History
Samuel Walter Woodward (1848-August 2, 1917) and Alvin Mason Lothrop (1847–1912) opened a dry goods store in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1873, and maintained several stores in the Boston area. In partnership with Charles E. Cochrane, on February 8, 1880 they moved to Washington. For many years, their department store would sponsor a "Founders Day Sale" in early February to commemorate the move.
Woodward, Lothrop & Cochrane opened at 705 Market Space at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street Northwest (now the United States Navy Memorial). The first store was so successful that within a year, they moved to a larger location at 921 Pennsylvania Avenue. After flooding in 1886, they moved again to the corner of 11th and F Streets NW. Woodward and Lothrop purchased Cochrane's share of the partnership, and the new store renamed Woodward & Lothrop.
Woodies expanded into suburban shopping malls after World War II, but the owning families resisted expansion by amalgamation, and the chain grew slowly. It became a target of takeover attempts in the 1980s, resisting a leveraged buyout by Ronald Baron in February 1984 but accepting a $277 million bid later that year from Detroit shopping center mogul A. Alfred Taubman.
But Taubman had incurred substantial debt during his '80s acquisitions, which included the Philadelphia-based Wanamaker's department stores in 1986 as well as Sotheby's auction house and various properties. The early 1990s recession, while historically mild, disproportionately impacted real estate and department store retail. The greater Washington area was also affected by sharp reductions in defense spending after the end of the Cold War, leading to a loss of consumer confidence.
Woodward & Lothrop, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 18, 1994, with $608 million in total assets and $659 in total liabilities. Drastic cost-cutting and increased sales figures did not return the firm to profitability, however, and the chain, including its John Wanamaker subsidiary, was liquidated. On June 21, 1995, seven of the remaining Woodward & Lothrop locations were sold to J. C. Penney and the rest plus the Wanamaker's locations were sold to the May Department Stores, which converted them to its Hecht's and Lord & Taylor divisions. By November 1995, all Woodies stores had completed liquidation sales and were permanently closed.
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