May Department Stores - Fashion Company Profile
The May Department Stores Company was the St. Louis department store holding company founded by David May in Leadville, Colorado in 1877 - owner of Famous-Barr, Hecht's, Foley's, Kaufmann's and other regional nameplates until Federated acquired it in 2005 and converted its stores to Macy's.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Closed - acquired by Federated Department Stores on August 30, 2005; its remaining department store nameplates were converted to Macy's in September 2006 and the company no longer operates
- Type
- Defunct - formerly a public department store holding company; Federated, the acquirer, renamed itself Macy's, Inc. in 2007
- Headquarters
- St. Louis, Missouri, United States (from 1905 until the 2005 acquisition)
- Founded
- 1877, in Leadville, Colorado, by David May
Company Profile
May Department Stores no longer operates, so there is no official company website to link and no shop box on this page; its successor is Macy's, linked in the disclaimer below. Federated Department Stores completed its acquisition of May on August 30, 2005, in an $11 billion deal, and by September 2006 the May regional nameplates - Famous-Barr, Hecht's, Foley's, Kaufmann's, Filene's, Marshall Field's, Robinsons-May and the rest - had been converted to Macy's, sold or closed; Federated itself took the Macy's, Inc. name in 2007. The fuller record - the year-by-year building of the group from the 1877 Leadville founding to the 2005 merger - is kept in full on the history page.
The early moves track a mining fortune becoming a retail system. Founded during the Colorado silver rush in Leadville in 1877, the business moved its headquarters to Denver in 1889, acquired the E. R. Hull Dutton Company of Cleveland in 1899 and renamed it The May Company, Cleveland, later May Company Ohio, then shifted headquarters again to St. Louis in 1905. Incorporation as The May Department Stores Company followed in 1910. In 1911 its Famous Clothing Store and the William Barr Dry Goods Company merged to create Famous-Barr, the St. Louis nameplate that would anchor the group for generations, and in 1912 the M. O'Neil Company of Akron joined as another division.
May Department Stores History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
May Department Stores History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
When did May Department Stores close?
The company was acquired by Federated Department Stores on August 30, 2005. Its remaining nameplates were converted to Macy's in September 2006, and May ceased to exist as a separate company.
Who founded May Department Stores?
David May, in Leadville, Colorado in 1877, during the Colorado silver rush. The headquarters moved to Denver in 1889 and to St. Louis in 1905.
What stores did May own?
Regional department store divisions including Famous-Barr, Hecht's, Foley's, Kaufmann's, Filene's, L.S. Ayres, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, Strawbridge's and The Jones Store, most of which became Macy's stores in 2006.
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