Mimi History of the Emporium (Downtown Store)

This c1904 photo shows the Emporium on what could have been its Opening Day as The Emporium. The Emporium Inc. was established at the present location in 1896. For the first few years it was operated as the Emporium and Golden Rule Bazar. In the early years, many of what would eventually become "departments" of The Emporium department store, were independently owned businesses.

This view is down Ellis Street from Mason Street and shows the ruins of (from left to right) the Poodle Dog Restaurant, Flood Building and the Emporium after the quake and fire of April 18-20, 1906.

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Looking east from the eighth floor of the Flood Building, only days after the earthquake and fire. The front of the building was most of what was left standing.

Within a few weeks after the quake, The Emporium and some other businesses were setting up temporary stores on Van Ness Ave. The above photo is of the soon to be site of The Emporium's store on the north east corner of Van Ness Ave. and Post Street.

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Taken a short while after the previous photo, this view shows employees of the new Emporium lined up for a group portrait before the grand opening.
The tree that can be seen in the above photo had been cut down and left in the gutter.
By 1908, The Emporium was back in their rebuilt store on Market Street.

On January 1, 1926, a small item in the S.F. Examiner announced that "Property had already been purchased, financing completed and plans well under way, for the building of a mammoth new Emporium at 8th and Market Streets." That store was obviously never built, but The store below opened for business a couple of years later.

Not to be confused with The Emporium we are all familiar with, this store at 1143-1175 Market Street was, never-the-less, owned by The Emporium. It operated as The Emporium Public Market during the years 1929 and 1930, after which It became the Crystal Public Market and then the Crystal Palace Market.

This photo was taken in 1934, during the height of the Great Depression and is the period of the Emporium I remember best. At that time a galeria, with numerous display windows, spanned the width of the store between the sidewalk and the store itself.

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The Emporium 2001. Closed for good in 1998, it will soon be enlarged and extended to Mission Street. When the project is completed the new structure will house a hotel on the top floors, misc. retail shops on the ground floor and Bloomingdale's on the center floors.

mibgda-2day@sfchangehappens-books.com