Simon Lazarus, founder of the predecessor of what was to become The F&R Lazarus & Co., an operation which blossomed into what is today known as Macy's, Inc, a major retail holding company in the U.S. In 1850, Lazarus, a rabbinical scholar, arrived in Columbus, and in 1851 he opened the Lazarus store. Assisted by his wife Amelia and sons Fred and Ralph, Simon and his store gradually began to prosper. Simon Lazarus was once described as "a good man, a gentle man, a scholar--and no merchant,"--and Simon's own grandson, the late Robert Lazarus, Sr., was the man who said it. By 1870, industry improvements (primarily attributable to the mass manufacture of men's uniforms for the Civil War), led the family to expand the business to include ready-made men's civilian clothing and eventually a complete line of merchandise. Simon Lazarus served as the first Rabbi of Central Ohio's oldest Reform synagogue, Temple Israel.
Later Simon sons, Fred Lazarus, Sr. and Ralph Lazarus, joined the business, adding many innovative marketing techniques. After Simon's death in 1877, his widow Amelia continued running the store with their two sons. After Amelia's death in 1899, the store was renamed The F&R Lazarus & Company and positioned the company for rapid expansion of the company. In 1928, the company purchased The John Shillito Company department store in Cincinnati. In 1929, Federated Department Stores, Inc., was organized in Columbus, Ohio, as a holding company for founding members F&R Lazarus & Company, its subsidiary The John Shillito Company, William Filene's Sons & Company and Abraham & Straus department stores. The group was led by Fred Lazarus, Jr., whose namesake company was by then the dominant retail store in Columbus.
The Lazarus family pioneered many shopping firsts such as the concept of "one low price" (in which no bargaining was required); theirs was also the first department store with escalators and the first air conditioned store in the country. The family also successfully lobbied President Franklin Roosevelt to permanently set the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving, thereby ensuring a longer Christmas shopping season in those years in which November had 5 Thursdays.
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