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THREE QUARTERS of a CENTURY of PROGRESS published 1923
Forty ____________________ Sioux City --- the Retail Center of the Northwest Per capita business of Sioux City's large retail
stores exceed that of any other city in the country--trading radius
is explanation. ALONG with the industrial growth of Sioux City and the agricultural growth of the great territory, has grown a system of retail stores that have given Sioux City the name of "The Retail Center of the Northwest." From a trading post of seventy-five years ago this was the first retail store-to over 700 stores ranging in size from small neighborhood stores to giant department stores housed in some of the finest blocks in the city, is the history of retail business here. In 1856 there were seven log cabins on the site of the present city. One of these cabins was a retail store, another was under a tent. The following year another store was opened and from that time on to the present has seen a steady growth in the number of establishments. The business of these primitive stores was necessarily small, but they served a real purpose. White settlers would not stay long in a place where they could not get food and supplies. With these stores the land around the city began to be settled. The retail stores now do an annual business of from sixty to seventy-five million dollars. Their payroll is over eight million dollars annually or more than the output of the factories a half century ago. Over a half million dollars a year is spent for newspaper space in which to tell the people what these stores sell. This is an indication both of the growth of retail business and of advertising as a business proposition. For a time after the founding of the city the retail center was around Fourth and Pearl streets, but gradually began to spread out until it occupies over 30 blocks in the heart of the city and several blocks in Morningside, Leeds, North Riverside and other portions of the city. From the center it has spread out over the entire city. With hundreds of neighborhood stores there is scarcely a spot in the 45 square miles of Sioux City that is more than a few blocks from a grocery and a drug store. These small stores have filled a real purpose in the life of Sioux City. Sioux City takes real pride in her high class shops and giant metropolitan department stores. The merchandise found in these stores cannot be excelled in any store in the United States. Such stores as Davidson Brothers', T. S. Martin's and Pelletier's are examples of stores that would do credit to the metropolitan cities. It is impossible to name all of the 700 stores, but these three are the largest and oldest. They range in age from thirty to over Forty-one _______________
Forty-two __________________
Forty-three _________________ forty years and have served the people of this section as no other stores could. The long line of modern buildings in the down-town section of Sioux City point out the magnitude of the retail business. Many of these buildings are the latest word in business architecture. In order to care for the enormous business they must be systematically arranged and centrally located. Care has been exercised in both angles. Inside, one is amazed at the array of merchandise. The buyers from the various institutions reach out to all the markets of the world and bring in the latest creations for their customers. Eastern styles no longer are examples for the west to follow, as they are received in the west as soon as they are in the east. In many cases the west introduces the styles themselves. How? Through the retail stores that have their customers at heart and want to give them the real service they expect. Service is the answer to the question, "Why is Sioux City the retail center that it is" The city has the stores, the location and the world's richest agricultural section to draw customers from. That is the whole story. The large stores could never exist on the business from the city's 85,000 people. They are built on a larger basis. Some of them have customers as far away as the Black Hills and every store counts its customers not in Sioux City or in Woodbury county, but in the three states and even farther. In some instances retail stores have mailing lists larger than the population of the city. With millions of dollars of capital and with hundreds of employees, these institutions have the world for a market. The clothing stores, the furniture stores, the exclusive shops, the hardware stores, the jewelry shops, and the numerous drug shops carry as complete lines and as up-to-date merchandise as any of the stores in the larger cities. The grocery stores and meat markets are favored in Sioux City by being within a few blocks of the packing plants and the large wholesale grocery concerns. On the other hand they are surrounded by the farming region from which they get fresh products from the farm daily. The house-wife in Sioux City has little worry concerning food—there is always a great variety and quantity of good things to eat on the Sioux City market. Unlike the larger city stores, the stores here have an atmosphere of friendliness and hospitality. The merchants themselves are community builders who have watched the city grow from a small frontier town to the giant industrial metropolis that it is today. They know the people and have served them long enough to know how to satisfy their desires. It is this personal touch behind the counters and in the offices that have built the institutions. We cannot pass this subject without a word for the men behind the retail businesses. When it is found necessary to do something big for Sioux City, the retailers are always in the front ranks with money and men for the occasion. With few exceptions the retailers are public spirited men with the interest of their community first. Forty-four
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