The Hess Brothers department store was opened February 19, 1897 by brothers Charles Hess and Max Hess, Sr. in Allentown, Pennsylvania. This first Hess's location would grow to encompass nearly an entire city block and was a dramatic success that included a restaurant, fashion shows, and elaborate Christmas displays. After the deaths of the Hess brothers, Max Hess, Jr. would oversee the company's continued success.
1950-1958[]
Designer:
George E. Glasser
Typography:
Custom
Launched:
October 15, 1950
Logo with slogan
Alternate logo used in early fifties
Hess's[]
1958-1972[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Custom
Launched:
November 7, 1958
In 1968, Max Hess, Jr. sold the company to a local trucking businessman named Philip Berman for $16 million. Max Hess, Jr. died only a few months later.
1972-1986[]
Red version
Tricolor version
Updated version of 1958 logo, used occasionally from late 1983 to 1986
1986-1994[]
Hess's had reached 76 stores by its height in 1990, but due to economic issues, 46 stores were shed from 1990 to 1993.
Several were shuttered, while others were sold to Dillard's in 1992 and Proffitt's in 1993, all of which were changed to Belk in 2006.
May-June 1994[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Bookman
Launched:
May 8, 1994
This logo was introduced in a news article published on May 8, 1994, and cited the need to both update the store's image as well as to de-exaggerate the tall "h", which made positioning the logo in advertisements difficult. Upon its well-publicized introduction, it was immediately derided and criticized, with one customer citing its straight apostrophe as a glaring example of “a lack of typographical character”. Within a month the amount of complaint letters reached the hundreds, and on June 8 it became front page news in Allentown that Hess's was reverting their decision, with an optimized version of the old logo projected to be launched in “about a week”.
1994-1995[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Custom
Launched:
June 19, 1994
Eleven days after Hess's announcement, a new version of the 1972 script began seeing use. The remaining 30 Hess's locations, primarily in Pennsylvania, would be sold off in 1994. The May Department Stores Company bought 10 and converted them to Kaufmann's, Hecht's, and Filene's; all of which would later be rebranded in 2006 as Macy's.
1994-1995[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Custom
Launched:
October 16, 1994
The other 20, including the flagship Hess's store in Allentown and most of the early Hess's locations, were sold to The Bon-Ton and rebranded. The original Allentown location, closed by The Bon-Ton after just one year, was later acquired by the city of Allentown and demolished in 2000.