This is a list of department stores. Most of these stores have many branches. The location of the flagship store is given. This list does not include large specialist stores, which sometimes resemble department stores.
Grace Bros. (name no longer used) - since the 1980s, Both Myer and Grace Bros. were owned by the same corporation, Coles Myer Pty. Ltd. Eventually Coles Myer renamed Grace Bros. to Myer to save money on advertising and bags etc.
Abraham & Straus on level with Macy's and Sterns. FDS closed both A&S and Sterns within the last few years. Both were mainly New York Stores
Bloomingdale's High-end department store, owned by Federated Department Stores, caters to wealthy and super-wealthy.
Macy's - probably the strongest nationwide middle class department store brand. In recent years this store was acquired by Federated Department Stores, caters mostly to middle and upper middle class, as well as some of the upper class. Rumors though say Bloomingdales will become even more high end and Macy's will become a lower end store, closer to the J.C. Penney level. All the names hyphenated with Macy's below will be merged directly into Macy's by the end of 2005.
Neiman Marcus, Dallas very high end department store catering to wealthy upper classes, owns Bergdorf Goodman as well competes Saks and Bloomingdales.
Bergdorf Goodman , currently owned by Neiman Marcus Group. This is one of Saks' competitors on 5th Avenue. The store caters to the opulent clients in New York, Long Island as well as aristocracy domestic and aboard.
Nordstrom national department stores competes for upper class with Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdales, but some consumers consider "Bloomies" to be even higher than Nordstrom or Lord & Taylor
Gimbel's: (defunct) The rivalry of Macy's and Gimbel's is immortalized in Miracle on 34th Street: Benard Gimbel the owner of Gimbel's along with Horace Saks founded the store Saks Fifth Avenue.
Sears, Roebuck and Company, later Sears, originally of Chicago, its first mail order catalogs caused prices to drop all over the country, leading to their being called "the great price maker." Known better for electronics and appliances, clothing is lower end.
TJ Maxx and the TJX Companies, national off-price chain which also operates Marshalls and A.J. Wright
Wal-Mart, national discount store catering primarily to lower and middle classes. Now also operates Supercenters which are combined discount stores and supermarkets.
Defunct U.S. chains not acquired by extant chains or liquidated
Alexander's, declared bankruptcy in 1992 (New York metropolitan area)
Ames
B. Altman and Company (New York City)
The Broadway (Southern California) Headquartered in Los Angeles. Part of defunct Carter Hawley Hale Stores. Retailer for many decades finally closed for good in 1991.
Fedco (Southern California) Membership-based department store - including grocery, and in some locations, furniture - that served middle class. Went bankrupt. Circa 1950-1994.
Fedmart (Southern California) First mass-market discount retail/grocery chain Sol Price founded. Was headquartered in San Diego in the 92111 ZIP Code. Price voluntarily closed the chain. Price later founded Price Club based upon what he learned from his Fedmart days. Price Club has since been merged into Costco. Circa 1965-75.
Gemco (California) Membership department store with grocery. Operated as subsidiary of Lucky Stores until liquidated in early 1987 due to hostile takeover attempts. Lucky was later acquired into what is now called Albertsons. Circa 1968-1987.
