Bullock's Department Store

For this department store in suburban Los Angeles, designed like a fine residence, Walt Wurdeman and Welton Becket drew upon their early experience in the design of homes for Hollywood luminaries. Bullock’s in Pasadena was the firm’s first big merchandising project, completed in 1947. Nearly a year was spent in research. Said Becket, "We spent so much time nosing around in Bullock’s stores people thought we worked there." They studied every facet of the stores’ operations, they charted the habits of customers, they talked to saleswomen and window dressers and executive personnel. The store was an outstanding success. It established a new design and layout for department stores and at the time was called by store executives “the finest merchandising machine ever designed.” The store also established a post-war trend in suburban department store design, as it was the first example of how to consider the impact of the automobile in its planning and design.

This debut into department store design led to the Becket organization having the biggest department store planning group in the country and Becket’s client list reading like a Who’s Who in retail merchandising. Clients included such nationally known stores as Gimbel’s, Macy’s, Marshall Field, Carson Pirie Scott, Frederick and Nelson, Meier and Frank, Emporium-Capwell, Broadway-Hall, Bullock’s, I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue, Walgreen’s, Woolworth’s and many smaller stores and specialty shops.