GALLERIA’S STORES

Galleria’s stellar future rests firmly on the solid cornerstone of an impressive past.

In 1818, when James Monroe was in the White House, Illinois became a state and Henry Sands Brooks established Brooks Brothers as a manufacturer and retailer of traditional, classic clothing, typified by softly constructed suits.

In 1900, Brooks Brothers introduced the button-down oxford shirt, still the company’s best-selling item. Worldly discoveries included Indian madras in the late 1800s, Harris Tweed from Scotland around !900, the Shetland sweater found in the Shetland Isles in 1904, and England’s polo coat in 1910.

Legendary customers have included financier J.P. Morgan, generations of Astors and Rockefellers, and the Duke of Windsor. Abraham Lincoln was wearing a Brooks Brothers suit that fateful night at the Ford Theatre.

In 1837, Victoria was crowned Queen of Great Britain and Martin Van Buren was president. Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young opened their first stationery and fancy-goods store with customers such as Dia-mond jim Brady.

Tiffany & Co., which celebrated its 150th birthday in September by launching a J200-an-ounce signature fragrance, has become a name synonymous with quality of design. The diamond engagement ring with the famous 6-pronged setting, the engraved silver baby spoon, Elsa Peretti’s diamonds-by-the-yard, exotic gem-encrusted gold jewelry by Jean Schlumberger and exquisite creations by Paloma Picasso bolster the prestige.

Texas became a state and the U.S. Naval Academy opened in 1845, the year Mark Cross began as a saddle and harness maker. As that trade waned. Cross turned his extraordinary talent to the design of wallets, luggage and toiletry cases. Innovations include the first thermos decanter, cigarette cases and the concept of mixing two distinctive leathers, beautifully textured rich brown pigskin with the finest grained russet calfskin, in elegant accessories for men and women.

In 1847, the first gold rush hit California, Thakeray wrote “Vanity Fair,” and jeweler Louis Francois Car-tier opened his first salon in Paris, where he combined delicately engraved gold and finely worked enamel with the brilliance of precious stones. His creations won the favor of the court of Napoleon III and brought special commissions from other European royals.

Cartier’s home at 3 Rue de la Paix was in the center of wealth and society in Paris. Cartier-New York opened in a Renaissance mansion with the patronage of families such as the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts.

In 1904, Louis Cartier created the first modern wristwatch, followed, in 1917, by the first thin one, the legendary ’tank’.

The U.S. population reached 23 million in 1850, the year that French Canadian Noah Gokey opened his shoemaking establishment in Jamestown, NY. The fame of Gokey’s incredible leather hunting boots spread, particularly the boote Sauvage snake-skin model, which is constructed of tough bullhide and can turn the fangs of a diamond-back rattlesnake. The hunting boots inspired a classic selection of complementary sports clothing for men and women and related gift items available in the firm’s six retail stores.

In 1851, Isaac Singer devised the continuous stitch sewing machine, the New York Times first appeared and English shoemaker William J. Dudley emigrated to Newark, New Jersey and began what would be the Johnston & Murphy Shoe Co., the oldest manufacturer of men’s dress footwear in America. Every president since Millard Fiilmore has worn hand-crafted Johnston & Murphy shoes.

Now, with 94 retail outlets and sales to 3,000 better quality department and specialty stores, the company maintains its superior quality by producing 85 percent of its footwear on American soil.

Wells Fargo & Co. was founded in 1852, the year a new movement called Feminism reached the proportion of a national revolution. Women demanded equal rights in employment and dress, including the freedom to choose their own clothes in stores.

“Give the Lady What She Wants,” became the mer-chandising philosophy of what would become Marshall Field & Co., the Chicago-based namesake of a super salesman who created the premiere department store in the Midwest.

When the city hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, store visitors were dazzled by the selection of rare Persian rugs, costly gems, Sheraton and Chippendale furniture, exquisite Parisian gowns, Indian shawls, Chinese jades, Japanese curios, bright Oriental silks, flimsy Belgium laces, daring lingerie, incredible hats from France and exquisite Irish linens.

