Pizitz

Pizitz

Former type	Department store
Industry	Retail
Fate	Sold to McRae's
Founded	1899 Birmingham, Alabama
Defunct	December, 1986
Headquarters	Birmingham, Alabama
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Website	None

Pizitz was a major regional department store chain in Alabama, with its flagship store in downtown Birmingham. At its peak it operated 12 other stores, mostly in the Birmingham area with several locations in Huntsville and other Alabama cities.

The chain was founded as the Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Co. in 1899 on the site of its flagship building in downtown Birmingham. It was sold to McRae's in December 1986, and all former Pizitz stores became McRae's. Many of the former Pizitz locations are now closed, but the Pizitz family (via Pizitz Management Group) still owns the buildings of most of its former stores. This became an issue when the McRae's chain was sold to Belk Department Stores of Charlotte, North Carolina in 2005. Pizitz in Vestavia also became "Louis Pizitz Middle School."

References

• White, Marjorie Longenecker, ed (1977) "Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.
• Hollis, Tim (2005) Birmingham's Theater and Retail District. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-1777-1
• Hollis, Tim (2010) Pizitz: Your Store. Charleston, SC: The History Press. ISBN 978-1-59629-993-1

External links

• Pizitz memories at "Birmingham Rewound".
• View of Pizitz interior at the Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections