John W. Thomas & Co. (Minneapolis, Minn.).

John W. Thomas & Co. was a Minneapolis retailer of dry goods, women's apparel, men's furnishings, fine furniture, rugs and draperies, and interior decorations. The firm was begun as G. W. Hale [or George W. Hale] in 1867, in a small store building located on Washington Avenue near Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. George's brother James M. Hale joined the business in 1872, and the name of the firm became George W. Hale & Co. The store moved to a building located at Nicollet Avenue and Third Street at about that time.

Winona dry goods merchant John W. Thomas joined the firm in 1883, and the business became Hale, Thomas & Co. A new store building known as the Sidle Block was completed in 1884 at Nicollet Avenue and Fifth Street. Thomas eventually bought out the Hale interests, and in 1894 the firm name was changed to John W. Thomas & Co.

...