The store’s fashion image was personified by the 28 Shop, designed by Joseph Platt who had created the Hollywood sets for “Gone with the Wind.” Well-dressed women entered the State Street store from a special entrance on 28 East Washington Street to select the finest from designers, including Hattie Carnegie, Adrian, Pauline Trigere, and Norman Norell.

Acquired by BATUS, Inc. in 1982, Field’s has expanded to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Milwaukee,

In 1854, the United States ratified the Gadsden Purchase for the acquisition of parts of southern New Mexico and Arizona. That year, Louis Vuitton went into the luggage business, specializing in stagecoach trunks. Foreseeing the importance of railroad travel, he designed the first luggage to stack in baggage cars. Vuitton’s ability to change his product with the times found him creating trunks that converted to libraries or desks, housed safes, rifles, and guitars.

Besides functional ingenuity, Vuit-ton luggage has been characterized by fine materials and impeccable workmanship. The hallmark LV monogram cotton canvas has a waterproof coating that outperforms leather.

Vuitton’s choice clientele has included Czar Nicholas II, the Duke of Windsor, the Aga Khan, Douglas Fairbanks, Sophia Loren, Sarah Ferguson, and Henry Kissinger.

The National Association of Baseball Players was organized in 1858, the year Rowland Hussey Macy, a Nan-tucket whaler who had failed at four previous retail ventures, opened a small dry goods stole in New York. First day sales totaled $11.06. By the end of the year, Macy had sold $85,000 worth of merchandise.

In 1902, Macy’s moved to Herald Square where it was the setting for the movie, “Miracle on 34th Street.” The world’s largest store is. the flagship for what has been called “the nation’s most dramatically successful department store chain.”

When R.H. Macy & Co., Inc. opened in the Dallas Galleria in October 1985, the new facility broke all grand opening sales records with the strongest opening for any Macy’s branch store. Known for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, the company brought many elements of that celebration to display in Galleria.

In 1861, the United States introduced the passport system and the Confederates take Fort Sumter. Solomon Gump, the son of a German-Jewish linen merchant, purchased his brother-in-law’s modest frame-and-mirror shop in San Francisco. With California’s gold bonanza, Gump’s soon was furnishing the lavish homes of the city’s nouveau riche and traveling to Europe in search of the objects d’art, sculpture and Victorian froufrou that was the vogue on Nob Hill.

Today, “Town & Country” magazine ranks Gump’s among the top three luxury merchants in the world. Store buyers have included a former museum curator and international antique experts who travel the world in search of Gump’s treasures. The largest part of the firm’s business outside of California comes from Texas, which motivated store openings in the Dallas and Houston Gallerias.

In 1862, a German immigrant named Frederick August Otto Schwarz began what is today a 22-store chain of high-end toy stores that offer fun and fantasy for kids aged 90 and under. The flagship F.A.O. Schwarz, recently relocated to New York’s General Motors Building, showcases fabulous playthings in a storybook setting. Trendy toys as well as nostalgic favorites include sci-fi robots, talking plush animals, a knee-high Ferrari that runs up to JO MPH and a $1,500 rocking horse.

In 1873, E. Remington produced the first typewriters and Church’s English Shoes craftsmanship was established. Today, it takes 280 different operations over a period of eight weeks and 180 crafts people to complete one pair of shoes in Northampton, England, at a factory once visited by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. Leathers carefully selected and meticulously matched create stylish footwear bearing the proud names of Balmoral, Kensington, Cambridge, Kingsley, Becket Sherwood, and Cotswald.

Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, the year former watchmaker’s assistant, Joseph Linz began his jewelry business in Denison, Texas. Two years later, he and brother Simon moved the firm to Sherman where they were joined by brothers Albert and Ben.

The thriving Joseph Linz and Brothers moved to Dallas in 1891 where their elite clientele and exquisite merchandise gained the firm the reputation as “the Tiffanys of the South.” Eight years later, building a seven-story downtown showplace, they opened the “skyscraper” during the Texas State Fair and amazed visitors with two horseshoe-shaped displays full of diamond jewelry.

Today, Linz Jewelers, headed by Albert’s nephew, Albert Linz Hirsch, serves many grandchildren of their original clientele.

