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Bonwit Teller & Co.
Company typeDepartment store
IndustryRetail
Founded1895 (129 years ago) (1895), New York City, U.S.
Defunct2000
FateBankruptcy (2000)
HeadquartersNew York City, U.S.
ProductsClothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares
Websitebonwitteller.com

Bonwit Teller & Co. was an American luxury department store in New York City, founded by Paul Bonwit in 1895 at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street, and later a chain of department stores.

In 1897, Edmund D. Teller was admitted to the partnership and the store moved to 23rd Street, east of Sixth Avenue.

Bonwit specialized in high-end women's apparel at a time when many of its competitors were diversifying their product lines, and Bonwit Teller became noted within the trade for the quality of its merchandise as well as the above-average salaries paid to both buyers and executives.

The partnership was incorporated in 1907 and the store moved to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 38th Street.

Throughout much of the 20th century, Bonwit was one of a group of upscale department stores on Fifth Avenue that catered to the "carriage trade". Among its most notable peers were Lord & Taylor, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Distinctive features

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The Bonwit Teller's flagship uptown building at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, originally known as Stewart & Company, was a women's clothing store in the "new luxury retailing district",[1] designed by Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore,[2] and opened on October 16, 1929, with Eleanor Roosevelt in attendance. It was described by The New York Times as a 12-story emporium of "severe, almost unornamented limestone climbing to a ziggurat of setbacks"—as an "antithesis" of the nearby "conventional 1928 Bergdorf Goodman Building.[1]

The "stupendously luxurious" entrance sharply contrasted the severity of the building itself. The entrance was "like a spilled casket of gems: platinum, bronze, hammered aluminum, orange and yellow faience, and tinted glass backlighted at night".[1] The American Architect magazine described it in 1929 as "a sparkling jewel in keeping with the character of the store."[1]

Originally, the "interior of Stewart & Company was just as opulent as the entrance: murals, decorative painting, and a forest of woods: satinwood, butternut, walnut, cherry, rosewood, bubinga, maple, ebony, red mahogany and Persian oak." But after Bonwit Teller took over the store in April 1930, the architect Ely Jacques Kahn stripped the interior of its decorations.[1]

Two more floors were added to the main building in 1938 and a twelve-story addition was made to the 56th Street frontage in 1939.

Over time, the 15-foot tall limestone relief panels, depicting nearly nude women dancing, at the top of the Fifth Avenue facade, became a "Bonwit Teller signature".[1] Donald Trump, who purchased the building thanks to Genesco's CEO John L. Hanigan,[3] wanted to begin demolition in 1980. Trump "promised the limestone reliefs" to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When they were "jackhammered" "to bits" the act was condemned.[1] Claiming to be a fictional spokesman named "John Barron",[4] Trump said that his company had obtained three independent appraisals of the sculptures, which he claimed had found them to be "without artistic merit."[5] An official at the Metropolitan Museum of Art disputed the statement, stating: "Can you imagine the museum accepting them if they were not of artistic merit? Architectural sculpture of this quality is rare and would have made definite sense in our collection."[5] In addition to the relief panels, the huge Art Deco nickel grillwork over the entrance to the store, which had also been promised to the museum, disappeared. Again masquerading as his own spokesman "John Barron", Trump said, "We don't know what happened to it."[6]

History

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Founding and early history (1880s–1946)

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In the late 1880s, Paul Bonwit opened a small millinery shop at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street in Manhattan's Ladies' Mile shopping district. In 1895, which the company often referred to as the year it was founded, Bonwit opened another store on Sixth Avenue just four blocks uptown. When Bonwit's original business failed, Bonwit bought out his partner and opened a new store with Edmund D. Teller in 1898 on 23d Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.[7] The firm was incorporated in 1907 as Bonwit Teller & Company and in 1911 relocated yet again, this time to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-eighth Street.[8]

Bonwit Teller from an advertisement ca. 1920

They announced that this new location would provide consumers with:

an uncommon display of wearing apparel from foreign and domestic sources . . . which will appeal to those who desire the unusual and exclusive at moderate prices.

In 1930, with the retail trade in New York City moving uptown, the store moved again, this time to a new address on Fifth Avenue. Bonwit took up residence in the former Stewart & Co. building at Fifty-sixth Street, which would remain the company's flagship store for nearly fifty years. The building had been designed by the architectural firm Warren and Wetmore in 1929 and redesigned the next year by Ely Jacques Kahn for Bonwit.

