One of the misconceptions of the present era is based on the term &uot;super store.&uot; There’s an implication that these large versatile stores are a recent innovation. This isn’t quite correct, and partial proof can be found with the history of an Albert Lea store which has had four names during the past century.

A century ago there were smaller versions of the stores which sold groceries, hardware items, clothing, household supplies and a variety of merchandise in most communities.. These places with everything a family ever needed were called general stores. And in Albert Lea a much larger version of a general store was just starting operations. In fact, that store’s original site is still being used as a retail outlet, and a successor firm is still very active in another location.

In the 1890s a retail store named Gage, Hayden and Co. opened in a new building in the 200 block of South Broadway Avenue. What was also called the Big Four Store was located in a three-story building which had the retail portion on the first floor, offices and the Gage Opera House on the upper two floors, and a barber shop in the basement.

About a half block

to the north, Bert Skinner had purchased the Albert Lea Mercantile Co. in 1897 and changed the name to Skinner Mercantile Co. Across the street was a small grocery store owned and operated by Bert’s brother, Frank Skinner. And not far away their brother-in-law, William G. Chamberlain, had a men’s clothing store.

In April 1902, the three men purchased the Big Four Store and formed Skinner, Chamberlain and Co.

It wasn’t long before this particular business became a real department store with an expansion into the former office area and opera house portion. By 1912, the firm had the following layout: first floor – dry goods, clothing, shoes, groceries; first balcony – art goods, sheet music, rest rooms; second floor – millinery, ladies’ ready-to-wear garments, carpets, curtains; third floor and balcony – crockery, glasswear, kitchenware, toys.

To provide better customer access to the store’s upper floors, Skinner Chamberlain installed the area’s first elevator.

In 1924 the big building was remodeled from the basement to the roof. A fourth floor was added and the front of the building was given its present appearance.

This expansion resulted in the addition of an expanded furniture department and new lines of merchandise on all five of the store’s sales floors (this number included the basement).

For nearly six decades this store emphasized its diversity with several slogans based on the concept of, &uot;Everything to feed, clothe and house the family.&uot; One of those other slogans was, “Everything to eat and wear.&uot;

In the late 1920s this store installed the area’s first escalator. It ran from the first floor to the second floor and became a popular local novelty for several years. However, unlike escalators in other localities, this one had just one direction of travel – upward. The customers could return to the first floor by taking the elevator or stairs.

Several significant events were to influence the later history of what evolved as the city’s premier store. William G. Chamberlain, the firm’s vice president, died in 1936. His son, George Chamberlain, became the vice president of the store and served in this position until his death in 1948.

In 1948, Bert’s son, Albert, became president of the firm which eventually became known with the shorter name of Skinner’s.

The grocery portion of the business ceased operations in the early 1960s. That area in the south end of the first floor was converted into an expanded men’s clothing department.

Bert Skinner, one of the city’s pioneer businessmen, died in

May 1967. A few months later his son, Albert, sold the local store to G. R. Herberger’s Inc. of St. Cloud.

Herberger’s continued to operate the department store business in the four-story building on South Broadway Avenue until 1986. Then a relocation was made to the Northbridge Mall. Now the site of what was once the city’s first super store is the location of the Brick furniture store.

Next: More details about the life of Bert Skinner, southern Minnesota’s first &uot;creative merchant,&uot; and how he was also responsible for the creation of one of Albert Lea’s largest parks.