Loveman's

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Loveman's was a Birmingham-based chain of department stores with locations across Alabama which operated from 1887 to 1980. Relatives of the Loveman family also started stores in Chattanooga and Nashville, Tennessee, so the local chain was known as Loveman's of Alabama to distinguish it from the other stores.

History

File:Lovemans in 1920.jpg

Loveman, Joseph & Loeb's store c. 1920 by O. V. Hunt. courtesy BPL Archives

A. B. Loveman, a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, opened his first general merchandise store in Greensboro in the late 1860s. In 1887 he relocated to Birmingham and opened A. B. Loveman's Dry Goods Emporium at 1915 2nd Avenue North. He was soon joined by Moses Joseph of Selma and the store became Loveman & Joseph. In 1889, with the addition of Emil Loeb, the company became Loveman, Joseph, & Loeb

Loveman, Joseph, & Loeb constructed a large new department store in 1890 facing 19th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue North. The store was expanded in 1899. By 1911, Loveman's was known as the largest, most magnificant department store south of the Ohio River. It advertised over 60 individual departments and served as a state textbook depository. In 1917, an add-on known as the Loveman's Annex was built between the main building and the the site later occupied by the Alabama Theatre.

In 1923 a majority ownership stake in the company was acquired by the newly-formed City Stores Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (now CSS, Inc.). The holding company also took control of New Orleans, Louisiana's Maison Blanche Co. and Memphis, Tennessee's B. Lowenstein, Inc. It serviced all of its stores through a central buyer, but operations were kept under the local control of the individual chains.

The new Loveman's store in 1936. Photograph by O. V. Hunt. courtesy BPL Archives

The downtown store was destroyed in a massive fire which started in the sub-basement on March 10, 1934, sparing only the exterior of the Annex. The store reopened within a few weeks at a temporary location in the former Parisian building a block away while a new Loveman's building was built on the site of the fire. The new store, completed in 1935, featured a bold, clean art-deco style. A clock on the corner of 19th Street and 3rd Avenue became a popular landmark and meeting place. The new store was one of the first in the United States to be fully air conditioned and the first in Alabama to have an escalator.

In June 1949 Loveman's opened a new "store for the home" facing 2nd Avenue North, connected to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors of the main store by a bridge over the alley.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Loveman's was one of the many downtown stores picketed to promote the hiring of more African American clerks.

Loveman's protest. courtesy BPL Archives

Under president John Breyer the retailer expanded in the late 1960s, and completed a major remodeling of its downtown store in 1969 and added a 400-space parking deck in 1970. Loveman's opened additional locations across Birmingham and the state. The first branch opened at West Lake Mall in 1969. The chain also opened anchor stores at both Western Hills Mall and Century Plaza when they opened. Other stores were located in Huntsville and Montgomery.

Loveman's parent, the City Stores Company, declared bankruptcy in 1979. The chain went out of business the following April. The 1935 Loveman's building downtown was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1983. It was renovated in 1998 as the home of the McWane Science Center.

Locations

1950s postcard view of Loveman's

• A. B. Loveman's Dry Goods Emporium / Loveman and Joseph (1887-1890), 1915 2nd Avenue North
• Loveman, Joseph & Loeb (1890-1934), 200 block of 19th Street North
• Loveman's Annex (1917-), 1819 3rd Avenue North
• Loveman, Joseph & Loeb / Loveman's (1934-1980), 200 block of 19th Street North
• Loveman's at West Lake Mall (1969-), later converted to Pizitz
• Loveman's at Western Hills Mall (1970-), later converted to Pizitz
• Loveman's at Century Plaza (1976), later converted to Pizitz
• Loveman's in Huntsville
• Loveman's in Montgomery

References

• Kuhl, Earl D., editor (1934) "Illustrated Souvenir: Birmingham's $3,000,000 Fire, March 10, 1934." Birmingham: Birmingham Firemen's Relief Association. Accessed February 22, 2007 from Birmingham Public Library Archives Digital Collections.
• Loveman, Joseph and Loeb Department Store (Birmingham, Ala.). (1936). Accessed October 31, 2006 from Birmingham Public Library Archives Digital Collections.
• White, Marjorie Longenecker, ed. (1980) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide, second edition. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.

• Hollis, Tim (2005) Birmingham's Theater and Retail District. Images of America series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0738517771
• Loveman's of Alabama. (October 24, 2009). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed December 28, 2009.

External links

• Birmingham Rewound - Loveman's
• Loveman Merchants - Birmingham at liebman-loveman.com