Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 9
Introduction 11
I D. Lubin, One Price, 1874-1891 13
The Shtetl-Born Cowboy 14
Heading West, the First Time 15
Return to California 17
From One Price to the Mechanics' Store 20
Weinstock, Lubin & Co. 23
Department Stores: A New Kind of Store 26
II The Big White Store, 1891-1904 30
Differing Personalities 33
A Broken-Hearted Man 36
David Lubin's Changing Role 38
"The Loss Seemed Appalling": Disaster Strikes the Big White Store 40
The Big White Store Rises Again 46
III A New Generation and a World at War, 1904-1919 48
Family Expectations 51
The Fashion Center of Sacramento 52
Changes in Leadership and Store Policy 54
A World at War 55
Weinstock, Lubin and the War Effort 57
"This Was as David Lubin Would Have Wished It" 61
A Return to Normalcy 62
IV "Paris" Comes to Sacramento, 1920-1945 64
"One of the Most Horrible Pictures We Have Ever Seen in Any Newspaper" 66
The Youth Market and Department Stores 68
A Little Bit of Paris on K Street 69
The Most Modern Department Store Structure in America 75
Downturn, Changes and Recovery 81
Weinstock's and the War 85
V Suburbia, Sprawl and a Woman at the Helm, 1946-1973 90
Marion Armstrong Takes the Reins 96
Urban Redevelopment and Suburban Expansion 102
The West's Biggest Chain 105
Approaching the First One Hundred Years 107
VI From Centennial Celebration to Takeover Target, 1974-1995 109
Just a Little Consolidation Amid Expansion 110
"A Consumer Is a Statistical Abstract. A Customer Is a Person." 115
A "Feisty Situation" 116
More Takeover Attempts, Restructuring and Layoffs 120
The Last of the Old-Line Merchants 122
Conclusion. "Goodbye, Weinstock's" 125
Notes 129
About the Author 143
