The Jacobson's Episode: Nathan Rosenfeld

When Nathan Rosenfield brought Jacobson’s Department store to Birmingham in 1950 there was only one huge problem-shoppers didn’t have anywhere to park! Rosenfield would radically alter not just the shopping landscape forever but the urban planning one as well. This is the third episode in a limited series with the Birmingham Shopping district where we look at the evolution of Birmingham’s retail environment.

To access a full episode transcript as well as to access additional material, check out our website. To learn more about the Birmingham Shopping District and to see upcoming events, check out their website. 

For questions, concerns, corrections or episode suggestions please reach out to us at museum@bhamgov.org.

Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.

Transcript

                Surface parking is both a scourge and a problem for downtowns- it takes up a lot of real estate, doesn’t bring in the taxes or revenues that a business or residence can and is just plain ugly. But parking is an absolute necessity in our modern era of downtown commerce, and municipalities struggle with how to best deal with it. A lot of downtown development planning nowadays focuses on alternatives like parking decks. Here in Birmingham, we’ve been ahead of that curve for several decades/about 70 years-the first parking structure was built in the 1950s and it helped not just the business that it was built for-Jacobson’s department store- but also laid the groundwork for the retail shopping scene in Birmingham as we know it today. This is the story of Nathan Rosenfeld, the savvy business man who brought the much loved Jacobson’s Department store to Birmingham in the mid-20th century and who forever changed the landscape of downtown. 

                This is Birmingham Uncovered, a podcast by the Birmingham Museum, where we are exploring the diverse and compelling lives that built Birmingham Michigan into the community that it is today. First, some background on Birmingham: we are a city of approx. 20,000 people over 4.73 square miles, approximately halfway between Detroit and Pontiac in Oakland County. This area was occupied by members of the Three Fires Confederacy of Indigenous People before white settlement in the area started in the late 1810s. Birmingham became a city in 1933 and today is known as a prosperous and multi-faceted community with a thriving cultural scene.

                If you, like me before I started working here, have no idea what Jacobson’s was, let me give you a quick little history lesson about it. The store began in the village of Reed City in central Michigan in 1868 by Abraham Jacobson. Abraham and one of the subjects of our last podcast, Morris Levinson, had a lot in common. Abraham Jacobson was part of the wave of Jewish Immigration to the United States in the mid to late 1800s from Eastern Europe. Like Morris and his parents, Abraham Jacobson settled in a booming lumber town. Reed City is located in Osceola County, in Michigan’s North-east-ish. Today, the city has a population of about 2,400 people but in the 1860s it was a booming town that sprang up at the junction of two major railroads. It had several mills along the river cutting wood, processing wool, and grinding flour, and could send those goods via rail to Michigan’s bigger commercial centers. There was money to be made in Reed City, both in the lumber business and the businesses that catered to those entrepreneurs.

                And once folks start making more money, they need nicer things to go along with it. Abraham Jacobson bet that folks in northern Michigan would like to buy the same sort of goods that they could in an upscale store in a place like New York City if they could. The bet paid off. His retail store grew so successful that Moses Jacobson, Abraham’s son, took part of the inventory on the road. Moses traveled the state advertising the famous “Jacobson merchandise” and held trunk sales in hotels.

                While on the road, Moses saw the importance of railroads in delivering goods and people around. He also realized that there were bigger cities that had advantages that Reed City simply didn’t have. For starters, Reed City, while on a railroad line, didn’t have any direct service to big cities like Detroit or Chicago. Additionally, once the lumber industry had used up the natural resources in the area before the end of the 1800s, there wasn’t much else to propel the economy of the place.

                Abraham Jacobson died in 1892 and his sons, Moses and William, moved to Jackson, Michigan, 162 miles south-east.  In 1904 they opened a store called M.I. Jacobson and incorporated it as “Jacobsons Inc” in 1924. In 1919, the store opened in a new, larger building in Jackson and the building matched the fanciness of the goods on offer with ivory fittings and marble and blue carpeted floors. 

                Two years later, the store had three more locations in Battle Creek, Saginaw and Ann Arbor. But in 1929, Moses died of a heart attack, leaving the company to his brother William. Just a few years later in 1936, William also had to step away from the business due to a battle with heart disease, leaving management to his son, Richard, whose heart just wasn’t in it (pun intended). 

                And here you might be thinking-wait a minute! The 1930s are Great Depression times, how is a store that sells fancy and luxury goods going to survive the Great Depression? As always, listeners, y’all ask the best questions. 

