G. Fox & Co.

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G. Fox & Co. was a large retail department store established in 1847 by Gershon Fox in Hartford, Connecticut. In the 1920's, the founder's granddaughter, Beatrice Fox Auerbach took control of the company and grew it into a powerhouse business that became the dominant retail store in the southern New England region for most of the 20th century. In the meantime, Mrs. Auerbach herself became one of the most prominent women executives in business, and gained much respect in the Hartford area for her civic and philanthropic efforts.

The flagship store was located at 960 Main Street in downtown Hartford. Legend has it that the original store and offices, destroyed by fire in 1906, was rebuilt by asking customers to pay whatever they could of remember of their bills owed. The replacement store, designed by New York architect Cass Gilbert, was an 11 story behemoth initially dubbed "Fox's folly" in reference to its sheer scale. Not long after taking over, Mrs. Auerbach embarked on a major renovation that added elegant art deco interior details and a signature marquee above the display windows and entrances along Main Street.

Throughout the mid 20th century, G.Fox & Co. continued to grow exclusively within Hartford. Against prevailing trends, Mrs. Auerbach believed that branch stores only detracted from the appeal of the home or flagship store. With this in mind, G.Fox added several major additions to the complex, including a huge nine story retail addition to the Market Street (rear) side of the building, a major warehouse and a six level parking garage. The garage was situated next to the newly completed interchange of I-91 and I-84, with a number of exit ramps almost landing at the foot of the G.Fox garage itself. A well told story is that the placement of this interchange, notoriously poor in its configuration, was the result of Mrs. Auerbach's powerful influence over such decisions within Hartford business community.

A final expansion of the store occurred in 1969, when G.Fox took over and expanded into the adjacent historic 'Cheney Building', designed by H.H. Richardson, that housed another local department store, Brown Thompson's. This building would later be redeveloped into the Richardson Shops Mall in 1980 with about 40 stores, a food court and some residential apartments. The mall also connected G.Fox to the flagship store of another local department store chain, Sage-Allen, which eventually closed its downtown store in the summer of 1990, with the entire chain declaring Chapter 11 and eventaully folding in 1994. The Richardson Mall was later renovated into a Marriott Residence Inn and some street level retail.

After Mrs. Auerbach sold the store to the May Department Stores Co. in 1965., G.Fox finally began to expand beyond Hartford, building its first branch store in 1969 in Waterbury and thus beginning a 12 store expansion that continued until the chain was folded into the May Company's Filene's division in 1992. As a result of the merger and with the severe recession that took hold of the region in the early 1990's, coupled with the decline of downtown retailing, the downtown store and the executive offices were closed in January 1993.

Prior to the merger with Filene's, two additonal G.Fox stores were announced in Albany, N.Y. and Stamford, CT. The Albany store eventually opened, but under the Filene's banner in 1994, and the Stamford store, part of a proposed mall with an existing Lord & Taylor, was never built. Eventually, a Filene's store would open at the nearby Stamford Town Center mall in 1996 in a former J.C.Penney location, but it would close in 2004.

On February 1, 1993 the remaining stores were re-named Filene's, until September 2006 when most of the the stores were re-branded as Macy's, after corporate parent May Company's merger with Federated Department Stores was completed.

After being abandoned for almost a decade, the original flagship G.Fox building was re-opened as the new downtown campus for Capital Community College in the fall of 2003. The clever renovation and adaptive re-use maintained many of the art deco interior and exterior details while adding a large interior atrium, many classrooms and circulation space. In addition, a new and much larger parking garage was also built on the site of the original G.Fox garage on Market and Talcott Streets.

[edit] Former Locations

Connecticut

Hartford: downtown flagship, 960 Main Street (Closed in the Filene's consolidation, January 1993) Renovated into Captial Community College campus in 2003>
Farmington: Westfarms Mall, 1974, <renamed Filene's 1993, now Macy's>
Meriden: Meriden Square (now Westfield Meriden) 1971, renamed Filene's 1993, now Macy's
Waterbury: Naugatuck Valley Mall 1969 (Closed 9/97 with mall demolished in 2000, Filene's relocated to Brass Mill Center)1997, now Macy's
Danbury: Danbury Fair Mall 1986, renamed Filene's 1993, Closed 3/2006 and consolidated into exisiting Macy's location
Trumbull: Trumbull Shopping Park (now Westfield Trumbull)1979, renamed Filene's 1993, now Macy's
Milford: Connecticut Post Mall (now Westfield Connecticut Post) 1991, renamed, Filene's 1993, now Macy's
Manchester: The Pavillions at Buckland Hills (now The Shops at Buckland Hills)1990, renamed Filene's 1993, now Macy's
Enfield: Enfield Square Mall 1971, renamed Filene's 1993, now Macy's

Massachusetts

Holyoke: Holyoke Mall at Ingleside 1980, Renamed Filene's 1993 and relocated to new location in 1997, original G.Fox building is now Target
North Attleboro: Emerald Square 1988, renamed Filene's 1993, now Macy's

New York