Strawbridge & Clothier collections

About this collection

    Strawbridge & Clothier was a major department store chain in the Greater Philadelphia area focused on a middle-class clientele. The firm was founded as a partnership by Justus C. Strawbridge and Isaac H. Clothier on July 1, 1868, and incorporated on February 14, 1922. The firm was operated on Quaker principles of simplicity and community service, control remaining with the founding families, especially the Strawbridges, for four generaltions.
    The company was the last locally-​controlled, family-owned department store chain in the Philadelphia area. Despite an early move into suburban branches beginning in 1930 and the development of the popular Clover line of discount stores, the firm succumbed to changing patterns in retailing and sold its stores to the May Department Store Company of St. Louis on July 15, 1996.
    This digital collection draws from multiple resources at Hagley Library, none of which have been digitized in their entirety. It includes selections from the Strawbridge & Clothier records (Accession 2117) collection and the Strawbridge and Clothier photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1995.250) collection. It also includes materials drawn from publications in our Published Collections department, which can be discovered in our Library Catalog.
    Image: The store at 8th and Market. From Store Chat (Vol. 24, No. 04).

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