                The Great Depression lasted between 1929 and 1939, and the stock market crash on October 24, 1929 is traditionally the “beginning” date, although it should be mentioned that economic instability was evident throughout the 1920s, as risky investment and speculation was rampant, and many small banks in communities all over the country failed. Once in full swing, the Great Depression was felt worldwide, as prices on international markets fell sharply, leading to mass unemployment and political instability. An economic aside here: in a previous episode on EA O’Neal we mentioned the Great Depression before the Great Depression that occurred in 1870. That depression was a bit more contained because international trade hadn’t yet picked up to the levels of the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1870, it was still fairly rare to go to a store and buy goods made across the ocean and if you did, those goods were generally more expensive. But markets had become much more globally interrelated by the 1930s, which has become part of our everyday life almost 100 years later

 The impact of the 1930s Depression on discretionary purchasing in the United States was dramatic. General unemployment rose to 23%. You might be tempted to think that small, locally-owned stores might weather the storm better, that their communities might rally around them and that their smallness might make them more nimble in changing market conditions. And you also might naturally assume that a store selling fancy or luxury goods would founder. But the data suggests a very different story. Larger stores that were part of a chain had a much better chance of surviving the Depression than small business establishments. And by this point, American department store chains like Macy’s and Woolworth’s were rapidly expanding into many communities, giving shoppers predictability when it came to layouts and what goods they could find and how much those goods cost. 

The scale at which these larger chain stores could purchase goods gave them an advantage over smaller stores and the chain stores had more assets at their disposal to continue buying at scale. These chain stores could also better afford to continue paying their employees their previous wages when smaller stores were cutting theirs, giving their employees greater incentive to be productive.

Jacobson’s was one of the many chains to emerge from the Great Depression ready for their next chapter. In 1939 it was taking in about $300,000 annually (about 6.5 million today) and was the foremost retailer in women’s apparel in its four locations, when the chain was sold to Nathan Rosenfeld.

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Nathan Rosenfeld was born in 1903 in Philadelphia to Hungarian Immigrants. He was a graduate of Wharton School of Business and had extensive retail experience but he hungered for a chain of stores of his own. His brother Zola also joined him in the business.

He wasn’t content with the store’s 4 locations either, eyeing new markets in Michigan, including the Metro Detroit market dominated by Hudson’s. At that time, Jacobson’s business model focused on the upscale shopper who lived within close driving distance of a large downtown area. Birmingham fit that bill and there was precedent for local shoppers responding positively to a department store, check out our previous episode on Gitel and Morris Levinson for more info on Birmingham’s first department store. In November 1950, about a decade after Levinson’s closed, Birmingham’s Jacobson’s store opened at the corner of Maple and Bates, where there had been a disused lot with a vacant gas station. And Birmingham’s downtown was forever changed.

For starters, that corner was then part of Birmingham’s “business section,” dominated by offices and the only parking was for workers at those offices. There was no retail customer parking because there hadn’t been much need for it. But Nathan Rosenfeld had a plan. 

As stated. Jacobson’s business model centered upon strong downtowns. They had no interest in the new shopping malls that were popping up in the suburbs. Jacobson’s was so committed to this plan that when the city of Jackson had to discontinue their bus service in the city due to costs, Jacobson’s shouldered much of the expense of providing transportation until the city could resume providing it. Most of their customers didn’t even take the bus, but Rosenfeld knew that public transportation kept the downtown thriving, and a thriving downtown meant a thriving Jacobson’s. 

Most of Jacobson’s customers arrived at their stores by car. Gone were the days of taking trunks of goods from town to town by train, as Moses Jacobson had done, or customers coming into town to shop at a department store by train or horse-drawn wagon, like early shoppers at Birmingham’s first department store, Levinson’s, had done. When he came to Birmingham, Nathan Rosenfeld reached a deal with the city to go halfsies on needed infrastructure-a parking deck. It would be a win-win. Jacobson’s shoppers would have easy and convenient parking, promoting more spending, and the city would be able to attract more folks to its downtown, and thus attract more commercial businesses, too. 

The gamble paid off. In a 1958 December advertisement in the Birmingham Eccentric Newspaper, the city boasts that Birmingham is a shopping magnet where people can shop safely and comfortably with parking for 4,000 vehicles between the new parking structure and other lots. Jacobson’s realized a simple truth when it came to parking- structures allow for more dense parking than surface lots and are attractive to drivers because they offer protection from the elements and nobody likes walking through a huge surface lot. Today, the city has 5 structures with capacity for over 3,500 vehicles along with 1,200 metered parking spaces and several surface lots. Jacobson’s lot? It still exists as the North Old Woodward Parking Structure. Many folks who live in Birmingham and the surrounding area still refer to it as the “Jacobson’s parking deck”.

