Steiger's

Steiger's was a department store company of New England in the 19th and 20th centuries. The flagship store was in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Albert Steiger (1860–1938) was born in Rosenberg, Germany, on May 12, 1860. His family owned a silk factory in Europe. He emigrated to American as a child in 1868. He began his career peddling flannel in Huntington, Massachusetts at the age of 13. In 1893, after working in Gilette's Dry Goods Store, he bought or founded a small store in Port Chester, New York, north of New York City. In 1896, he opened a store in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Around the turn of the 20th century, he expanded his stores to Fall River, Massachusetts, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Springfield, Massachusetts. A store in Hartford, Connecticut followed in 1918.

The five-storey art deco downtown Springfield store was the chain's flagship. In contrast to Springfield's other main store, traditional full-service department store Forbes & Wallace, Stieger's concentrated more on being a high-end clothing store.

The Holyoke store, built in 1899, was a four-storey beaux arts building designed by George P. B. Alderman, across High Street from city hall. This building still exists.

Several generations of the Steiger family participated in the business. Albert Steiger's grandson, Albert E. Steiger Jr., was president of the company from to 1959 to 1992.

Over time, the freestanding downtown stores were closed and replaced with rented outlets in malls. The Hartford store was sold in 1962, leaving just the Springfield and Holyoke locations as traditional downtown department stores. Mall outlets were opened in the Longmeadow Shops (1961), Springfield Plaza (1964), Friendly Shops at Westfield, Massachusetts (1965), Eastfield Mall (1967), and Enfield Square Mall (1972).

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