Department Store ARCHIVES - Special Presentation! From A&S to Strawbridges .....King Of Prussia PA

1981 The Court at King Of Prussia Is Completed. Its Three Anchor Stores Are Bloomingdale's Abraham & Straus And Bamberger's. The Court was built next to  the Plaza At King of Prussia. Fast Forward to 1987 Abraham & Straus is shuttering its Pennsylvania locations, K.O.P. Included. This Left a large hole in this triple header malls lineup.

Concept Model Of Abraham & Straus

Main Level Of The Store Somewhat Plain

Linens

Fast Forward to 1989 Strawbridge & Clothier had Purchased the building and stripped it down to the bare structural steel. One wall and the roof went also, The only remains from A&S were the escalators and the elevators. The bridge from the store to the parking garage was demolished and replaced with a glass atrium. The store was redesigned to be one of the best!

Redesigned Front entrance

Original Escalators with a very New skylight and Dutch artwork.

What had once been a cool yet simplistic early 80s A&S store was now a palace of commerce. The redesign shined in every way possible with many more types of flooring than A&S'S Parquet. And beautiful light fixtures. The Circular paintings in the escalator well were original pieces of art, of Dutch origin. The spectacular front entrance which had replaced the gangplank style bridge from the original design, contained a replica of the Porcelino fountain. Another replica was housed at the Flagship store in downtown Philadelphia. The front entry flowed up into the third level which contained a small food court style Ice Cream shop/Restaurant. Above the Fountain was a replica of an antique clock, which had SC letters of top of it(This can still be seen today).

Lingerie with Some spectacular light fixtures.

The Cafe Above the main entrance on three.

Childrens

Exterior of the Main entrance At Dusk

Ultimately the Store Didn't even last ten years. This was Because Strawbridge and Clothier at the time of opening of this location was still under the control of Stockton Strawbridge. (Strawbridge's being family owned was the secret behind their spectacular locations). This was the last store built under family ownership before Strawbridges was sold to May stores. When May consolidated John Wanamaker with Strawbridge's this Palace of a store was abandoned for the circa 1963 Wanamaker's store. The building was once again completely gutted and subdivided between several stores. A handful of features from Strawbridge's can still be seen today.

 Photo Credits: Stores For the 90s (1990)
A&S Fans On Facebook , Stores Of the Year Volume 3 (1983) By Martin M Pegler