How A Rare Independent Department Store Remains Healthy And Optimistic During Challenging Times

Every American town, large or small, used to have at least one locally-run department store within its downtown district. These retailers were often reflective in size and merchandise selection of the communities that they served. The golden age of the department store is long past, yet one rare example remains open and healthy in Lawrence, Kansas.

Weavers has anchored downtown Lawrence since 1857. The store is a commercial destination and carries a wide assortment of merchandise, from cosmetics to housewares. It caters to residents, visitors, and students at the University of Kansas main campus.

As an independently-run department store in 2021, Weavers is a very rare breed. Fifty years ago, 22 such stores operated throughout the state of Kansas. Today, barely a half dozen are still open for business across the entire country.

Weavers is viewed as a classic department store, even though there is no strict definition of the term. According to a 1963 retail survey by Hearst Magazine, department stores house a “diversity of departments which must include apparel, furniture, home furnishings, and appliances.”

Weavers’ assortment of apparel and home goods satisfies the definition, especially according to today’s standards – perhaps more accurately even than Nordstrom
JWN
and Von Maur.

Over the past several decades, dozens of department stores merged or closed as shopping patterns changed and internet shopping exploded. Weavers has experienced these challenges but the combination of community support and strong store leadership has helped keep Weavers alive and relevant in 2021.

It is hard to believe that Lawrence, with a population of 100,000 and a University of Kansas student body of 28,000, avoided the construction of an enclosed shopping mall within its metropolitan area. Although most communities wanted shopping malls and courted developers, that was not the case in Lawrence.

When mall developers expressed interest, Lawrence fought any proposals. The community wanted to keep its downtown alive and business leaders “fought like hell” to prevent any construction.

Brady Flannery, president of Weavers, says this decision was 100% critical. “In a community of our size, it was a saving grace. It set the trajectory so we could be around today.”

Flannery is the third-generation owner/operator of Weavers. His grandfather joined Weavers in 1950 and his father, Joe Flannery, purchased the store from the Weaver family in 1962. Brady Flannery took over his father’s duties as store president in 2012.

The department store’s success and longevity is largely based on the leadership of the Flannery family. They still act as true merchants, a seemingly lost profession. They focus on selling goods, not appeasing distant shareholders looking to cash in their investment at the right moment. 

Flannery acknowledges the store’s commitment to the community. “We are constantly working to maintain [customer] relationships and we are constantly changing, evolving, and tweaking our business.” 

The job as a president of an independently-run department store in today’s world is not an easy one. However, Flannery appears up to the challenge. He says, “it’s hard to imagine another job in the Midwest that has the value structure that I care about.”

Flannery states that COVID was “terribly devastating” to the firm but the department store has seemingly survived. Weavers was forced to close to in-store shoppers for two months last spring. “March and April are typically our best months, other than December. We knew we were going to be knocked down but we set the tone [with our display windows]… that we WOULD bounce back.”

The retailer applied for and received benefits from the CARES Act Payment Protection Program so that employee compensation remained uninterrupted during the Spring COVID closure.

Weavers reopened in May but the company was forced to examine and evaluate every aspect of its business. “We had to double down on what we do best.”

One of Weavers most popular departments is its lower level home store. Unfortunately COVID-19 led to supplier issues who were unable to properly fill standing orders. Weavers worked hard to keep its shelves stocked. 

The same is true with women’s clothing suppliers, as some reliable brands pulled back on wholesale distribution.

Weavers is not the only retailer in Lawrence, nor is it the largest. Walmart
WMT
, Target
TGT
, Kohl’s
KSS
, and TJMaxx can be found along the city’s S. Iowa Street commercial district. However, it’s been years since JCPenney
JCP
and Sears operated in Lawrence.

Flannery says that Weavers sets itself apart from that competition because it offers merchandise at different price points. “We carry $47 Levis alongside $200 designer denims.” The formula appears to be working.

Flannery admits that Weavers must create better shopping experiences for “the 35-year old mom.” He uses the term carefully. Flannery feels that Weavers’ future needs her to return to the store, shop for the entire family, and remain loyal. (Department stores historically used the term “her” when it described its core customer.)

Weavers also values its relationship with the university community. “We try to capture students’ business so that they remain customers once they move [after they graduate].” 

Lathrop Bullene founded the department store back in 1857. After Bullene hired A.D. Weaver as a partner in 1883, Weaver married Bullene’s daughter. He purchased the store soon after and the business assumed the Weaver name in 1886.

Weavers’ four-story 20,000 square-foot department store building, located at 9th and Massachusetts Streets, dates from 1911 and currently employs 50 full and part time employees.

Weavers upholds many traditions that were once standard features at all department stores. It offers free gift wrap, delivery, tailoring and other amenities. It also still maintains a fully operational pneumatic tube system, once a standard method of communication between the salesfloor and the cash office.

The store’s pneumatic tube system dates from the 1930s. “Every day, the first thing we do is turn [the system] on.” The tubes are no longer used to make change but they still allow employees to communicate and send messages to the store’s third floor offices.

It also comes as no surprise that Lawrence’s real Santa Claus can be found at Weavers. As part of the city’s annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony, Santa makes his initial holiday appearance on the department store’s roof. After waving to crowds gathered on the US Bank Plaza below, Santa is dutifully rescued by the city’s fire department. It’s a beloved Lawrence holiday tradition.

COVID-19 halted Santa visits during the past holiday season but Weavers created a clever twist for its younger customers. The department store invited families to come inside the store and write messages directly to Santa. The notes were then whisked up to the North Pole via the building’s pneumatic tube system.

Flannery insists that Weavers’ “best days are still ahead.” He calls himself “optimistically stubborn” but he says he avoids being “stupidly optimistic.” Flannery equates running a department store with climbing a mountain. “You’re halfway up the mountain and you see the summit. You have to choose whether to stay where you are or keep climbing.”

Weavers has been climbing for 164 years. Though the department store is relatively small in size, it’s outlived most of the biggest names in the business. Brady Flannery is more than proud to say that Weavers is one year older than Macy’s
M
. “My father gets a big kick out of that.”