Rich’s downtown Atlanta store grand opening a gala fete in 1924

News of brick-and-mortar retail closures surprises no one with a stack of Amazon boxes crammed into a recycling bin. The scope of announced store closings runs the gamut from higher-end to deep-discount retailers.

Macy’s said in February that it’s closing around 150 stores nationwide “while pumping up its Bloomingdales and Bluemercury brands,” AJC business writer Michael J. Kanell reported. On the lower end of the shopping spectrum, Dollar Tree is set to close nearly 1,000 stores, the Associated Press reported this month.

Grand openings of new department stores were once as worthy of newspaper front pages as news of their mass shuttering has become. When Rich’s opened its new downtown Atlanta flagship store at the corner of Alabama and Broad streets 100 years ago, the Journal gave the event prime coverage.

“Through the ornate portals of M. Rich & Bros. Co.’s new $1,500,000 store ... there passed many thousands of Atlanta population who came, saw and were conquered,” Ernest Rogers wrote in the Journal’s Monday, March 24, 1924 edition.

“Such a throng as rarely has been present at any event in the city’s history pressed through the beautiful building giving themselves up wholly to the radiant interior with its myriad tiers of the world’s choicest merchandise,” Rogers reported. “No article to be expected in such an establishment was missing and amazement was expressed at the completeness of the equipment.”

Rich’s gala celebration was an event not just for Atlanta’s upper crust, but for the working class, too.

“The high and low, rich and poor ... of the city mingled in this wonderful structure,” Rogers wrote, adding “there was a composure characterizing the gathering which usually is not (seen) where thousands congregate. There was no hurry — no pushing — but the silent respect of a great citizenry for a great enterprise.”

Rich’s started in May 1867 as M. Rich & Co., originally in a store on Atlanta’s historic Whitehall Street. After numerous expansions along Whitehall, culminating in the 1907 opening of its “emporium” there, the retailer grew to the point of needing the mammoth space at 45 Broad St. During the 1960s and ’70s, Rich’s branched out into the bustling Atlanta suburbs, eventually operating 13 stores around the city along with the downtown flagship store.

During the 1924 grand opening, Atlantans who flocked to the new store were dazzled by its grandeur and the showmanship Rich’s officials put into the event.

“While the milling thousands were on their tour of inspection their feet were lightened by music furnished by Enrico Leide and his Metropolitan orchestra,” Rogers told Journal readers who may have missed the festivities.

In the classic “customer is king” fashion Atlantans would come to associate with Rich’s, “courteous attendants were in place to point out interesting sections of the store to the throngs who could not but marvel at the lavishness of the appointments,” Rogers wrote.

Although packed with people perhaps ready to spend, Rich’s didn’t take advantage of the situation — or the potentially captive audience.

“The citizens of Atlanta were the guests of M. Rich & Bros. Co., and all the firm desired was that those present inspect the store with its many and varied departments,” Rogers noted. “No sales were made.”

Rich’s closed its downtown location in 1991, but the building remains in use as part of the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center. In March 2005, Rich’s itself became a memory, ending nearly 140 years in business after merging with Macy’s.

AJC 1991 Rich’s, a downtown Atlanta landmark for many decades, closed its flagship store’s doors for good shortly after this photo was taken in April 1991.

AJC 1954 Atlantans go about their business in April 1954, some of it likely at Rich’s Department Store, in front of the downtown retail mecca on Broad Street.