U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for March 12

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

A PHILADELPHIA INSTITUTION

Profile America — Thursday, March 12th. One of the most famous department stores in America opened in Philadelphia on this date in 1877. Wanamaker's, now absorbed into the Macy's family of department stores, opened in a converted train station and is now a national historic landmark. The store was among the first in the country to make the experience of shopping as much a draw as the merchandise itself, pioneering the use of the price tag, and was the first to install a restaurant on the premises. Wanamaker's closed in 1995. In the U.S. today, there are some 8,100 traditional department stores, employing over a million people and generating nearly $178 billion in annual sales. You can find current data on the country's economy by downloading the America's Economy mobile app at www.census.gov/mobile.

Sources:
Opening: http://wanamakerorgan.com/john.php 
Timeline: http://www.enjoyingphiladelphia.com/john_wanamaker_store.html 
Closing: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17269945.html 
Department stores/NAICS 4521: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_00A1&prodType=table

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91889LOGO

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov