The Fair Store
Department store in Chicago (1874–1984)
title: "The Fair Store" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["retail-companies-established-in-1874", "history-of-chicago", "defunct-department-stores-based-in-chicago", "defunct-department-stores-based-in-michigan", "retail-companies-disestablished-in-1957", "1874-establishments-in-illinois", "1957-disestablishments-in-illinois", "demolished-buildings-and-structures-in-chicago", "buildings-and-structures-demolished-in-1985"] description: "Department store in Chicago (1874–1984)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fair_Store" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Department store in Chicago (1874–1984) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | The Fair |
| logo | The Fair Department Store IL.png |
| logo_size | 200px |
| image | Historic American Buildings Survey Harold Allen, Photographer 22 June 1964 SOUTHWEST CORNER - DEARBORN AND ADAMS STREETS WEST ELEVATION - Fair Store, 126-144 South State Street, HABS ILL,16-CHIG,62-2.tif |
| type | Discount department store |
| foundation | 1874 |
| location | Chicago, Illinois |
| industry | Retail |
| products | Apparel, fabrics, furniture, sewing machines, baby buggies, toys and games for adults, inexpensive household items |
| :: |
| name = The Fair | logo = The Fair Department Store IL.png | logo_size = 200px | image = Historic American Buildings Survey Harold Allen, Photographer 22 June 1964 SOUTHWEST CORNER - DEARBORN AND ADAMS STREETS WEST ELEVATION - Fair Store, 126-144 South State Street, HABS ILL,16-CHIG,62-2.tif | type = Discount department store | foundation = 1874 | location = Chicago, Illinois | industry = Retail | products = Apparel, fabrics, furniture, sewing machines, baby buggies, toys and games for adults, inexpensive household items | homepage = The Fair was a discount department store founded in 1874 in Chicago, Illinois.
History
Founder Ernst J. Lehmann named the store "The Fair", saying "the store was like a fair, because it offered many different things for sale at a cheap price." Lehmann bought and sold goods on a cash-only basis; he offered odd prices (i. e., prices not in multiples of five cents) to save customers a few pennies on every purchase. The flagship store moved to the corner of State and Adams Streets in 1875; a modern twelve-story building for the store designed by William Le Baron Jenney would be completed on that site in 1891.
The Fair promoted itself as a discount department store in the early 1900s. In 1915, a booklet published by the store stated it "always has been and undoubtedly always will be, the store of the people, the down-town shopping center for the Savers, the market place for the Thrifty." In 1925 the business was sold to a syndicate headed by S.S. Kresge (predecessor firm of Kmart). Under its management, branches were opened on Milwaukee Avenue (1929), in Oak Park, Illinois (1929), at the Evergreen Plaza Shopping Center (1952), and at the Old Orchard Shopping Center (1956).
In 1957, Montgomery Ward purchased the State Street flagship store, as well as the Oak Park, Evergreen Plaza, and Old Orchard locations, from the Kresge syndicate in a bid to expand its Chicago operations; unlike many other retailers, Montgomery Ward had not joined in the construction of branch stores immediately following World War II. Initially, these stores retained The Fair nameplate, and one more The Fair store would open, at Randhurst Mall in 1962. However, the Randhurst store would also be the first converted to the Montgomery Ward nameplate, in August 1963; the other locations would convert to the parent company's name plate in 1964. The flagship building on State Street was closed in 1984 and demolished in 1985. Though a new building was planned for the valuable real estate, none was constructed until 2001.
References
References
- (August 26, 2006). "Many store names faded". [[Chicago Tribune]].
- Davis, Robert. (16 June 1982). "Tower to replace Wards State St. Store". Chicago Tribune.
- Ledermann, Robert P.. (September 30, 2002). "Christmas on State Street: 1940s and Beyond". Arcadia Publishing.
- Sabin, Pat. "The Fair Department Store - State and Adams Street, Chicago".
- (January 12, 1997). "The Fair". Jazz Age Chicago.
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