Rhodes Brothers

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Rhodes Brothers Co.
Type Department store
Founded 1903 Tacoma, Washington
Headquarters
Industry Retail
Products Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Website None

Rhodes Brothers was a department store located in Tacoma, Washington established in 1892 as a coffee shop in downtown Tacoma by Henry and Charles Rhodes. The store greatly expanded through the years including having a tea room, a branch library and a separate budget store. At one time there were signs on highways in Washington that said, "All roads lead to Rhodes," giving the number of miles to the Rhodes store in Tacoma.[1] Additionally there was a Rhodes Brothers store at the Villa Plaza Shopping Center in Lakewood, Washington that opened in 1957[2]. At some point Rhodes was acquired by Western Department Stores Inc. which also owned Kahn's of Oakland, CA and Olds & King of Portland, OR. In 1960 the name of the company was changed to Rhodes Western and all the stores became Rhodes. In 1969 Rhodes Western was acquired by Amfac which owned the Liberty House chain of department stores and took on that name. Liberty House opened a location in Tacoma Mall in 1973 where Rhodes Western had been considering opening a location before they were bought out. The Lakewood & Tacoma Mall locations were sold to Frederick & Nelson in 1979. The downtown Tacoma Rhodes store was closed in December of 1974. The downtown Tacoma location was bought by the University of Puget Sound in 1980.

It is believed that there was no connection to the Rhodes Department Stores of Seattle (bought by Lamonts) which closed in the late 1960s[3].

Contents

[edit] Former Locations

[edit] Arizona

[edit] California

  • Concord: Concord Park 'n' Shop Center, Willow Pass Rd. (Opened as Kahn's, renamed Rhodes 1960, renamed Liberty House 1975, closed 1984, now Jo-Ann Fabrics and Burlington Coat Factory)
  • Dublin: Golden Hills (Renamed Liberty House 1974, closed 1984, Now Ross and Marshall's)
  • Fresno: Manchester Center (Opened 1959, Renamed Liberty House 1974, closed 1984, currently Caltrans offices)
  • Mountain View: San Antonio Center
  • Oakland: Downtown (Opened as Kahn's in 1879, renamed Rhodes 1960, renamed Liberty House in 1975, closed 1984, now offices)
  • Palo Alto: (Opened 1963, renamed Liberty House 1974, closed 1984)
  • Sacramento: Country Club Centre (Renamed Liberty House 1974, closed 1984, currently offices)
  • Sacramento: Southgate Plaza (Renamed Liberty House 1974, closed 1984, demolished for Wal-Mart)

[edit] New Mexico

  • Albuquerque: Coronado Center (Opened 1965, renamed Liberty House in 1974, rebranded by Mervyn's in late 1980s)

[edit] Oregon

  • Portland: Downtown (Opened as Olds & King in 1910, renamed rhodes 1960, closed 1974)
  • Portland: Gateway Shopping Center (Renamed Liberty House 1974, sold to Mervyn's 1984, Mervyn's closed 2007)

[edit] Washington

  • Lakewood: Villa Plaza Shopping Center (Opened 1957, renamed Liberty House in 1974, sold to Frederick & Nelson 1979, sold to Gottschalks 1992)
  • Tacoma: Downtown (Opened 1903, closed 1974, currently University of Puget Sound)

[edit] References

[edit] External links