Halls (department store)

Halls

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail
Genre	Department Store
Founded	1916
Founder	Joyce Hall
Headquarters	Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Number of locations	1
Products	apparel, cosmetics, jewelry, shoes, china, crystal, silver, housewares, greeting cards
Parent	Hallmark Cards (1916–present)
Website	http://www.halls.com/

Halls is the department store division of Kansas City, Missouri-based Hallmark Cards, consisting of a specialty department store located in downtown Kansas City in the city's Crown Center commercial complex district. The store carries a variety of premium-branded items in apparel, cosmetics, jewelry, shoes, and other product categories, in addition to greeting cards and gift items carrying the Hallmark brand. Hall's is positioned at a price level comparable to larger luxury-oriented chains including Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus.

Hallmark founder Joyce C. Hall founded Halls in 1916, as a companion to his greeting card company which had begun three years earlier. The store evolved from a showcase in the lobby of downtown Kansas City's Gordon and Koppel Building. By 1916, Halls had moved its store to 11th Street along the city's fashionable "Petticoat Lane" with expanded offerings covering an array of high-quality gift items. Halls' move in 1950 to downtown's Grand Avenue further developed its local reputation as a premium specialty store, with more merchandise added.

Halls became part of the collection of stores at the city's high-profile Country Club Plaza in 1965, with a 55,000-square-foot store comprising a full city block in the shopping district. In addition to the store's merchandise selection, the structure was outfitted with elaborate building materials and accessories such as inlaid lapis lazuli floors and Baccarat crystal chandeliers, with details complementary to the district's overall Spanish and Moorish architectural styles.

The department store's location in Crown Center was conceived in 1973. It was part of the continued revitalization of downtown envisioned by J. C. Hall, associated with development surrounding Hallmark's corporate headquarters that had begun in earnest in 1967. Halls Crown Center replaced the original downtown Halls with a three-level, 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m²) store designed by Paul László. In 2011, both the first and second floor of Halls Crown Center were converted to an aquarium from Sea Life Centres and a Legoland Discovery Centre in a combined $30 million project. The displaced men's department and Hallmark Cards location were relocated to the Crown Center Shops while the women's department stayed in its original third floor location.