| 1877 |
 |
David May opened the first store of what
was to become The May Department Stores Company in Leadville, Colo., a
silver-mining boom town. |
|
|
| 1892 |
|
David May and three brother-in-law
partners purchased The Famous Clothing Store in St. Louis. |
|
|
| 1898 |
|
David May and partners purchased a
department store in Cleveland and named it May Company. |
|
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| 1905 |
|
May headquarters moved to St. Louis. |
|
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| 1910 |
|
The May Department Stores Company was
incorporated. Earnings were
$1 million. |
|
|
| 1911 |
|
The company was listed on the New York
Stock Exchange. In St. Louis, May acquired the William Barr Dry Goods
Company and combined it with The Famous Clothing Store to form
Famous-Barr. May Merchandising Company was formed under the original
name of The Sostman Mercantile Company and became May Merchandising in
1969. |
|
|
| 1912 |
|
May acquired the M. O'Neil department
store company in Akron, Ohio. |
|
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| 1923 |
|
May acquired the A. Hamburger & Sons
department store in California and renamed it May Company. Earnings
topped $5 million. |
|
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| 1927 |
|
May acquired the Bernheim-Leader
department store in Baltimore and renamed it The May Company. It became
part of Hecht's in 1959. |
|
|
| 1939 |
|
May achieved $100 million in annual
sales. |
|
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| 1946 |
|
May acquired Kaufmann's, a department
store company in Pittsburgh. |
|
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| 1951 |
|
Between 1922 and 1951, May stock split
five times. |
|
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| 1957 |
|
May acquired The Daniels & Fisher Stores
Company in Denver and renamed all Denver stores May D&F. |
|
|
| 1959 |
|
May acquired Hecht's, a department store
company with stores in
Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. |
|
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| 1964 |
|
Stock split two-for-one. |
|
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| 1965 |
|
May acquired the G. Fox department store
company in Hartford, Conn. |
|
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| 1966 |
|
May acquired the Meier & Frank
department store company in Portland, Ore. |
|
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| 1967 |
|
May reached the $1.0 billion milestone
in annual sales. |
|
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| 1974 |
|
May Department Stores International
began operations. |
|
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| 1976 |
|
Stock split three-for-two. |
|
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| 1977 |
|
Earnings reached the $100 million
milestone. |
|
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| 1981 |
|
Annual sales topped $3.0 billion. |
|
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| 1984 |
|
Stock split three-for-two. |
|
|
| 1986
|
|
May acquired Associated Dry Goods
Corporation, including Lord & Taylor headquartered in New York City;
Sibley's headquartered in Rochester, N.Y.; J.W. Robinson's headquartered
in Los Angeles; Denver Dry Goods Corporation headquartered in Denver;
Goldwaters headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz.; Hahne's headquartered in
Newark, N.J.; and L.S. Ayres headquartered in Indianapolis. Strouss, in
Youngstown, Ohio, was consolidated with Kaufmann's. Earnings reached
$250 million. Stock split two-for-one. |
|
|
| 1987 |
|
The Denver Dry Goods Corporation was
consolidated with May D&F. |
|
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| 1988 |
|
May acquired Foley's in Houston and
Filene's in Boston. Annual sales topped $6.0 billion. |
|
|
| 1989 |
|
O'Neil's in Akron, Ohio, was
consolidated with the May Company, Cleveland, division; seven Goldwaters
stores were consolidated with other divisions; and six Hahne's stores in
New Jersey were consolidated with Lord & Taylor. |
|
|
| 1990 |
|
May acquired Thalhimers, based in
Richmond, Va.; Sibley's was consolidated with Kaufmann's. |
|
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| 1992 |
|
Thalhimers was consolidated with
Hecht's, and L.S. Ayres was consolidated with Famous-Barr, but retained
the L.S. Ayres name in the Indiana markets. |
|
|
| 1993 |
|
May Company and J.W. Robinson's in Los
Angeles were consolidated to create Robinsons-May; May Company,
Cleveland, was consolidated with Kaufmann's; G. Fox was consolidated
with Filene's; and May D&F was consolidated with Foley's. May
Merchandising Company and May Department Stores International were moved
to the St. Louis corporate headquarters. Annual sales were $9.0 billion,
and earnings topped $500 million. Stock split two-for-one. |
|
|
| 1994 |
|
May acquired 10 stores from Hess's in
Pennsylvania and New York state. Six of the stores were consolidated
into Kaufmann's, two into Hecht's, and two into Filene's. |
|
|
| 1995 |
|
The company purchased 14 Wanamaker's
stores in the Philadelphia area and three Woodward & Lothrop stores in
Washington, D.C.; 15 of the stores were consolidated with Hecht's and
two with Lord & Taylor. |
|
|
| 1996 |
|
May purchased 13 Strawbridge & Clothier
stores in the greater Philadelphia area. The stores were consolidated
into Hecht's and operate under the Strawbridge's name, along with eight
other stores in the Philadelphia market. The May Department Stores
Company, a New York corporation, reincorporated in Delaware, becoming
The May Department Stores Company, a Delaware corporation. |
|
|
| 1997 |
|
Annual sales topped $12.0 billion. |
|
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| 1998 |
|
May purchased 13 stores, including 11
former Mercantile locations. Nine of the acquired stores were
consolidated into Famous-Barr, seven of which operate under The Jones
Store name in Kansas City and Topeka. |
|
|
| 1999 |
|
May purchased 13 Zions Co-operative
Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) stores in Utah and Idaho. The stores were
operated by Meier & Frank, and the ZCMI name was changed to Meier &
Frank in 2001. Stock split three-for-two. |
|
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| 2000 |
|
David's Bridal, the largest retailer of
bridal gowns and other bridal party-related merchandise in the United
States, joined May. |
|
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| 2001 |
|
May acquired After Hours Formalwear, the
largest tuxedo rental and sales retailer in the nation. May purchased
nine department stores from Saks Incorporated, 13 former Wards stores,
and two Bradlees stores. |
|
|
| 2002 |
|
May acquired substantially all of the
assets of Priscilla of Boston, an upscale bridal gown retailer, and
announced a marketing alliance with The Knot, an online wedding planning
resource. May combined its Filene's and Kaufmann's divisions as well as
its Robinsons-May and Meier & Frank divisions. |
|
|
| 2003 |
|
May acquired two Marshall Field's stores
in Columbus, Ohio, and operates them under the Kaufmann's name. |
|
|
| 2004 |
|
May acquired Marshall Field's department
stores, adding 62 stores in eight states. Marshall Field's operates as
one of May's seven department store divisions and is headquartered in
Minneapolis. |
