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{{Short description|American department store}} {{About|the defunct chain of department stores|the former parent company previously named Dayton-Hudson Corporation|Target Corporation}} {{Distinguish|Hudson's Bay Company}} {{Use American English|date=April 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox company | name = Hudson's | logo = Hudson's Department Store Final Logo.png | logo_size = 200px | caption = | fate = Locations re-branded as [[Marshall Field's]] in 2001 | successor = [[Marshall Field's]] (2001–2006)<br/>[[Macy's]] (2006–present) | foundation = 1881 | defunct = 2001 | location = [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]], [[Michigan]] (1881–1969)<br/>[[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]] (1969–2001)<br/>United States | industry = [[Department store]] | key_people = [[Joseph L. Hudson]] | products = <!--some of company's notable products--> | num_employees = <!--peak number of employees--> | parent = [[Target Corporation|Dayton–Hudson Corporation]] | homepage = }} '''The J. L. Hudson Company''' (commonly known simply as '''Hudson's''') was an upscale retail [[department store]] chain based in [[Detroit]], Michigan. Hudson's [[J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition|flagship store]], on [[M-1 (Michigan highway)|Woodward Avenue]] in [[Downtown Detroit]] (demolished October 24, 1998),<ref name="CDI">{{cite web| title=J.L. Hudson Department Store| website=Controlled Demolition, Inc.—Services: Buildings| url=http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp?reqLocId=7&reqItemId=20030225133807| access-date=2006-09-16| archive-date=2008-12-20| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220103947/http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp?reqLocId=7&reqItemId=20030225133807| url-status=usurped}}</ref> was the tallest department store in the world in 1961,<ref name="detroitnews">{{cite news |last=Baulch |first=Vivian M. |title=How J.L. Hudson changed the way we shop |newspaper=[[The Detroit News]] |url=http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=29&category=business |access-date=2006-09-16 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709194807/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=29&category=business |archive-date=2012-07-09}}</ref> and, at one time, claimed to be the second-largest department store, after [[Macy's Herald Square|Macy's]], in the United States, by [[square footage]].<ref name="institution">{{cite magazine| title=Retail Trade: Store into Institution| date=23 March 1953| magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806649,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222105158/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806649,00.html| url-status=usurped| archive-date=December 22, 2008| access-date=2011-05-24}}</ref> ==Growth== Founded in 1881 by [[Joseph Lowthian Hudson]], the store thrived during the record growth of Detroit and the auto industry in the first half of the 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}} In 1909, J.L. Hudson invested in a start-up automobile manufacturer which was named the [[Hudson Motor Car Company]] in his honor.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}} The Hudson Motor Car Company eventually became part of the [[American Motors Corporation]] and later [[Chrysler]]. Hudson operated the store until his death in 1912, when his four nephews (James, Joseph, Oscar, and Richard Webber) assumed control. The third generation of the family assumed control in 1961, when Joseph L. Hudson, Jr., became president of the company.<ref name="embarrassed"/> [[File:Hudson's logos.svg|thumb|Hudson's various logos]] Over time, the store grew from its beginnings in the [[Detroit Opera House]] to a 25-story building with {{convert|2124316|sqft|abbr=on}} and occupying an entire city block. ==Policies== Hudson's was known for customer satisfaction and its liberal return policy that would include even merchandise that customers had purchased years earlier but never used. In 1952, Hudson's total sales were $175 million but issued refunds totaling $25 million. Store executives felt that to be a small price to pay for customer loyalty.<ref name="institution"/> In addition to cultivating loyalty through sales policies, Hudson's was involved in the community. In 1924, two years prior to rival Macy's, it staged its first [[America's Thanksgiving Parade|Thanksgiving Parade]], which continues today.