The company, in need of capital, partnered with noted financier Floyd Odlum. Odlum, who had cashed in his stock holdings just prior to the stock market crash of 1929, was investing in firms in financial distress and in 1934 Odlum's Atlas Corporation acquired Bonwit Teller. Odlum's wife, Hortense, who had already been serving as a consultant, was named president of Bonwit Teller in 1938, making her the first female president of a major department store in the United States. The Odlums also retained a connection to the firm's founding family, naming Paul Bonwit's son Walter Bonwit as vice president and general manager.[8]

For a brief time in 1939–1940, the store owned radio station WHAT in Philadelphia.[9]

Changing ownership (1946–1979)

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Floyd and Hortense Odlum would sell their investment in Bonwit Teller to Walter Hoving's Hoving Corporation. With Bonwit Teller, Hoving would establish a strong retail presence on Fifth Avenue that would also include Tiffany & Co.

According to Fintan O'Toole, writing in The New York Review of Books[10] in the mid-20th century, the artists Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol all worked at Bonwit Teller as window dressers (creating window displays).

The company would undergo another ownership change just ten years later with the acquisition of Bonwit by Genesco in 1956. At the time, Genesco was a large conglomerate operating 64 apparel and retail companies. While Genesco's portfolio included other upscale brands, including Henri Bendel, the company was largely known as a shoe retailer. Bonwit Teller, which had developed a cutting-edge reputation promoting a young Christian Dior and other prominent American designers, gained momentum in its fashion and sales during the mid-1960s following the acquisition by Genesco.[7][11]

Branch location years

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Bonwit Teller had started to expand as early as 1935 when it opened a "season branch" in Palm Beach, then in 1941 it opened a full-time branch in White Plains.[12] Another notable opening was the Boston store in 1947 in the Back Bay neighborhood.[13] By the 1960s, there were stores operating in New York, Manhasset, White Plains, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Cleveland, as well as small resort shops in Miami and Palm Beach.

During the 1960s, the company built a store in Short Hills and moved its White Plains store next to a large Lord & Taylor in Scarsdale. In the mid-1980s branches were located in Oak Brook, Illinois; Troy, Michigan; Palm Desert, California; Beverly Hills, Bal Harbour, Kansas City, Buffalo, and Columbia, South Carolina.[14]

From the mid-1970s to late-1980s, Bonwit competed head-on with peer Saks Fifth Avenue,[15] retaining a role on the development of fashion and design, most notably helping to launch the career of Calvin Klein.[16]

Westchester County stores

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In 1964 Bonwit Teller had branch store in a two-and-a-half-story building in downtown White Plains, where it had operated since April 1941, on the current site of the Westchester One tower. Bonwit had a 20-year lease ending in 1976, but local developer Salvatore Pepe wanted Bonwits to move to the Vernon Hills Shopping Center, which he had developed five miles away in Eastchester near Scarsdale. Pepe went to landlord Archie Davidow and bought the property, including the remainder of the lease, thus permitting Bonwits to move; it ceased operations at White Plains at the close of business on April 13, 1967.[17] Five days later, on April 18, 1967, the new 43,000 sq ft (3,995 m2) Bonwit Teller Scarsdale store opened. Guests included actress Arlene Francis (member of the company's board of directors), Princess Marcella Borghese and Mildred Custin, president of Bonwit Teller.[18] Designed by Copeland, Novak & Israel, it consisted of 36 fashion departments, and featured a 7,900 sq ft (734 m2) center court of Italian marble, with a crystal chandelier hanging above. Two additional chandeliers had once hung in the Ambassador Hotel in New York. 1,700 ft (518 m) of murals by artist Richard Neas decorated the walls of the court, and additional Neas murals adorned the shoe salon. 85 employees from White Plains transferred to Vernon Hills, in addition to 40 staff hired specifically for the new store.[19]

Growth and later history (1979–2000)

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In 1979, Allied Stores Corporation acquired the company. Its storied flagship Fifth Avenue store was planned to be rebuilt there opposite the new Trump Tower.[7][20][21] Bonwit Teller reopened its store in April 1981 now on 57th Street as the new flagship would be the centerstone to Trump Tower's indoor mall.[22]

Bonwit Teller in Boston's Back Bay. It now houses a Restoration Hardware store.

In 1987, Allied Stores Corporation sold Bonwit Teller for $101 million to Hooker Corporation, an Australian business.[7] Hooker would expand the company's store base from five to sixteen during the period.

