History
In 1849, Horne's began operations as The Joseph Horne Company after Joseph Horne bought the Eaton Co. It soon became a leading Pittsburgh department store. In 1879, a new central location was built at Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street in Downtown Pittsburgh, a seven-story landmark which was the first department store in the city's downtown. The building still stands to this day and several Horne's signs remains on the building to remember the store, similar to exterior details which continue to be displayed at the former Pittsburgh Kaufmann's on Smithfield. St.
In 1972, Associated Dry Goods acquired Horne's, and ADG expanded operations of Horne's to several stores in suburban malls throughout the Pittsburgh region as well as in Erie, Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio. In December 1986, Horne's was acquired by a local investor group following ADG's acquisition by May Department Stores. The local buyout was part of May's divesting of the Horne's chain, since May was already the owner of cross-town rival Kaufmann's.
Two years later, the Arkansas-based department store chain Dillard's and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. agreed to acquire Horne's, with plans of combining it with another recent acquisition for Dillard's — the Ohio-based Higbee's store chain. The deal was canceled abruptly, resulting in several years of litigation. Dillard's eventually agreed to acquire five Ohio Horne's stores as part of a legal settlement in 1992.
By 1994, Federated Department Stores acquired the remaining ten Horne's stores and merged them with its Lazarus division, completely ceasing all operations of any store under the Horne's name. This caused some anger among Pittsburgh shoppers, as Horne's was the oldest store in the city, Horne's had been a 145-year-old Pittsburgh tradition. After its closure the company was often praised for surviving 145 years with only a maximum of 15 stores. Several of the former Horne's locations operating as Lazarus were closed in 1998. Those that remained eventually became known as "Lazarus-Macy's" and in 2006 were joined with Kaufmann's in the nationwide Macy's consolidation.
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