In 1884, the Oxford English Dictionary was first published and health enthusiast Lewis Tomalin opened a London shop to sell animal hair clothing espoused by German professor, Gustav Jaeger. Early endorsements of Jaeger woolens came from Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. By the turn of the century, fine camel hair, cashmere, alpaca, and vicuna were fashioned into stylish, feminine separates with high-quality construction.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his first Sherlock Holmes story, ’A Study in Scarlet,” in 1887, the year Hart Schaffner & Marx and Peck and Peck opened.

The former is now a subsidiary of the Hartmarx Corporation, the largest dollar-volume producer of men’s clothing in the world. Jas K. Wilson, the Dallas-based store group which was acquired by Hart Schaffner & Marx in the 1930’s, specializes in apparel for career men and women and is one of 450 stores operated by the prominent retailer.

Menswear apparel, sportswear, shoes and accessories features Hart Schaffner & Marx, Austin Reid of Regent Street and Christian Dior labels. The “Corporate Woman” concept at the Dallas Galleria caters to the special fashion needs of the affluent professional woman.

Founded by George and Edgar Peck, Peck & Peck has developed a reputation for both high fashion and traditional classic looks. The apparel chain consistently provides expert direction to sophisticated women who seek traditional and classic styles, yet appreciate new and updated fashion influences.

The Ford Motor Company produced the first Model”I” in 1908 at the time that Canadian Florence Nightingale Graham arrived in New York and opened a beauty salon. Calling herself and her firm, Elizabeth Arden, she searched for a face cream that was light and fluffy like “whipped cream.” When chemists created what she prescribed it was the beginning of a lifelong quest for the finest, most innovative beauty products to bear her name. A salon at 673 Fifth Avenue was the first of a beauty empire combining head-to-toe treatment and care with the latest in high fashion, fitness and cosmetic products. Galleria’s own Red Door opened in 1982.

In 1918, the year daylight savings time was introduced, the Martinez family of Dallas began to serve the traditional Mexican recipes so popular today. Called by family member, Irene Martinez Garcia, “a place where good amigos meet,” the Galleria’s El Fenix is the firm’s 17th restaurant.

Two years later, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “This Side of Paradise,” Henri Matisse created “L’ Odalisque,” Mary Pickford starred in “Polyanna,” and two Dallas firms began as fashion newsmakers.

The roots of Bachendorf Jewelers, a firm dedicated to the European concept of selling high quality jewelry with personal service, trace to Leningrad. There Abe Bock became an apprentice to Master Jeweler Schoso-cher Zeldin and learned the fine art of handcrafting fine jewelry. Becoming a master jeweler, he fled to East Prussia during the Russian Revolution and was involved in jewelry manufacturing, diamond and watch importing. In 1947, the Bock family settled in Dallas, where, four generations later, Bachen-dorf’s remains family owned and operated.

The oldest family clothing business now in Dallas, Culwell & Sons, began first as the Varsity Cleaners near SMU. Windell E. Culwell “expanded” by offering thread and ties, then opened an apparel store that now has five locations. Galleria’s Culwell & Son for Women has been a successful operation for the retailer who wanted an all-ladies-wear store to Open up a new, feminine market.

In 1924, J. Edgar hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation and Picasso began his abstract period. Saks fifth Avenue, the brainchild of Horace Saks and Bernard Gimbel was launched as a specialty store synonymous with fashionable, gracious living.

The first large retail operation to locate within what was then primarily a residential district, the New York Saks store at Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Street became the byword for taste and elegance. In 1926, president Adam Gimbel decorated the store in opulent Art Moderne style from the 1925 Paris Exposition, creating a series of specialty shops within an aura of grand luxury. Gimbel traveled the world in search of those fashions that would set Saks apart from competitors.

Acquired by Batus, Inc. in 1974, Saks has 44 fashion specialty stores in 18 states.

The Dallas store, the group’s 34th, debuted with a Gala Grand Opening Party, benefiting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a sign of Saks’ commitment to patronage of the arts.