In 1989, Bonwit was put on the auction block after the LJ Hooker filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Under the bankruptcy two stores in Cincinnati & Columbia continued to be operated by Hooker Corp under a license whilst five stores (Boston, Buffalo, Manhasset and Short Hills) and the Bonwit Teller name were purchased by The Pyramid Company.[23][15][24] The flagship store in Manhattan was closed as part of the deal and left the space vacant until a Galeries Lafayette opened in the building in 1991 which now had a new interior and facade but due to poor sales the store closed in 1994.[25]

After The Pyramid Company purchased Bonwit Teller from Hooker in 1990 they opened a store at the Carousel Center complex in Syracuse, New York.[26][27] During the mid-1990s, a Manhattan branch was shopped around. The venerable institution filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2000 after heightened debt, the last store open was the Carousel Center location.[28][29]

Since 2000

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In 2005, River West Brands, a Chicago-based brand revitalization company, announced it had formed Avenue Brands LLC to bring back Bonwit Teller.[30]

In June 2008, it was announced that Bonwit Teller would be opening with eventually as many as twenty locations, beginning with New York and Los Angeles. Perhaps due to the subsequent recession, this venture never materialized.[31][32]

In March 2020, it was announced that NBT Holdings, a subsidiary of Sugar23, had acquired the rights to the brand and announced that it was planning to bring the store back.[33][34][35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Gray, Christopher (October 3, 2014). "The Store That Slipped Through the Cracks: Fifth Avenue Bonwit Teller: Opulence Lost". The New York Times. Streetscapes. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  2. ^ "Stewart & Company Building, 402-404 Fifth Avenue" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 25, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  3. ^ Trump, Donald (1987). Trump: The Art of the Deal. New York: Random House. pp. 147–150. ISBN 978-0446353250.
  4. ^ Borchers, Callum (May 13, 2016). "The amazing story of Donald Trump's old spokesman, John Barron – who was actually Donald Trump himself". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  5. ^ a b McFadden, Robert D. (June 6, 1980). "Developer Scraps Bonwit Sculptures" (PDF). The New York Times. p. B1. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  6. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (June 8, 1980). "Designer Astonished by Loss of Bonwit Grillwork" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 47. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d "Australians Buy Bonwit Teller". The New York Times. May 1, 1987.
  8. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 19, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "J.D. Stern Enters Radio; Jars Philly" (PDF). Billboard. July 17, 1940. p. 6. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
  10. ^ O'Toole, Fintan (July 21, 2021). "Freedom for Sale". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  11. ^ "Bonwit's Lady Boss" . Time. January 22, 1965.
  12. ^ "BONWIT-TELLER OPENS WHITE PLAINS BRANCH; Mayor Cuts Ribbon at Preview of $475,000 Store". The New York Times. April 5, 1941. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  13. ^ "BONWIT TELLER SHOP OPENED IN BOSTON". The New York Times. September 18, 1947. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  14. ^ "Psst! April 2008". Palm Springs Life. March 20, 2008. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Barmash, Isadore (April 14, 1990). "The Decline of Bonwit Teller: Did Time Pass Retailer By?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  16. ^ Feitelberg, Rosemary (October 19, 2011). "The House That Calvin Klein Built". WWD. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  17. ^ Times, Alan F. Oser Special to The New York (July 4, 1975). "About Real Estate". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  18. ^ "Bonwit Teller Opens Store in Eastchester". The Reporter Dispatch. April 18, 1967. p. 6. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  19. ^ "Move from White Plains: Bonwit Teller OPens Store in Eastchester". The Daily Item. April 18, 1967. p. 25. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  20. ^ Kaminski, Joseph (January 15, 2016). "The Political Fate of Bonwit Teller". Joseph Kaminski. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  21. ^ The Midtown Book – Trump Tower.
  22. ^ *Bonwit Teller: Lively Interior on 57th Street". The New York Times. April 23, 1981.
  23. ^ "PYRAMID COS. TO BUY 5 BONWIT TELLER STORES". Chicago Tribune. March 11, 1990. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  24. ^ "Bonwit's Owner Files for Bankruptcy". The New York Times. August 10, 1989.
  25. ^ Staff, W. W. D. (August 31, 1994). "GALERIES LAFAYETTE THROWS IN THE TOWEL, WILL LEAVE NY NOV. 1". WWD. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  26. ^ "5 Bonwit Teller Stores Are Sold, Likely Insuring Retailer's Survival". The New York Times. March 11, 1990.
  27. ^ "Carousel Center 20th Anniversary (1990–2010)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 11, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  28. ^ "Bonwit Teller to Make Last Sale". Chicago Sun-Times. March 7, 2011. p. 41. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  29. ^ "Bonwit Teller Closes Last Store". AP NEWS. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  30. ^ [dead link‍] "Bringing Back Bonwit" . Crain's Chicago Business. June 5, 2006.
  31. ^ Pollard, Garland (June 12, 2008). "Bonwit Teller Said to Return". BrandlandUSA. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  32. ^ Clark, Evan (June 9, 2008). "Bonwit Teller Returning With Stores in N.Y., L.A." WWD. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  33. ^ "License Global Relaunch". License Global. March 13, 2020.
  34. ^ "Bonwit Teller Brand to Relaunch | Sugar23". www.sugar23.com. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  35. ^ "Sugar23 Raises $30 Million, Expands Executive Hires, Adds Departments". www.yahoo.com. January 6, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
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