Lord & Taylor
Founded (1826)
Lord & Taylor was founded by Samuel Lord in 1826. Since very young he worked in an English iron foundry and at twenty-one, he married the owner’s daughter and immigrated to America.Once in America, Lord opened a dry goods store in Catherine Street on the Bowery, taking George Washington Taylor into partnership. In 1852 Taylor retired.
In 1914, Lord & Taylor moved to the 39th Corner of Fifth Avenue. In the new location he implemented a quick lunch counter for busy shoppers; and also the first departments for petite women, teenagers and college students were created. Lord & Taylor had become the leader in the upscaling movement. Also the Christmas tradition of electrical lighting and window displays was established. Since then it has bedazzled millions of people each year and has won a number of visual merchandising awards.
From 1936 to 1946, Walter Hoving was president of Lord & Taylor. Under his leadership Lord & Taylor became one of the most attractive and stylish stores in the world. Dorothy Shaver succeeded Hoving as president of Lord & Taylor. During Shaver's presidency Lord & Taylor became the fashion leader; promoting American designers at a time when the fashion conscious had eyes only for French labels and stores often cut labels of American designers out of their clothes. Dorothy Shaver was often called “America’s First Lady of Retailing."
Melvin E. Dawley succeeded Dorothy Shaver after her untimely death in 1959. He guided Lord & Taylor into a period of expansion adding new stores in Dallas and Houston. During his leadership Lord & Taylor, was acquired by the May Department Stores Company based in St. Louis. Dawley served as president and chief executive from 1959 to 1968, when he took on the chairmanship. He was succeeded by William J. Lippincott who was promoted to president in 1968, and in 1972 was elected chairman and chief executive.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, May attempted to expand the Lord & Taylor's chain nationally, under the leadership of CEO Marshall Hillsberg. Lord & Taylor had ceded its postwar position as a fashion leader in the 1980s and 1990s to Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom. On August 30, 2005, May Department Stores was acquired by Federated Department Stores.
On July 16, 2008, NRDC Equity Partners purchased Lord & Taylor with hopes of expanding it internationally. NRDC stated that it planned to open 10-15 Lord & Taylor stores across Canada. The company is a partnership between the principles of Apollo Real Estate Advisers and the National Realty & Development Corporation.
Today's key executives of Lord & Taylor are: Brendan L. Hoffman (Chief Executive Officer and President); Mark Weikel (Chief Operating Officer); Ricard A. Baker (Chief Executive Officer of Hudson's Bay Trading Company L P); Jeffrey Sherman (Chief Executive Officer of Hudson's Bay Company and President of Hudson's Bay Company; and LaVelle Olexa (Senior Vice President of Public Relations & Fifth Avenue Windows).