In 1929, “Black Friday” occurred and the U.S. Stock Exchange collapsed. In this financially desparate time, Al Baskin of Joliet, Illinois, began his first store which still prospers. In 1972, his son, Shale, opened Mark Shale which is run by him and his sons Scott and Steven. Ten stores later, Mark Shale stands for updated traditional men’s and women’s fashions presented in an executive atmosphere.

In 1931, the Empire State Building is completed and an Indiana farm girl settles in Ocean Park, California. A lab technician studying chemistry and medicine, Merle Norman hoped to capatilize on the era of Hollywood glamour by offering the best possible combination of ingredients to improve the complexion, what she termed her Three Steps to Beauty. With $150, she opened a tiny studio and laboratory in a vacant garage, the beginning of over 2,500 Merle Norman studios in the U.S. and Canada and space-age research and development facilities and laboratories in Los Angeles. Her ’Try Before You Buy” product samplings introduced customers to what is now more than 600 cleansers, foundations, lotions, eye shadows, lipsticks, blushers and moisturizers.

In 1936, Americans were singing the pop hit, “I’m an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande” as Carroll Reed of New England and Fred Joaillier appeared on the scene. Carroll Reed, began the small ski equipment and clothing business that has grown to be one of the best known retailers of women’s classic fashions. Owned today by CML, a group of specialty retailers, Carroll Reed of New England currently has 20 ski shops and 30 women’s specialty shops.

Fred Joaillier is Fred Samuel who opened his first jewelry store at 6 Rue Royale. Beginning with a passion for culture. Samuel designed all his own jewelry for clients like Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier and the Princesses of Monaco.

The firm is known internationally for extraordinary and unique sets of jewels in rubies, diamonds and sapphires as well as the “Force 10,” a collection of modern, youthful pieces made of stainless steel nautical cable and 18K gold. Fred Joaillier made news with the purchase of the Soleil D’Or, a 105 carat diamond, and the 275 carat “Blue Moon” sapphire.

In 1946, New York was declared the permanent U.N. headquarters as John D. Rockefeller donated $8.5 for the site. That year, Miles Cahn began Coach Leatherware as a small leather goods maker that offered the best possible handbags in 12 basic styles that would become classics. A recent, newer line of updated classics featured “lightweights” with less structured silhouettes and a softer look. For warmer climates, particularly the Southwest, the light and brighter colored bags broadened the customer base for the 50-plus stores.

Queen Elizabeth II is crowned 1953 as another Englishwoman begins her design business in a London attic apartment. Using simple silk screen, Laura Ashley printed tablemats and scarves on an old kitchen table. Opening a small store to provide cash flow, Ashley expanded her retailing operation in the late ’60s to create an international fashion empire based on the romance of English country gardens synonymous with floral cotton prints, frilly dresses and country cottage decor. At headquarters in Carno, Wales, those prints were incorporated into clothing for women and children, fabrics, table linens, wallpaper, sheets and home furnishings. When Princess Diana appeared in Laura Ashley clothes before her marriage, women everywhere adopted the disarmingly innocent and nostalgic adaptations of the original 19th-century prints.

In 1954, Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, “On the Waterfront” wins the Academy Award and two firms, Ann Taylor and Williams-Sonoma debut.

From a first store in New Haven, Connecticut to 90 stores in 21 states, Ann Taylor provides special wardrobing for the Comtemporary woman and her lifestyle. An in-house design department, the Ann Taylor studio, provides a private label collection for 80% of the store’s stock featuring a fashion interpretation of today’s trends.

Serious cooks are the target of Williams-Sonoma, founded in the wine country of California by Chuck Williams. Williams takes several trips a year to buy in Europe and the Orient for his 46 stores. With over 4,000 items in each store, including Chinese chicken pots, Staffordshire pottery mugs from England and West Germany’s Wusthof knives, Williams-Sonoma is the nation’s largest retailer of cookware and serving equipment.

Stores with rich traditions are rightat home in Galleria, where in fiveshort years, the center’s special eventshave become an integral part of thecommunity. The 75-foot Christmastree, the largest indoor tree in Texas,and Primavera, the annual garden andflower show celebrating the beauty ofSpring, represent the Galleria traditionof gracious service, promising years ofretailing excellence as the center setsnew standards by which others will bejudged.