New book chronicles Harzfeld’s

Need for a Chanukah present for a woman of a certain age? Look no further than “Harzfeld’s: A Brief History,” (History Press, 2009) a new book about the Jewish-owned and managed retailer that is said to have brought women’s ready-to-wear fashion to the Kansas City area.

The authors, local graphic designers Joe and Michele Boeckholt, trace Harzfeld’s from its opening in 1891 as the Parisian Cloak Co. to its dissolution in 1984 following a series of corporate mergers. The store clothed generations of Kansas City women in high style, and its founder, Siegmund Harzfeld, served as an important civic leader.

The book is full of nostalgic images, from fashion illustrations created for newspaper ads to photographs of various store locations, including the famous Thomas Hart Benton mural at the flagship store downtown.

There are also recollections from people who worked at the store and/or their descendants. (Full disclosure: This section includes my father’s reminiscence about my late grandmother, Bertha Hellman, who worked at Harzfeld’s for 30 years.)

Marna Dolginoff’s mother, Hanna Bernstein, worked in the Harzfeld’s shoe department for many years. As a child, Dolginoff said, the store seemed like a garden of earthly delights.

“It was unbelievable,” Dolginoff said. “There were so many special things for children.”

As she grew up, Dolginoff continued to shop there. She even worked there part-time.

“When you were going to get married, you went to Harzfeld’s and bought your lingerie,” Dolginoff said. “And when I grew up, I took the kids to Mrs. Wolf in the children’s department for their clothing and to mother for their shoes.”

The sales ladies all took their time, helping customers find their favorite styles and getting them the best fit. Although Harzfeld’s pioneered ladies’ ready-to-wear in greater Kansas City, it always maintained a staff of tailors to further refine the garments it sold.

“There isn’t any place like that any more,” said Dolginoff.

Green and white stripes
The authors of the book, the Boeckholts, never shopped at Harzfeld’s, but they have learned a great deal about it, which has led to an obvious affection and respect for the institution.
It all started about a decade ago, when the Boeckholts were shopping at a flea market in the American Royal building. They happened upon a trove of papers from the estate of Harzfeld’s late graphic designer Erasmus Beall, who created the store’s iconic, green-and-white striped logo.

“We enjoy local history, and we both have a design background,” explained Michele Boeckholt. “So we made an offer for the pile, and it started to tell the story of Erasmus Beall.”

The Boeckholts continued to collect Harzfeld’s ephemera, amassing a collection of hat boxes, postcards, corporate bulletins, newspaper advertisements and the like. Several years ago, they displayed some of their stash at the Johnson County Central Resource Library. Then they established a Harzfeld’s blog (harzfelds.blogspot.com), which is how an editor from the South Carolina-based History Press spotted them and asked if they’d be interested in creating a book about Harzfeld’s. History Press came out last year with a similar book about Miller & Rhoads, a Virginia-based department store.

At that point, the Boeckholts sought out Lester Siegel Jr., whose family was Siegmund Harzfeld’s initial financial backer and who eventually became president of the company, following in the footsteps of his father. Lester Siegel Sr. came down from Chicago in about 1919 to join Sieg Harzfeld in running the business. The Boeckholts said Siegel helped “fill in the gaps” in their knowledge of the business.

At one time, there were five local Harzfeld’s stores, plus outposts in Lawrence, Kan., and Columbia, Mo. Lester Siegel Jr. retired in 1978, a few years after selling Harzfeld’s to a large store chain. (See below for details) By the mid-1980s, the last Harzfeld’s store, on the Plaza, had become a Bonwit Teller.

Lester Siegel Jr. said this week he was looking forward to reading the Boeckholts’ book.

“It’s quite an honor,” Siegel said, “and it’s a reflection on the wonderful people we had in the organization, which made it what it was.”

Rise and fall
The Boeckholts have come to realize the esteem in which Harzfeld’s was — and still is — held by many Kansas City consumers.

“People say to me all the time ‘I’ve got a Harzfeld’s hat box in my closet.’ What is interesting to us is the longevity of this packaging design,” Michele Boeckholt said. “It says something for the strength of their original approach.”

Harzfeld’s employed hundreds of people at any one time, the Boeckholts say, including artists who illustrated the “incredible amount of advertising” Harzfeld’s did in local and national print publications. Ads in national magazines typically featured the designer labels — Christian Dior, Adele Simpson, Barbizon, etc. — that Harzfeld’s carried in its haute-couture French Room.

Harzfeld’s also carried locally made garments, such as Nelly Don, as well as its own private-label merchandise with such brand names as Gadabout shoes and Petticoat Lane dresses.

Changes in clothing manufacturing starting in the 1960s spelled the beginning of the end for Harzfeld’s, the Boeckholts said.

“I see the prices on some of the fashions in the store, and even today they are almost shocking to us because we are accustomed to cheap garments,” said Joe Boeckholt. “Lester (Siegel Jr.) said that in the 1960s, a lot of garments started to be made in Asia — not everything, but the basics; the essentials —and they were not able to keep up with what was happening in the fashion world fast enough.”

Starting in the mid-1970s, Harzfeld’s was sold to the Garfinckel-Brooks Brothers group, which, in turn was swallowed up by the Allied Department Store group, and eventually, after a torturous series of leveraged buyouts, by the merged Allied-Federated department-store chain.

“They really didn’t know how to run a fine specialty store like Harzfeld’s or Bonwit,” said Siegel. “Those were difficult years.”

Most Harzfeld’s stores closed in 1983 and 1984. The Plaza store became a Bonwit Teller before closing for good in 1990.

Meet the authors
“Harzfeld’s: A Brief History” (History Press, 2009) will soon be available at major book stores and online outlets, as well as historypress.net. It’s a 128-page paperback book, with about 100 illustrations. It retails for $19.99.
Authors Joe and Michele Boeckholt have the following signing sessions scheduled:
• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at the consignment shop Her Majesty’s Closet, 4111 W. 83rd St. in Prairie Village, Kan.
• 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at Borders, 8628 N. Boardwalk Ave., (Near I-29 and Barry Road) Kansas City, Mo.
•1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at Barnes & Noble on the Plaza, 420 W. 47th St.


A Harzfeld’s timeline
Feb. 25, 1891 — Parisian Cloak Co., 1108-1110 Main St., had its grand opening. In 1906, it expanded to all five floors of the building,

Nov. 31, 1913 — Harzfeld’s opened in a new building on the southeast corner of Petticoat Lane (11th Street) and Main Street, which it occupied until 1984. The façade was preserved as part of the Town Pavilion redevelopment, completed in 1988.

1923 — Harzfeld’s opened small, second location at 12th and Indiana streets, just off the University of Kansas campus. It closed in the mid-1950s.

1929 —Third Harzfeld’s location opened in Columbia, Mo. It closed in 1984.

1954 —  Harzfeld’s opened store on the Country Club Plaza at Nichols Road and Pennsylvania Avenue. It became a Bonwit Teller in 1984 and closed in 1990.

1958 — Harzfeld’s opened store at Blue Ridge Mall, near Interstate Highway 70 and U.S. Highway 40. It closed in 1983.

1963 — Harzfeld’s opened store in Corinth Mall, 83rd Street and Mission Road. It closed in 1984.

1967 — Harzfeld’s opened store in Metcalf South Shopping Center, 95th Street and Metcalf Avenue. It closed in 1984.

1972 — Harzfeld’s acquired by Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads Inc.

1981 —Garfinckel, et al, including Harzfeld’s, acquired by Allied Department Stores

Note: Based on “Harzfeld’s: A Brief History,” Joe and Michele Boeckholt (History Press, 2009)

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