Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares
Joslins was a chain of department stores that was based in Denver, Colorado, United States.
History
Joslins Department Store began as J. Joslins Dry Goods Store, founded by John Jay Joslin in 1873; it was a direct competitor to The Denver Dry Goods Company which commenced operations in 1888. The original Joslin Dry Goods Company Building is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and is currently a Courtyard by Marriott property.
Around 1910, Joslin sold the business to H.B. Claflin & Company, which collapsed in 1914.[1] Two store chains were created from the bankruptcy: Associated Dry Goods and Mercantile Stores Company, Inc. As a nameplate of Mercantile Stores, Joslins became the first Denver-based department store to build branch locations in the 1940s, later expanding the chain with larger anchor stores in malls in the 1960s and 1970s.
Logo from 1969 to 1994
In 1998, the Dillard's department store chain purchased Mercantile Stores, converting most of the then-existing Joslin's stores to Dillard's stores.[2][3] One former Joslin's store in Colorado Springs and the recently-opened flagship store at Park Meadows in Lone Tree were sold by Dillard's to The May Department Stores Company, which converted the Colorado Springs store to a Foley's and the Park Meadows store to the Denver area's second Lord & Taylor store.[4]
location purchased by May, 1998, and converted to Lord & Taylor, 1999
Further reading
Barnhouse, Mark A. (November 2018). Lost Department Stores of Denver. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN978-1-439-66585-5
References
^Rebchook, John (19 May 1998). "J.J. Joslin started store 125 years ago downtown". Rocky Mountain News. p. 4B.
^Bunn, Dina (19 May 1998). "Curtain Falls on Joslins". Rocky Mountain News. p. 1B. The Little Rock, Ark., retailer announced Monday it is buying Mercantile for $3.14 billion in cash and assumed debt.Ten Joslins stores in the state and one in Cheyenne will close or be converted to Dillard's.
^Parker, Penny (4 Aug 1998). "Lord & Taylor coming to mall". Denver Post. p. C-1. The Joslins at Park Meadows is turning into a Lord & Taylor and the Joslins at Chapel Hills mall in Colorado Springs will become a Foley's, according to the terms of a deal announced Monday between Dillard's and May Department Stores Co.
^"Downtown History Tour". City of Englewood / Englewood Historic Preservation Society. 8 Oct 2021.
^"Joslin's exteriors: Photo 1". Boulder Historical Society/Museum of Boulder. . . . plans were soon announced that the Colorado Building would be remodeled into a financial and office building. According to a 31 October 1979 Boulder Daily Camera article, the Boulder Joslin's location was due to close 31 January 1980 because of difficulty finding a new location.
^Lewis, Rosemary (2012). "Fortress Commerce: Jefferson County's Malls"(PDF). Historically Jeffco. Jefferson County Historical Commission. pp. 3–7. Joslin's moved out of JCRS in the late 1970s and its space became the Casa Bonita restaurant.
