The retail epicenter was on Fourth Street in 1878, after all. That was where the shrewd merchant had cut his retail teeth and the John Shillito Co. flourished. Moving away was a tremendous risk.
But Mr. Shillito, described 100 years later by his company as a ''businessman who tended to ignore those prophets of doom,'' moved north to Seventh Street. There, he had the space to build a massive, six-story emporium, five times larger than his former Fourth Street store. And he was certain that shoppers and other businesses would come.
For a time, they did.
But as downtown Lazarus workers Friday pack mementos and leave the department store building that symbolizes one of the Queen City's unextinguishable spirits, a historic reckoning commences. After 12 decades, retail is returning to the south center of town, and the Shillito's-Lazarus building is closing for good.
Stealing its fire will be a new Lazarus, set to open Nov. 6 in the retail development named Fountain Place. Surrounding it will be some of the best names in retailing - Tiffany & Co., Brooks Brothers and Saks Fifth Avenue. Across from Lazarus on Fifth and Race streets, Mercantile Stores Co. Inc., which shuttered its downtown McAlpin's two years ago, is expected to build a department store new to the Queen City - Maison Blache.
It is a consumer magnet that could pull shoppers from as far as the Interstate 275 beltway, and, developer Arn Bortz said, redirect traffic toward the center of town.
But the old Lazarus building remains, and its role in Cincinnati must be determined.
Surely, its 814,000 square feet can't be ignored. Even with a declining patronage, a structure of its size takes on a life of its own. The absence of its vitality means the elimination of a support system that in some capacity affects downtown traffic, businesses, residents and workers.
''In many places, the old, big flagship downtown store, which was built at a time when there was no suburban malls, is obsolete,'' said David Ginsburg, senior vice president of retail development and retention at Downtown Cincinnati Inc. ''But they are significant from an architectural point of view.''
They provide a sense of place. But if they're not revitalized, they can deteriorate into derelicts that could sink a city block.
The City of Cincinnati bought the Lazarus building from the store's parent, Federated Department Stores Inc., for almost $11.8 million; the corporation has leased back the space since that January 1996 transaction. But Towne Properties is investigating the feasibility of a mixed-use development that could marry residential, office and retail space. Mark McKillip, with Cincinnati's department of development, said the city is negotiating with Mr. Bortz on the renovation, the cost of which could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
If it works - beginning in no less than 14 months - it could complement what is a fledgling west-side residential base. In the long run, ideally, it could contribute to a distinct neighborhood or district.
But even those closest to the development are realistic about the enormity of the project. Russell Stravitz, chairman of Federated's Rich's Lazarus Goldsmith's division, called it ''a physically difficult building to be efficient in.'' And Mr. Bortz, a partner in Towne Properties, said it would represent his development firm's biggest challenge.
''This is the ultimate white elephant. The ultimate developer challenge as large as any that exists around the country,'' Mr. Bortz said.
Resurrecting the old Lazarus building won't be easy. Mr. Bortz warned that partial or complete demolition of the building has to be considered before redevelopment, particularly since it has no windows. Also, he said the 120-year-old structure won't house a retailer until the tract of Race Street south of Seventh, which he describes as ''abysmal,'' is revitalized.
Given this, some Cincinnatians still question the thinking behind any project at Seventh and Race streets. The more optimistic say they expect the renovation to be realized, but it will take some time.
So they focus on operating without it.
''You have to live independent of them, of Lazarus,'' said B.J. Foreman, owner of Boris Litwin Jewelers at Race and Garfield Place. She thinks that her block, north of Lazarus, is doing just that.
''Business at the Lazarus here has dwindled so amazingly in the past year,'' she said. ''(But) offsetting that is the way this area has come up. The Gramercy Building, Groton Lofts, our restaurant (Mullane's Parkside Cafe) next door. This place is so alive.''
Not all business owners feel that way. Young Chung, operator of the 7-month-old Youngtown Clothing & Costume Jewelry on Race Street behind Lazarus, anticipates a customer drop-off after the closing.
''I wish they'd stay here,'' he said. ''We do have regular customers, but people come from out of town. We'll lose a lot of business from that.''
Surely, some shifting of traffic patterns will occur. People may have stopped driving to downtown Lazarus, said Mike Hartmann, executive vice president of the commercial real estate brokerage Ostendorf-Morris Colliers, but they haven't stopped walking. Foot traffic - even if it is light - will course eastward toward the center of town.
Among those traveling will be 170 Lazarus workers seeking a new place to park their car, catch a bite or have coffee.
Shoppers - some of whom have been making the trip to the old department store during lunch regularly for decades - will either delight in the convenience of a modern store or struggle with an alien floor plan. Many welcome the growing pains.
''I've been shopping at Lazarus for a long, long time,'' said Maureen Maguire, a shopper from Western Hills. ''It's a lot of tradition and I think a lot of memories.
''(But) I know we all have to move on,'' she said. ''I certainly am looking forward to the new store.''
Younger shoppers, meanwhile, said it's about time Federated updated its downtown presence.
In the Lazarus coffee shop on the first floor, where the barbecue beef spills from the bun and the menu reads ''An American tradition,'' a crowd of regulars finishes lunch.
''I don't doubt that it'll be nice,'' another shopper from Western Hills said. ''But it'll be just like every other store.''
Shillito's, on the other hand, ''had everything.''
''Oh my,'' she said. ''It was just the best.''
A coffee shop won't occupy a corner of the new Lazarus store. And the waitress, a gray-haired woman who calls her customers ''hon,'' probably won't come either, the cashier said. None of them will, she said. And for some shoppers, their absence - much like the departure of Lazarus' pharmacy and the shoe repair - will symbolize the fading of what are considered outdated values.
But there will be new things. Despite the absence of the cafe waitresses - who can come to the new store if they want to work the sales floor - there will be about 30 more year-round workers at the Fountain Place Lazarus; more during the holidays, when employment could surge to 230, Lazarus spokeswoman Ellen Fruchtman said. And the merchandise will include better lines, similar to those carried at the company's Kenwood Towne Centre store.
''I'll look, but I'll probably only head for the racks that say 'sale,''' shopper JoAnn Sedgwick said.
Also, the new store will have more modern conveniences, windows and improved lighting.
''I have my mixed emotions about leaving here,'' said 23-year employee Becky Darpel, who works in the men's furnishings and slacks department. ''But I'm really looking forward to the new store because it's glitzy.''
Miss Darpel couldn't be specific about what she would miss. Leaving the old store will be like leaving an old house - the experiences are what made it significant. She recalled a favored manager and that she had sold sunglasses to both Dustin Hoffman and Sylvester Stallone during their visits there.
She said she'd like to see the building reborn.
If that occurs under Towne Properties, it will be more than a year before even loft apartments are occupied, Mr. Bortz said. A possible demolition wouldn't occur until early 1998, and the development of apartments 10 to 12 months after that.
Office space could open soon after, assuming that the building can attract some key tenants to anchor it. Retail space would come last, providing the environment can attract merchants, Mr. Bortz said.
''We're doing the best we can to explore all possibilities,'' he said.
It might not be what a 70-year-old merchant had envisioned more than a century ago, but perhaps it's more than he'd expect.
NEW STORE TO LURE 21ST-CENTURY SHOPPERS
NEW VS. OLD
HISTORY
