Loveman's (Chattanooga)

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Loveman’s began in Chattanooga in 1875, when brothers David Bernard and Herman Herschel Loveman opened the dry-goods concern D. B. Loveman and Bro. Ismar Noa joined in 1877, and the business became D. B. Loveman & Company. In 1884, the firm bought the southeast corner of Eighth and Market streets, where it built Chattanooga’s first department store in 1885. Casual little neighborhood project, obviously.

The flagship survived a devastating fire on December 26, 1891, and the business rebuilt its footing. By 1917, Loveman’s employed about 300 people. For generations, the Market Street store was part shopping destination, part downtown landmark, and part reliable excuse to spend the afternoon “just looking.”

Loveman’s expanded beyond its downtown base with Chattanooga-area branches, an Eastgate Mall store in 1965, a Dalton, Georgia, anchor at Walnut Square Mall in 1980, and a Hamilton Place location in 1987. Proffitt’s acquired the five-store Loveman’s chain in 1988, retiring the local banner as stores were converted to Proffitt’s. The old Eighth and Market building later became a mixed-use property.

Our Loveman's (Chattanooga) collection celebrates the department-store original: dry goods, escalator dreams, downtown window-shopping, and the stubbornly stylish spirit of Chattanooga retail before every errand came with a parking lot the size of a county.