<ref name="Peterson">{{cite news| title=Downtown Detroit Shops for a Future, but Not at Once-Grand Hudson's| first=Iver| last=Peterson| url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D1FFA3C5410728DDDAA0A94DA415B898BF1D3 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 23, 1979 |access-date=2011-05-26}}</ref> In 1923, it unveiled the world's largest flag, which covered {{convert|3700|sqft|abbr=on}} of the Woodward facade of the building. The flag was displayed annually until it was replaced, in 1949, by a larger flag. In 1959, the store began sponsorship of the annual fireworks display that was part of the [[International Freedom Festival]].<ref name="detroitnews"/> ==Locations== Hudson's Budget Store occupied two full basement levels of the downtown store as well as several branches. It had an independent staff of buyers, carried its own line of merchandise, and was considered the greatest competition to the big store.<ref name="embarrassed">{{cite magazine| title=Retailing: No Embarrassed Customers| date=June 2, 1961| url=http://search.time.com/results.html?Ntt=j+l+hudson| magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| access-date=2011-05-24| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204180225/http://search.time.com/results.html?Ntt=j+l+hudson| archive-date=4 February 2013}}</ref> Hudson's expanded into suburban Detroit, starting with the anchor store at [[Northland Center (Michigan)|Northland Center]] in nearby [[Southfield, Michigan]], the largest shopping center in the United States when it opened, in 1954.<ref name="detroitnews"/> Similar suburban malls followed (Eastland Center in 1957 and Westland Center in 1965) as well as other locations throughout the tri-state region. [[Dayton's|The Dayton Co.]] of Minneapolis acquired The J.L. Hudson Co. in 1969 to form the [[Dayton–Hudson Corporation]], the predecessor to [[Target Corporation]], but "The J.L. Hudson Co." continued to operate as a semiautonomous entity. Dayton–Hudson eventually acquired and sold several other department store chains.<ref name="merge">{{cite news| title=Dayton's and Hudson's to Merge| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/03/07/archives/dayton-and-hudsons-to-merge-retailers-in-agreement-large-retailers.html| date=March 7, 1969| first=Isadore| last=Barmash| newspaper=The New York Times| page=51| access-date=2011-05-26}}</ref> ==Decline== Though customers flocked to the suburban locations, the downtown store still accounted for half of Hudson's business in 1961, but demographic changes continued to erode sales.<ref name="embarrassed"/> Store officials even considered closing the store as early as 1971, citing $9,000,000 in pilferage, but decided to remain for fear of the potential backlash of city officials and customers.<ref name="fleeing">{{cite magazine| title=Business: Why Companies are Fleeing the Cities| date=26 April 1971| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902912,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221212856/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902912,00.html| url-status=usurped| archive-date=December 21, 2008| magazine=Time| access-date=2011-05-24}}</ref> By 1978, they agreed to construct a smaller store of {{convert|320000|sqft|abbr=on}} as part of a proposed downtown shopping center.<ref name="new store">{{cite news| title=Dayton May Build New Detroit Store| date=July 14, 1978| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=2011-05-26| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/14/archives/dayton-may-build-new-detroit-store.html}}</ref> Lack of interest from other retailers and funding problems shelved the center, and after many years of declining sales and consolidating selling space, the flagship Hudson's store closed January 17, 1983, at nearly the lowest point of Downtown Detroit's decline.<ref name="tales">{{cite magazine| title=Tales off Ten Cities| first1=J. Madeline| last1=Nash| author2=Maureen Dowd| author3=Barbara B. Dolan| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,951913-1,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107082621/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,951913-1,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=November 7, 2012| magazine=Time| date=January 31, 1983| access-date=2011-02-24}}</ref> After closure, Hudson's maintained its headquarters staff of about 1,100 in the downtown store. In May 1984, The J.L. Hudson Co. formally merged into The Department Store Division of the Dayton Hudson Corp., but Hudson's stores continued to carry the Hudson's name until 2001.