Remembering Robeson*s: Champaign's Department Store

Pictorial boards have minor shelf wear, binding tight, pages clean and unmarked. Remembering Robeson?s: Champaign?s Department Store by Cal Acosta with the Robeson family.Illustrated history of one of Champaign, Illinois's best remembered downtown businesses, Robeson?s Department Store, tracing the store and the Robeson family through more than a century of local retail history.Frank Kern ?F. K.? Robeson established the business in 1874 as a small dry-goods store. Over succeeding generations, Robeson?s grew into a prominent Champaign shopping institution and at its height regularly employed approximately 250 people. The business remained closely associated with the Robeson family and downtown Champaign until changing retail patterns and the growth of suburban shopping contributed to its eventual closure.Kyle Robeson announced the impending closing in December 1989, and Robeson?s closed its doors for the final time on February 17, 1990, ending 116 years of operation. Illinois Public Media has subsequently documented the store's history with members of the Robeson family.Illustrated with historic photographs and material relating to the store, the Robeson family and Champaign-Urbana history.A particularly appealing regional-history reference for collectors interested in Champaign Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, vanished department stores, downtown retail history, advertising, merchandising and Midwestern local history.…