Halle Brothers Co.; Westgate Mall, Fairview Park, Ohio. Exterior view, circa 1958. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)
Halle Brothers Co.; Severance Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Mall entrance, circa 1982. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)
Halle Brothers Co.; Summit Mall, Akron, Ohio. Exterior view, circa 1966. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)
Halle Brothers Co.; Severance Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Exterior view, circa 1964. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)
Halle Brothers Co.; Severance Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Exterior view, circa 1964. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)The Halle Brothers Co. (1891-1982) of Cleveland, Ohio, is a defunct department store chain. Halle's was considered the leading department store company in northeastern Ohio, focused on higher-end merchandise combined with personal service.
I looked at that mall entrance shot and said to myself, "Self, that logo sure does look a lot like the Marshall Field's logo."
ReplyDeleteThen I went and looked at Wikipedia. :)
I do tend to favor the logos of stores that are written out longhand -- such as The Halle Bros. Co., Strawbridge & Clothier, The Hecht Co. I'm sure there are plenty of others.
I think I'll just throw in the towel if some marketeer thinks it best to change it to "Saks," or, worse yet, "SFA."
I never noticed the similarity in the logotype until you pointed it out, Matt.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Saks fifth Avenue will ever officially shorten their name. so much of their brand cachet is connected to the location of the flagship store. They'd be fools to throw away that kind of brand equity.
Awesome photos, Steven!!!! Taken by Pat, of course, even better.
ReplyDeleteThough I was born in Cleveland, I was only two when Halle's went defunct and my parents never mentioned them (My dad always talks about Zayre, Gold Circle, Spartan-Atlantic, Uncle Bill's, May Co. Higbee's, etc.) but my folks were always more discount people not big department store enthusiasts, not unless it was a mid tier one like JC Penney.
Glad you liked the pictures, Didi.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to the retail situation with your parents. A lot of middle-class parents shopped at discount and mid-tier stores rather than traditional department stores. My parents did most of their shopping at Leggett (Belk), Sears and JCPenney.
I was looking at those pics and had to ask....is that a mural above the arches on the exterior entrances of that store? This is an example of where color pics back in the 1950s/60s would have been great haha
ReplyDeleteThat is a mural, but I don't know what color it was either :-)
ReplyDeleteThese are fantastic photos, Steve, especially of the last store. I'd love to see that one in color. It reminds me of the former Sanger-Harris store at Dallas' Valley View Mall which I happened upon a couple of years ago on a business trip there.
ReplyDeleteThese Halle's stores were very Sanger-Harris-like. I can see them being really colorful.
ReplyDeleteThis is what Halle Berry (Berea, Ohio) was named after. The store was at Severance Shopping center, Cleveland Heights, Ohio and was built on the old Severance (Cleveland symphony hall shares the name)estate.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, Budd.
ReplyDeleteYes, the photos are of Severance Center store. It opened in 1963 and closed in 1981. In the late 80's it reopened as a Joseph Horne store. (They painted over in TAN the beautiful mosaics!) It has since been torn down and is now where the Home Depot is. (Higbee's was on the other end, also now torn down and replaced with a Wal*Mart.
ReplyDeleteThe typeface that looks like Marshall Field's is Marshall Field's. Halle's was owned by Marhall Field's in the 70's. They remodeled the Severance store and replaced signage only for mall entry.
msd
Thanks for the info, msd.
ReplyDelete