Joseph Spiess Company

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

Joseph Spiess Company was a chain of specialty department stores based in Elgin, Illinois, United States. Throughout its 75 years of existance, it only opened 5 stores.

Former Joseph Spiess store at St. Charles Mall in St. Charles, IL

Origins

Joseph C. Spiess opened his first store in downtown Elgin in 1921. Spiess courted the well-to-do with an array of high-quality merchandise, similar to a Marshall Field's or Carson Pirie Scott, but focused heavily upon apparel. Joseph Spiess was a careful man who chose to "watch, analyze, reflect, and learn from the mistakes of others" ^[1], a strategy that led to sizable success for his store. For 55 years, the downtown Elgin location would be their only location.

Expansion

Former Joseph Spiess store at Randhurst Mall in Mt Prospect, IL

In the 1970's, the Spiess family decided to take advantage of a Chicago-area trend towards small, enclosed "neighborhood" malls with only two anchors (as opposed to regional malls, which often sported four or more anchors)^[2]. Management decided on a store size between 50,000 and 60,000 square feet, one-quarter to one-third the size of a regional mall anchor. In 1976, Spiess opened its first branch location at Crystal Point Mall, with a St. Charles Mall location following in 1979. In 1984, Spiess closed their original downtown Elgin store in favor of a new flagship anchor location at Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee, Illinois (the downtown store would be demolished in 2005). Finally, Spiess opened a "minor anchor" at Randhurst Mall; this all-new 61,000 square foot store won several retail industry awards.

Decline

However, Spiess - now one of the last family-run department stores - had expanded too quickly and too late for the market, forcing them into bankruptcy in 1991. The chain shed stores in a vain attempt to restore profitability: the Randhurst location closed in January 1992, followed by the Spring Hill location in 1994 and the St. Charles Mall location in 1995 (just as the mall was closing). In the spring of 1996, Spiess was forced to close their last location at Crystal Point Mall, and Joseph Spiess Company was gone.

Former locations

• Crystal Lake - Crystal Point Mall (opened 1976, closed 1996, now The Sports Authority; mall gutted and remodeled into Strip Mall)^[3]
• Elgin
  • Grove Avenue/Fountain Square Plaza--Main store (opened 1921, closed 1984 when Spring Hill Mall store opened; store demolished and rebuilt in 2005)^[4][5]
  • Grove Avenue/Fountain Square Plaza - Men's store adjacent to Main Store, formerly Kresge's (opened 1970)^[4] (closed 1984)
• Mt. Prospect - Randhurst Mall (61,000 sq.ft.; opened 1988, closed 1992. late Wickes Furniture, converted to Old Navy and Circuit City in 1995. Former Circuit City is now Bed Bath & Beyond; Old Navy is now vacant, will be either torn down and rebuilt as new retail or remodeled, either way, it will be integrated into Randhurst Village)
• St. Charles - St. Charles Mall (opened 1980, store and mall closed 1995; mall torn down in 2002 except for anchors and later the anchors were torn down in 2003-2004, land currently vacant although land will be redeveloped into Centre of St. Charles soon)^[6]
• West Dundee - Spring Hill Mall (opened 1984; later Wickes Furniture, now Steve & Barry's)

References

External links

• Photo of former Joseph Spiess building in downtown Elgin on Flickr.com

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