was shown lassoing a steer came down. When Joske's wanted to expand again in 1945, nearby St. Joseph's Catholic Church refused to sell its land. Nevertheless, Joske's kept expanding, and St. Joseph's was eventually surrounded on three sides by the store and was jokingly called "St. Joske's." By 1953 the flagship store had been expanded several times. The 551,000-square-foot (51,200 m2) five-level store was the largest department store west of the Mississippi until its closure in 1987. The long-time slogan for the chain was "the biggest store in the biggest state."

At one time, a shopper could get a custom-made saddle in the downtown store. Departments included spurs and saddles; appliances; a travel agency; an Oriental rug gallery; a loaning library; a bakery; gourmet foods; and books and toys. Joske's flagship store also featured the Camellia Room (for formal dining), the Chuck Wagon, and the Fountain Room (a coffee shop).

During the Holidays, the flagship store was well-known for its fourth-floor "Fantasyland";[2] its holiday-themed window displays, including a large window with a toy train set; and the 40-foot-tall Santa Claus[3] that sat atop the roof. "Rusty the Reinsteer" was the Joske's holiday mascot.

Expansion

Concentrating on keeping the downtown flagship store a destination location, Joske's of Texas (as the chain became known as) did not expand to a suburban location until 1957, when it opened its second store in the Las Palmas Shopping Center in southwest San Antonio.

In January 1965, Joske's purchased rival Wolff and Marx with its downtown flagship and North Star Mall locations. Joske's stated that there would be no immediate changes in operation of Wolff and Marx, however, in less than a month the seven-story downtown Wolff and Marx store was closed because the store did not have escalators and the building had passed its useful life as a modern department store. Joske's sold the downtown Wolff and Marx building in 1968, and the building is now known as the Rand Building. The North Star Mall Wolff and Marx location was replaced in 1969 with a new five-level Joske's, its third San Antonio-area store.

The chain expanded into Houston in 1956 and into Austin in 1971.

Joske's purchased two mall locations in El Paso, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona (Joske's first and only location outside Texas), from Liberty House in 1978.

In 1979 Allied's Titche-Goettinger's stores (more commonly known as Titche's) in Dallas were renamed Joske's.

In 1985 Allied Stores consolidated Joske's three Texas divisions — Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — into one central division based in downtown Dallas. The three independent operating and merchandising staffs in the separate divisions were consolidated into a single, larger unit, and Robert T. Mettler was named president and chief executive officer of the combined organization. The corporate office was based at its Downtown Dallas store at Main and St. Paul streets, occupying the top three floors of the seven-story building. At the time, Allied's Joske's division had 6,200 employees, including 800 at its corporate offices, and 27 stores.

End of an era

The southeast wing of the closed flagship store currently houses a Limited Express on the street level.

In 1987 after Allied's acquisition by Campeau, the then 27-store Joske's chain was sold to Dillard's, a then 115-store chain based in Little Rock, Arkansas, ending over 100 years of Texas-based retailing.

The San Antonio Conservation Society requested that Dillard's keep the Joske's name on the downtown San Antonio flagship store. The society wrote a letter to then Dillard's President William E. Dillard II urging that the store name be retained.

After the acquisition, the massive flagship store was divided up, with Dillard's occupying only a portion of the five-level building. The remaining area of the building was converted into lease space and a retail atrium for Rivercenter (which was under construction at the time of the buyout) and an AMC movie theater. Even with the division of the building into other uses, portions of the structure, including the old "bargain basement," remain unoccupied to this day. Though a redevelopment plan was revealed in October 2006,[4] in which the Joske's facade along Commerce Street would be restored, bringing back the windows and brick that were covered in one of Joske's own renovations before Rivercenter was built, and tenants would be added for the 200,000 sq ft (20,000 m2). of retail space currently vacant on two upper floors. San Antonio's Historic and Design Review Commission approved the redevelopment plan on October 4, 2006.[5]

Former Joske's locations

Arizona

  • Metrocenter Mall, Phoenix, Arizona (opened 1973 as Rhodes, became Liberty House, sold to Joske's 1978, became a second Dillard's location 1987, sold to JC Penney 1997; 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m2))

Texas

Austin

Beaumont

  • Parkdale Mall, Beaumont, Texas (opened 1972, first level became Dillard's Men's Store 1987; store was expanded in 2006 as sole Dillard's location; 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2))

Corpus Christi

Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex

  • Downtown Dallas, Dallas, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1929, became Joske's 1979, closed 1987; 456,000 sq ft (42,400 m2))
  • NorthPark Center, Dallas, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1965, became Joske's 1979, became Dillard's 1987; 200,000 sq ft (20,000 m2))
  • Preston Forest Village Shopping Center, Dallas, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1961, became Joske's 1979, shuttered 1987; 117,000 sq ft (10,900 m2))
  • Prestonwood Town Center, Dallas, Texas (opened 1979, became Dillard's 1987, closed 1998; 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m2))
  • Red Bird Mall (now Southwest Center Mall), Dallas, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1975, became Joske's 1979, became Dillard's 1987; 100,000 sq ft (10,000 m2))
  • North East Mall, Hurst, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1971, became Joske's 1979, became a second Dillard's location 1987, replaced 1999)
  • Irving Mall, Irving, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1971, became Joske's 1979, Dillard's already operated a store, sold to Foley's 1987; 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m2))
  • Town East Mall, Mesquite, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1971, became Joske's 1979, became Dillard's 1987, replacing existing store that was sold to JC Penney; 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m2))
  • Richardson Square, Richardson, Texas (opened as Titche-Goettinger 1977, became Joske's 1979, Dillard's 2nd location 1987; 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m2))

El Paso

  • Cielo Vista Mall, El Paso, Texas (opened 1974 as Liberty House, sold to Joske's 1978, became Dillard's 1987; 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m2))

Greater Houston

San Antonio

  • Alamo Plaza (flagship), San Antonio, Texas (opened 1887, portion of original store reopened as Dillard's and Rivercenter lease space 1988; 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2))
  • Ingram Park Mall, San Antonio, Texas (opened 1979, divided between Dillard's Home Store and mall space 1987; 145,000 sq ft (13,500 m2))
  • Las Palmas Shopping Center, San Antonio, Texas (opened 1957, closed before 1987, now an H-E-B Grocery Store and other shops)
  • North Star Mall, San Antonio, Texas (opened 1969, became Dillard's 1987; 210,000 sq ft (20,000 m2))
  • Windsor Park Mall, San Antonio, Texas (opened 1976, lower level became a Dillard's Home Store and upper level a food court in 1988, closed 2002; 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2))

References

  1. ^ Julius Joske biography Texas State German Contests. Last retrieved February 10, 2007.
  2. ^ "Then & Now: New memories". MySA.com. November 28, 2004. Retrieved 9 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Paula Allen: Santa rode Joske's Christmas wave". MySA.com. December 19, 2004. Retrieved 9 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Redevelopment plans afoot for downtown mall". MySA.com. October 4, 2006. Retrieved 9 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Mall makeover plan gets tentative approval". MySA.com. October 5, 2006. Retrieved 9 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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