Zukor's was a U.S. chain of women's clothing stores, specializing in dresses. The company was part of a broader trend of dress shops that catered to middle-class and upper-middle-class women, offering stylish, ready-to-wear fashion at accessible prices.[1]
Benjamin Zukor established the business in 1914 in New York City, starting with a modest shop that specialized in women's apparel. Around a year later, Zukor opened a second New York store.[1]
West Coast stores that Zukor opened were in order:[1]
- Seattle, c. 1927
- Long Beach, California
- Oakland, California, c. 1929, 1311 Washington Street, expanded in 1934 at a cost of $75,000 (equivalent to $1,708,209 in 2023).
and between 1929–1934 in:[1]
- Bellingham, Washington
- Portland, Oregon
- Sacramento at 812 K Street[2]
- San Francisco
- San Jose, California
- San Diego
- Los Angeles (2 stores, including one at 611 S. Broadway, opened in February 1931,[3] moving two doors down in 1940 to the H. Jevne & Co. Building at 601–5 S. Broadway)
- Spokane, Washington (1929, Mohawk Building, moved to the Jamieson Building in 1935. Closed c. 1967)[4]
By 1934, the Oakland Tribune described the chain as a five-million-dollar "national institution" that had "served millions of patrons".[1]
The chain opened its fourteenth West Coast store in Fresno, California in 1936 at 1018 Fulton Street at a cost of $50,000 (equivalent to $1,097,842 in 2023).[5]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Zukor's Expands in Modernization Program". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. March 20, 1934. pp. 8–9.
- ^ "Zukor's Women's Clothing Store". Sacramento Rooms Digital Collections. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ "Zukor's to Open New Dress Shop". Los Angeles Times. February 21, 1931. p. 20.
- ^ "Then and Now: Bernards and Zukor's". The Spokesman-Review. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ "Zukor's Women's Apparel Store Will Open Saturday". The Fresno Bee. August 20, 1936. p. 5.