But Jacobson’s story is bigger than just the parking structure. Birmingham was booming in the 1950s, as shown by the rate of school building, which is a handy metric to judge just how fast a population is growing-literally growing. Between 1940 and 1960, the number of families with three children doubled and the number with four children quadrupled. And that meant the Birmingham district needed more schools. Thanks to district voters’ strong support of operating millage campaigns and bond issues, seventeen new schools, primarily elementary schools, were built between 1950 and 1968. How does this relate to Jacobson’s success? 

Jacobson’s core demographic was women, and the company’s upper management realized that women bought home goods and children’s clothing at the same time they shopped for themselves and that this could lead to their children becoming loyal Jacobson’s shoppers down the line. 

When it opened in 1950, Jacobson’s initial offerings in Birmingham were the women’s apparel store but quickly grew to include the Miss J Shop (for teens and young women), the Fabric Shop, The Home Decorative Shop, the Studio of Fine Arts, The Beauty Studio, The Children’s Shop and The Shop for Men. To accommodate this expansion, Jacobson’s acquired adjacent properties, and the various shops were spread between them. Jacobson’s encouraged their sales people to guide customers to exactly what they needed, even if they had to guide them across or up the street to the other two store locations.

Jacobson’s wasn’t just for shopping either. It featured regular fashion shows throughout the latter 20th century displaying the season’s new looks and often used local women, teens, and children as models. Designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Christian Dior and Liz Clairborne were represented as well as up and coming fashion designers like Stephen Burrows. Burrows was the first Black American designer embraced by the mainstream upper class consumer after his line Spring and Winter lines were carried by Jacobson’s in 1974. His “lettuce leaf” hems in striking and vibrant colors defined an era and Jacobson’s was one of the few places to get his looks in the Midwest.

Although no Jacobson’s store was technically designated as its “flagship” store, Birmingham’s store was considered the flagship. Famous designers, like Calvin Klein, who visited in 1973, made sure to make appearances at the store.

Jacobson’s wedding shows were a favorite as well. Brides and their entourages could view the season’s latest designer offerings for brides, bridemaids and flower girls. Didn’t see anything that spoke to you? You could get a dress and your accessories custom made at Jacobson’s bridal shop! The store even sent someone to you on your wedding day to help you dress if you bought a dress from there! And your wedding dress could make it into the Birmingham Museum’s collection fifty years later!  Eileen Hitz, for example, purchased her gown for her November 1970 wedding at Birmingham’s Jacobson’s and had a headpiece, veil, and train made to match. 

Attending a wedding and need a unique gift? Why not a genuine Pablo Picasso? The gift that every young couple needs! The Fine Arts Studio featured original pieces ranging from paintings to sculptures from world renowned artists for you to choose from. If you weren’t sure about the happy couple’s taste in art, you could pop into the 35,000 square foot Home Store and buy anything from a full dining room to writing stationery. The Home Store was also where you could buy the very best items for home entertaining, and staff could show you what you needed to host the perfect party. They could even send you home with recipes.

Every year the Children’s shop hosted the big man himself, Santa Clause! The Children’s Shop carried everything from shoes, children’s clothing and, of course, toys. Several nights a year during the holiday season were reserved for different groups of shoppers seeking something for that special person on their list. One night a year was reserved for men to come in and get help shopping for their partners and families. I’m not saying that Jake’s started the whole trend of “sitcom dad doesn’t know what his wife or children like” trope, but if you found yourself fitting that description they were more than happy to assist you. 

Speaking of men, Jacobson’s realized soon-ish that men also enjoyed looking good. In 1963 they opened up their Shop for Men.

More of a Diy-er than a buyer? Jacobson’s held regular events called “DO!” where teens could weave cloth, paint and create their own art. The “Create Your Own Dress” contest asked girls in the size range of 4-14 to submit a drawing of their dream dress along with fabric ideas and the winner would have a custom dress made just for her. The 1984 winner was 4th grader Mara Muresan, who got to walk the catwalk in the spring fashion show in her custom gray taffeta dress.

Like the idea of DIY but just don’t have the skills? No problem! Jacobson’s on-hand designers like Ilka Suarez could hand knit or sew whatever you desired. Thinking more along the lines of a custom needlepoint? No problem! Like Jewell Anderson, who was a fan of Beatrix Potter, you could request a custom needlepoint of the character Jeremy Fisher holding a fishing rod, and have it turned into a custom purse. Then you could donate it many years later to the Birmingham Museum to display in its Jacobson’s exhibit. Or, twice a year a silhouette artist visited the store who could create special mementoes for you when you were shopping.