<ref>{{cite news| title=Dayton's, Hudson's stores to become Marshall Field's| date=January 12, 2001| first=Margaret| last=Taus| url=https://www.bhpioneer.com/daytons-hudsons-stores-to-become-marshall-fields/article_f0e09a58-758d-5deb-9c60-eea777dba346.html| agency=[[Associated Press]]| newspaper=[[Black Hills Pioneer]]| location=Spearfish, South Dakota| access-date=2025-02-23}}</ref> All executive and buying positions transferred to Minneapolis, and other staff moved to space at the Northland store in Southfield. The last corporate department in the downtown Detroit building, credit operations, moved in October 1986. Dayton Hudson sold the building in December 1989, and it was [[building implosion|imploded]] on October 24, 1998.<ref>{{cite news| title=Detroit's Hudson Building imploded 20 years ago today| url=https://www.metrotimes.com/news/detroits-hudson-building-imploded-20-years-ago-today-16922495| first=Jerilyn| last=Jordan| date=October 24, 2018| newspaper=[[Metro Times]]| access-date=2025-02-23}}</ref> Hudson's operated a large warehouse complex in an area bounded by Madison, Brush, Adams and Beacon Streets in Downtown Detroit. The buildings were constructed between the 1920s and the 1950s and averaged between four and six floors. In the early 1980s, Building 3 was sold and renovated into Madison Center, home for the [[Michigan District Courts|36th District Court]].<ref name="Emporis">{{cite web| title=Madison Center Building| url=http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=289760| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130409033338/http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=289760| url-status=usurped| archive-date=April 9, 2013| access-date=2011-05-26| website=[[Emporis]]}}</ref> The remaining buildings in the complex closed in the late 1990s to make room for the new 65,000-seat stadium, [[Ford Field]]. Ford Field partially incorporated one of the warehouses into its design. The vacant site in Detroit between Woodward and Farmer Street and between E. Grand River and Gratiot was turned into an underground parking garage with supports in place for a future building. The address of the first Hudson's building on the lot was on Farmer, not at 1206 Woodward, the building's later and better-known address. In 2018 the parking garage at the former Hudson's site was demolished to make way for [[Hudson's Site Development (Detroit)|two new buildings]] on the former Hudson's site. One of these new buildings will be the second tallest building in Michigan upon its completion, project height of {{convert|685|ft|m}}.<ref name="Crain's Detroit Business">{{cite web |title=Hudson's Site |url=https://www.hudsonssitedetroit.com/ |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=Bedrock Management}}</ref> In 2000, Dayton–Hudson Corporation took the name of its most successful operation, becoming [[Target Corporation]], and one year, it later re-branded all Hudson's and Dayton's locations with the [[Marshall Field's]] moniker, an operation purchased by Dayton–Hudson in 1990. After being briefly owned by [[May Department Stores]], the former Hudson's stores were acquired by [[Macy's, Inc.|Federated Department Stores]] in 2006 and all Marshall Field's stores were incorporated into the [[Macy's]] chain. Target still maintains a common law trademark in the use of Daytons.com and Hudsons.com, which both redirect to the Target website. ==See also== * [[Architecture of metropolitan Detroit]] * [[Dayton's]] * [[J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition]] * [[List of department stores converted to Macy's]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== * Hauser, Michael, and Marianne Weldon (2004). ''Hudson's: Detroit's Legendary Department Store''. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7385-3355-6}}. * Hauser, Michael, and Marianne Weldon (2010). ''Remembering Hudson's: The Grande Dame of Detroit Retailing''. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-7385-8366-2}}. {{ISBN|0-7385-8366-9}}. ==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP1HJoG-1Pg Demolition of Hudson Department Store] * [https://archive.org/details/201611181436 Hudson's hundredth 1881-1981 (booklet)] {{Marshall Field's history}} [[Category:Defunct department stores based in Michigan]] [[Category:Clothing retailers of the United States]] [[Category:Companies based in Detroit]] [[Category:Culture of Detroit]] [[Category:Woodward Avenue]] [[Category:American companies established in 1881]] [[Category:Retail companies established in 1881]] [[Category:Retail companies disestablished in 2001]] [[Category:1881 establishments in Michigan]] [[Category:2001 disestablishments in Michigan]] [[Category:Defunct companies based in Michigan]] [[Category:Stores converted to Marshall Fields]] [[Category:Marshall Field's]] [[Category:Target Corporation]]
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