Then and Now: Wraight’s retail shop preceded Macy’s

There have been many retail entrepreneurs catering to Spokane’s thrifty shoppers.

Edward A. Wraight moved with his family from Victoria, British Columbia, to Spokane in 1888. He started working for Frank Culbertson of the Wonder Department Store in the Welch Building, which is now the eastern half of Macy’s Main Avenue frontage.

The company also built the nine-story Culbertson Annex, just north of the Welch, in 1921. It is also part of today’s Macy’s store. The store name changed to Culbertson’s while Wraight was working his way up to vice president. But Culbertson’s, which carried everything from furniture to groceries, was deep in debt when the Depression hit and went into bankruptcy in 1930.

Wraight and a partner took over the discount department of his former employer, remodeled the two-story building next door and opened a variety store with all goods priced between a nickel and a dollar. Every item in the tiny grocery department was a dime or less. Through the 1930s, Wraight added a pharmacy, a clothing boutique, and shoes for adults and children. Free fashion shows drew large crowds each spring.

The Wraight family became wealthy and was a fixture in the newspaper society pages. Edward’s brother Harry was manager at the Davenport Hotel for more than 30 years and later ran smaller hotels of his own.

The variety store weathered the war years and made plans to expand. But Wraight died of a heart attack in 1949, halting further expansion. Metropolitan Chain Stores bought the company and put its name on it for a few years.

Seattle-based The Bon Marche started up in part of the old Wraight building in 1946. By the mid-1950s, The Bon had taken over the building and purchased the adjacent Welch and Culbertson buildings. In 1957, the store opened a new building at Main and Wall, which combined the other two structures behind a unified façade. The Bon Marche was renamed Bon-Macy’s in 2003, then Macy’s in 2005.