But Jacobson’s wasn’t just a haven for shoppers, it had a reputation for being a good employer as well. Each store had slightly different goods available, which meant that store buyers for each location had latitude for getting to know their customers and tailoring the wares of that store accordingly. Store management, instead of being shuffled around to different locations like other chains did, was encouraged to become a part of their community. Employee turnover was kept low, as many employees reported that they felt listened to and respected. Women were both the majority of Jacobson’s shoppers and also its employees. This was quite different than the employment climate for women in general. In the early to mid 1900s, a woman could be automatically let go from their work if they married and/or had children, but Jacobson’s allowed them to stay on. Women also found great promotional opportunities at Jacobson’s. In the Birmingham location, for instance, many of the various managers were women at a time when few women were able to claw their way into management positions elsewhere. 

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So what went wrong for this most bougie of department stores, and how did an entity that survived the Great Depression not make it to the present day? To answer that, we need to revisit the 1980s. In 1982 Nathan Rosenfeld died. His death wasn’t the only thing working against the store though. Apparel buying patterns were changing. So were dress codes for workplaces. Business casual was taking over from formal, tailored looks. Jacobson’s decided to add more stores throughout the Midwest and Florida and began to court new customers by opening locations in malls and holding sales. Traditionally, Jacobson’s hadn’t held sales or offered coupons out of the belief that it ruined the customer’s faith in the value of the item on sale. And while having a sale might seem like a good way to get new bodies in the door while holding onto existing customers, these tactics turned off their existing customer base and it was too little, too late to bring in new shoppers who could go anywhere to find the same thing.

Fast forward to 2001. Even though President George W Bush told Americans to go shopping in the wake of 9/11 (and for younger listeners, that absolutely happened and I am not exaggerating for comedic effect), the losses that had been piling up on Jacobson’s were too great to overcome even by a grieving and confused nation seeking solace in retail therapy. Bankruptcy hovered. No buyers could be found for the Jacobson’s chain either. Traditional retail chains were floundering at the same time that the dot com bubble was bursting, scaring off potential buyers. In 2002, Jacobson’s closed all of its locations for good. 

But the Jacobson’s experience still exists at the Birmingham Museum. At the museum, we have a semi-permanent exhibit that recreates the atmosphere of the store, and not a week goes by where we don’t hear stories from former shoppers or employees bemoaning the loss of the store. It left a gaping hole in the lives of many, and also in many of the downtowns where the stores were located. I only half joke that we’d have a riot on our hands if we ever replace the Jacobson’s exhibit, we have visitors that come from all over just to see it.

 Luckily in Birmingham, the downtown the Jacobson’s had helped nourish for over 50 years meant that new tenants for its former locations were quickly found. Customers already used to coming to downtown Birmingham found other stores downtown to visit, while still enjoying the two hours of free parking at the city’s parking structures that Jacobson’s helped bring in. The availability of parking and the flow of shoppers meant that smaller stores could move in and get a foothold that they might not have been able to find elsewhere.

As we discussed at the end of last episode with Levinson’s department store, downtown Birmingham no longer has a chain department store. The retail landscape focuses on smaller, often local, boutique shops. In particular, the demand for women’s apparel is strong, with over 19% of downtown businesses focusing on that category. Jewelry and watches constitutes 15%, furniture and home 13% and men’s apparel 11%. The more things change, the more they sometimes stay the same. 

I think of Nathan Rosenfeld as a bit like a previous podcast episode subject, Benjamin Pierce. Pierce is often cited as a “founder” of Birmingham, even though he maybe only visited briefly once or twice. Nathan visited Birmingham much more often (his son recounts over 100 times just for parking proposals) but otherwise, his home was in Jackson, Michigan. Both Pierce and Rosenfeld though, have left legacies here that are still felt today. 

Next episode we’ll talk about a local entrepreneur and war hero who used the increased traffic that Jacobson’s brought to downtown Birmingham to refocus and expand his business. Harris Machus started out as a horseboy working at his parent’s bakery and a restaurant mogul who changed the restaurant landscape forever, as well as becoming embroiled in one of Metro Detroit’s most intriguing mysteries. 

For a full transcript of this episode and to see photos and other documents relating to Jacobson’s Department check out our website, the link is in the shownotes. For questions, comments or episode suggestions please feel free to reach us at museum@bhamgov.org. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating and review as that makes it easier for other folks to find us. 

For more info on the Birmingham Shopping District and to see their upcoming events, check out their website allinBirmingham.com, the link will also be in our shownotes.

I’m Caitlin Donnelly and thank you for joining us for this episode of “Birmingham Uncovered”. Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.