Harris Department Store
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Harris Company | |
 |
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| Type | Department store |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1927 |
| Headquarters | San Bernardino, California |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares |
| Website | None |
The Harris Company was a chain of department stores based in San Bernardino, California, with stores in the Inland Empire of Southern California that was acquired by Gottschalks in 1998.
[edit] History
The Harris Company first opened in 1905. The flagship store was rebuilt at the corner of Third Street and E Street in 1927. In the family's first big expansion, they built a new, and quite smart store as the anchor for the new Riverside Plaza shopping mall in 1957, the first large non-downtown shopping destination in the entire area. Expansion continued during the 1960s and '70s, and the Harris family was able to hold its own against the Los Angeles-based Broadway and Robinson's chain stores which opened local branches in the 1970s through a concentration on local tastes and needs of their customers, as well as a well-earned reputation for offering high quality merchandise. In 1981, Spanish retailer El Corte Ingles, S.A. acquired The Harris Company and its nine stores that included Bakersfield, Hemet, Indio, Moreno Valley, Palmdale, Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino and Victorville. The Harris Company was acquired by Gottschalks in 1998. The stores were initially renamed Harris-Gottschalks. The original store in downtown San Bernardino was closed on January 31, 1999. To this day, all of the stores acquired by Gottschalks remain open and in business, with the exception of the downtown San Bernardino store. Gottschalks continues to use the "Harris" name as a private-label brand name for men's and women's shoes.
[edit] The Holiday Seasons
The original Harris Company store in downtown San Bernardino and adjacent to Carousel Plaza is still remembered today for its magnificent Christmas and Easter promotional displays. The family likewise provided lavish holiday decor for its Riverside store and later others, including creative, automated window displays, which became a local tradition for shoppers. This continued until 1998, long after most other stores cut back on lavish displays.
[edit] The Harris Company Building
Located on E Street in downtown San Bernardino. The building currently stands vacant. In 1997, The Harris Company invested $27 million to update their nine-store chain. Today, you can spot some visible updates on the nearly one-hundred year old building. These include ADT alarm systems, acoustic ceilings, fluorescent lighting along with the original 1927 chandeliers. While you may not enter the building, you can catch a glimpse of history by taking a peek in the window and see memories of the past and present day. The windows on the exterior are boarded up, however you can barely see some modern acoustic ceiling and display lighting. One "Harris" logo can still be found on the store, to the side of the building, it was never removed when the store closed.
