Joslins

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. 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]

Locations

Further reading

• Barnhouse, Mark A. (November 2018). Lost Department Stores of Denver. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-439-66585-5