August 24, 1951, 63 years-ago today, Mayor Darst cut the ribbon, marking the Grand-Opening of Famous-Barrs Southtown store. A crowd, estimated at 15,000, anxiously awaited entry into the 3-story, red-brick building. The store had 295,000 sq. ft., nearly 7 acres of floor space, & including its three parking lots, which accommodated 2000 cars, the site covered 15 acres of ground. There was also a tunnel, with escalator going under Chippewa, connecting the south parking lot with the stores basement economy departments. When opened, the store featured a 150-seat dining room, a 67-seat coffee shop, & had its own bakery. It also had a 5-bed infirmary. It employed 635 salespeople, in addition to supervisors & support staff. Built at a cost of $3.25 million, more than 10 separate properties had to be acquired to build this store. Southtown Famous, a landmark for most of my generation, was closed on January 18, 1992, and torn down in 1995. In October, 1944, Famous-Barr took a full page ad in the Globe-Democrat to announce the building of three new stores, to be erected when the war ended, & materials became available. In addition to Southtown, they included Northland, & Clayton, which would eventually be the first to be built, in 1948.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 05:02:07 +0000
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