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Bond Clothing Stores
Bond Clothing Stores, Bond Clothes, Bond Clothiers, or Bond Stores, was a men's clothing manufacturing company and retailer. The company catered to the middle-class consumer.
The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914, when Mortimer Slater, with Charles Anson Bond and Lester Cohen, founded the stores as a retail outlet for their suit manufacturing company. Bond, whose name was chosen for its market value and meaning, left Cleveland for Columbus, Ohio, where he opened a branch of the company. Bond stepped away from active management when he was elected mayor of Columbus in 1907. The first store sold men's suits for $15 ($400.00 today). As president, Slater built the concern into a million-dollar corporation, increasing the number of employees from 50 to more than 4,000. At his retirement in 1924, the concern had 28 stores in large cities. Bond sold his interest in the 1920s.
Bond Stores, Inc. was organized in Maryland on March 19, 1937, by the consolidation of Bond Clothing Company, a Maryland corporation, and its subsidiary, Bond Stores, Inc. The principal executive offices of the corporation were located at 261 Fifth Avenue in New York City.
During the 1930s and 1940s, it became the largest retail chain of men's clothing in the United States, best known for selling two-pant suits.
In 1975, the company was sold to foreign investors, then broken up and sold in smaller groups to its management. For instance, 13 stores were operated by the Proud Wind, Inc. company.
In 1933, company president Barney S. Ruben (1885–1959) moved the manufacturing center of Bond Clothes from New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Rochester, New York, where he spent his youth and got his start in the clothing industry with Fashion Park Clothes. By the end of the 1930s, the manufacturer grew to employ over 2,500 people, becoming the city's largest employer of textile workers. During the 1940s, the company expanded to larger manufacturing facilities on North Goodman Street, but by 1954, company leaders acknowledged that they could not fully employ the space, and sold it to General Dynamics. (Today, it is a Bausch and Lomb contact lens factory.) In 1956, wholly owned manufacturing plants operated at New Brunswick, New York City, and Rochester. The company closed its Rochester factory in 1979.
Bond was principally a men's clothier, but by the mid-1950s some stores also carried women's clothing and later became known as "family apparel centers." In 1956, the chain operated nearly 100 outlets from coast to coast in principal cities and more than 50 agency stores that sold goods in smaller communities. In the late 1960s, it had about 150 retail outlets. Around 1970, new management knowledgeable in fashions took over Bond Clothes, but their knowledge of the retail clothing industry did nothing to save Bond Clothes from its eventual demise. By 1982, that number had dwindled to 50.[citation needed]
Its New York City flagship store, known as "Bond Fifth Avenue," was at 372 Fifth Avenue at 35th Street. The space was formerly the flagship of Best & Co., which leased the store and the adjoining 12-story office tower to Bond in 1947. The next year, Bond renovated the entire building with ultra-modern interiors under the direction of designer Morris Lapidus. Bond stayed in the building until the mid-1970s. The building has most recently been redeveloped by the Paratis Group as a commercial / residential complex known as the "372 Fifth Avenue Loft."
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Bond Clothing Stores
Bond Clothing Stores, Bond Clothes, Bond Clothiers, or Bond Stores, was a men's clothing manufacturing company and retailer. The company catered to the middle-class consumer.
The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914, when Mortimer Slater, with Charles Anson Bond and Lester Cohen, founded the stores as a retail outlet for their suit manufacturing company. Bond, whose name was chosen for its market value and meaning, left Cleveland for Columbus, Ohio, where he opened a branch of the company. Bond stepped away from active management when he was elected mayor of Columbus in 1907. The first store sold men's suits for $15 ($400.00 today). As president, Slater built the concern into a million-dollar corporation, increasing the number of employees from 50 to more than 4,000. At his retirement in 1924, the concern had 28 stores in large cities. Bond sold his interest in the 1920s.
Bond Stores, Inc. was organized in Maryland on March 19, 1937, by the consolidation of Bond Clothing Company, a Maryland corporation, and its subsidiary, Bond Stores, Inc. The principal executive offices of the corporation were located at 261 Fifth Avenue in New York City.
During the 1930s and 1940s, it became the largest retail chain of men's clothing in the United States, best known for selling two-pant suits.
In 1975, the company was sold to foreign investors, then broken up and sold in smaller groups to its management. For instance, 13 stores were operated by the Proud Wind, Inc. company.
In 1933, company president Barney S. Ruben (1885–1959) moved the manufacturing center of Bond Clothes from New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Rochester, New York, where he spent his youth and got his start in the clothing industry with Fashion Park Clothes. By the end of the 1930s, the manufacturer grew to employ over 2,500 people, becoming the city's largest employer of textile workers. During the 1940s, the company expanded to larger manufacturing facilities on North Goodman Street, but by 1954, company leaders acknowledged that they could not fully employ the space, and sold it to General Dynamics. (Today, it is a Bausch and Lomb contact lens factory.) In 1956, wholly owned manufacturing plants operated at New Brunswick, New York City, and Rochester. The company closed its Rochester factory in 1979.
Bond was principally a men's clothier, but by the mid-1950s some stores also carried women's clothing and later became known as "family apparel centers." In 1956, the chain operated nearly 100 outlets from coast to coast in principal cities and more than 50 agency stores that sold goods in smaller communities. In the late 1960s, it had about 150 retail outlets. Around 1970, new management knowledgeable in fashions took over Bond Clothes, but their knowledge of the retail clothing industry did nothing to save Bond Clothes from its eventual demise. By 1982, that number had dwindled to 50.[citation needed]
Its New York City flagship store, known as "Bond Fifth Avenue," was at 372 Fifth Avenue at 35th Street. The space was formerly the flagship of Best & Co., which leased the store and the adjoining 12-story office tower to Bond in 1947. The next year, Bond renovated the entire building with ultra-modern interiors under the direction of designer Morris Lapidus. Bond stayed in the building until the mid-1970s. The building has most recently been redeveloped by the Paratis Group as a commercial / residential complex known as the "372 Fifth Avenue Loft."