Wieboldt's

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Founded in Chicago in 1883 by William A. Wieboldt, Wieboldt Stores, Inc. grew from a dry-goods store into a Chicago-area department-store institution. By the early 1910s, its Milwaukee Avenue store employed roughly 700 people. By 1930, the company operated five stores, selling the dependable necessities and the occasional little luxury that made a neighborhood shopping trip feel like an event.

Postwar expansion put Wieboldt’s into a bigger Chicago orbit. By 1960, it had 10 stores and more than $80 million in combined annual sales. It purchased Mandel Brothers’ State Street store in 1960, giving Wieboldt’s a downtown flagship at One North State Street; corporate executive offices were located there too. The familiar name then spread across city neighborhoods and suburbs—department-store terrain, ruled by escalators, sale signs, and serious shopping bags.

The good old retail machine sputtered in the 1970s amid changing markets, discount competition, and unprofitable operations. A leveraged buyout closed in December 1985, and Wieboldt entered bankruptcy proceedings in September 1986. The chain did not recover; its remaining stores closed during 1987. A mighty Chicago shopping institution, defeated by debt, shifting habits, and retail’s usual appetite for drama.

Our Wieboldt's collection celebrates the plucky Chicago department-store ghost: Milwaukee Avenue beginnings, State Street ambition, suburban sprawl, and the stubborn romance of a place where a bargain could apparently require several floors and an escalator.