Hess's

Hess's, originally known as Hess Brothers, was a department store chain based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company was founded a single store in 1897, and grew to nearly 80 stores by its commercial peak in the late 1980s. The chains stores were closed or sold off in a series of deals in the early to mid-1990s.

In the summer of 1896, Max Hess Sr., a German-Jewish immigrant from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, visited Allentown, and returned to Perth Amboy, advising his brother Charles that Allentown was a major business opportunity for the company.

Hess Brothers was founded on February 19, 1897, by Charles and Max Hess. The brothers moved to Allentown that year, and leased space in what was then the Grand Central Hotel at 3rd and Hamilton streets.

Hess's first store opened at 9th and Hamilton streets in Center City Allentown. In the store's French Room, Charles Hess filled the store with fashions primarily from France. Hess made frequent trips to Paris, and wrote in an Allentown newspaper about what fashionable women were wearing for social engagements or to the Paris Opera.

On February 19, 1897, the Allentown Band was playing in front of the new Hess Brothers store to entertain the shoppers. Hess bought a significant amount of advertising space in the local Allentown newspapers to market the store.

Hess Brothers' dry goods business became increasingly popular and in 1901, and Hess expanded the store, taking over the entire Grand Central Hotel.

On March 6, 1913, as Hess's continued to grow, neighboring properties were acquired so the store could be expanded again. A soda fountain and restaurant that seated 400 patrons was opened in the store. By 1915, the store had expanded to nearly a city block, maintaining a major Center City Allentown presence at the northeast corner of 9th and Hamilton streets.

In 1922, Max Sr. died at the age of 58. For the next several years, the store was run by his brother Charles.