Become Part of the Store Family From its flagship store on Market Street in the heat of Philadelphia, Strawbridge & Clothier strove to meet the needs of its customers for over a century. Built on a foundation of integrity and character, the store and its founders, Justus Strawbridge and Isaac Clothier, made sure the customer was always right and the price just. The department store later branched out to nearby New Jersey and Delaware in the mid to late Twentieth Century. At the time of its sale in 1996, Strawbridge & Clothier was the oldest department store in the country with continuous family ownership. Author Margaret Strawbridge Butterworth charts the history of Philadelphia's Strawbridge & Clothier through vivid stories from past employees and customers alike as she invites readers to join the "store family."
Margaret Strawbridge Butterworth grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Merion. She moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1997 and currently resides there with her husband and two children; she is a freelance writer for several Seattle-based publications. She has fond memories of shopping at the Ardmore and King of Prussia Strawbridge & Clothier branch stores with her friends as a teenager. For a special outing, she would go to the Eighth and Market Streets store, enjoy ice cream and chocolate croissants at the Food Hall, throw a penny in the Il Porcellino fountain and occasionally pay a surprise visit to her father, Francis, in his "Mahogany Row" office on the tenth floor.