What Happened to Gimbels, the Store Once Bigger Than Macy's?

Adam Gimbel opened in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. By 1930 his grandson Bernard was running twenty stores and $123 million a year. This video is about: the $17 million gamble one block from Macy's in 1910; the first American Thanksgiving parade, Philadelphia, 1920; the radio station Gimbels put on air in 1922 that still broadcasts today; the $8 million deal that made Saks Fifth Avenue; the ballpoint pen that drew 5,000 people and 50 police on 29 October 1945; and the 27 September 1986 closing that cost 700 jobs. It ends where the story stands now — the parade still runs, Saks still trades, and a marker went up in Vincennes in May 2025.