History of ann taylor stores in pennsylvania
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Ann Taylor parent's bankruptcy is the scariest yet
In the latest example of how the world of brick-and-mortar retail is being overwhelmed by the pandemic, specialty apparel conglomerate Ascena Retail Group Inc. — corporate parent of Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant and other chains — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company said Thursday its restructuring plan will allow it to reduce its debt by US$1 billion. It also will close an unspecified number of stores across all of its major banners, including shuttering all of its Catherines plus-size apparel locations.
Ascena may not have the cultural primacy of some of the other prominent names in the industry that have recently filed for bankruptcy. It doesn’t have the long, storied heritage of Brooks Brothers, the preppy clothier that opened its first shop more than 200 years ago. It didn’t define a mode moment like J. Crew did a decade ago when Michelle Obama was sporting its embellished cardigans. It’s not a household name
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Allied Stores
Parent company of American department store chains
Allied Stores was a holding company of department store chains in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928.
In 1981, Allied Stores acquired the 24-year-old retail conglomerate Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc. for $228 million (~$647 million in 2023). With that transaction they acquired 178 department stores and 48 specialty shops in 28 states.[1]
In December 1986, Allied Stores was acquired by Campeau Corporation under Canadian entrepreneur Robert Campeau.[2][3] In April 1988, Campeau merged with Federated Department Stores.[4] Allied and Federated were consolidated in January 1990 after Chapter 11bankruptcy though they remained two distinct comp
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Center City’s Fashion Era: Where Did it Go?
If you are of a certain age, and have an eye for fashion, you might recall when the shops on Walnut Street were as exciting as the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. No, really.
Flash forward to the present. Nan Duskin, Philly’s first purveyor of couture fashion, is gone. So are all the dazzling shops that followed in her wake: Toby Lerner, Knit Wit, Plage Tahiti, Max Mara, Burberry, Coach, and others, along with the city’s last elegant department store, Bonwit Teller. Of the multitude of shops that carried designer fashions during that era, only two are still thriving: Sophy Curson at 221 S. 19th Street and Joan Shepp 1811 Chestnut Street. I wanted to know why.
Sophy Curson’s still flaunts its midcentury flair at 221 S. 19th Street. | Photo: Howard Silverman
“We are a family business and we had this store built in 1951,” said David Schwartz, a third generation owner of Sophy Curson which first opened by S