Harris Department Store
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| 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,handbags, and housewares |
| Website | hppt//:www.gottschalks.com |
The Harris Company was a chain of department stores based in San Bernardino, California, with stores in the Inland Empire, Coachella Valley, High Desert and Kern County areas of Southern California that was acquired by Gottschalks in 1998.The stores now run by the name Harris Gottschalks.
[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. Two Riverside County locations, one in Indio and the other located in Moreno Valley, California as well as locations in Bakersfield, California continue to use the Harris-Gottschalks name. Other locations use the Gottschalks name. 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.
The largest location in the former Harris chain continuing in operation is the 204,000 square foot location at Riverside Plaza in Riverside, California. This store is also the largest store in the Gottschalks chain.
[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 original Harris Company building currently stands vacant. In 1997, The Harris Company invested $27 million to update their nine-store chain.
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