Yesterday’s Milwaukee
Gimbels Department Store, 1925
It was part of the largest department store in the nation, and soon, in the world.
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It was part of the largest department store in the nation, and soon, in the world. Back to the full article.
Photos - Page 2
Holy cripes! Wouldn’t it be great if that “Court of Neptune” gate in the cover photo had survived?! I suppose it went along with the streetcar. 🙁
a nice story but a lot of important details were either left out or simply not known to the author. Key is the decision made by BATUS not to allow Gimbel Milwaukee executives to self-purchase the Milwaukee stores and instead to make Marshall Fields take on several additional Wisconsin based branches which in turn saddled them with debt and assisted the Marshall Field enterprise with its demise. Marshall Fields and Gimbels never had the same customer base and unfortunately a board decision made in London never took into account this key factor. Had the Milwaukee based executives been able to purchase their very profitable store Gimbels would still be in business today.