During the golden age of department stores, Hartford’s G. Fox reigned as the grandest and most beloved of them all. Beatrice Fox Auerbach, granddaughter of the founder, made that happen.
People drove from all over New England to visit the 11-floor emporium on Main Street. It outshone the other stores in the district – Sage Allen & Co, Wise Smith & Company and Brown Thomson & Co. Passing through the revolving doors, customers were greeted by polite, neatly dressed staff. Beneath the soft glow of Art Deco light fixtures, high-fashion mannequins stood as silent sentinels amidst glittering merchandise, all showcased in polished glass and inlaid wood cases that rose from the vast marble floor.
In the springtime, flowers and caged songbirds adaorned the main floor. At Christmastime, G. Fox turned into a wonderland. A Christmas village with historic scale-model Connecticut buildings rested atop its marquee, and for several years the store windows featured Christmas paintings from the Wadsworth Athenaeum.
Years after the store closed in 1993, the Connecticut Historical Society hosted talks about Hartford’s favorite department store. People came in clothes they’d bought at G. Fox. Elizabeth Abbe, who presented the talks, compared the G. Fox & Co. fans to the cult following of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
It was mostly because of Beatrice Fox Auerbach.
G. Fox flagship store, Hartford.
G. Fox Starts Small
Beatrice Fox Auerbach’s paternal grandfather, Gerson Fox, had immigrated from Germany and started out selling dry gods from a cart with his brother Isaac.
Gerson moved his peddler’s cart into a one-room storefront in Hartford in 1847. His brother sold his share of the business and Gerson renamed the store G. Fox & Co. From the beginning, the store offered free delivery – at first in a wheelbarrow, then by horse-drawn carriage.
Beatrice’s father, Moses, took over the store when Gerson died in 1880. and built it into a five-floor emporium. He developed a loyal following that would last throughout the store’s existence. When a fire in 1917 destroyed the building, the merchandise and all customer records, Moses immediately announced he would rebuild. According to lore, customers stepped up and paid 95 percent of all their debts.
G. Fox & Co. is on the far left. It burned in 1917.
Moses paid employees their salaries during construction of the new store, and Hartford merchants let G. Fox sell its goods in their storefronts.
Moses rebuilt an 11-story building designed by renowned architect Cass Gilbert. People called it “Fox’s Folly.” Under Beatrice leadership, the store would ultimately use all that space and more.
Beatrice Fox Auerbach
She was born in Hartford on July 17, 1887. In 1911 she married George Auerbach, a descendant of Salt Lake City’s Jewish pioneers. They moved to Salt Lake City, where George’s family owned a department store, and had a daughter, Georgette. They then moved to Hartford after the fire, and George went to work helping his in-laws’ rebuild the business. Dorothy, their last child, arrived.
George died suddenly in 1927, and Beatrice Fox Auerbach worked as a sales clerk/alongside her father. She had no intention of taking over the business – not at first. But she grew fascinated with retailing. When her father died in 1938, she succeeded him as president of the company.
Fox already ranked as a top-shelf retailing giant. Beatrice Fox Auerbach took it to the next level.
Here are eight fun facts about the diminutive woman with the deep voice who turned G. Fox into something very, very special.
1. Beatrice Fox Auerbach did not believe in retail branches.
She thought they cheapened the allure of the flagship store. So, instead of branching out, she encouraged people to drive into the city. G. Fox built an enormous parking garage near the planned interchange of I-91 and I-84. An urban legend grew up that Beatrice Fox Auerbach had influenced the government to plan off-ramps that took customers’ cars to the garage.
For those who didn’t want to drive into Hartford, Beatrice Fox Auerbach began a telephone ordering service. She had direct lines installed to 100 Connecticut towns so customers could call in an order toll-free. The G. Fox delivery trucks would do the rest. also for free.
The May Department Stores Company took over G. Fox in 1965. In 1969 it began expanding to 12 branches. But in 1992, the corporate owners folded G. Fox into its Filene’s subsidiary.
2. Her employees loved her.
They called her “Mrs. A.” She knew them by name and had lunch with them on their birthdays. During the holidays, she walked the sales floor and shook every worker’s hand. She worked in an unostentatious office and always left the door open.
But she gave her e mployees more than personal attention. She gave them a retirement fund, paid sick days and a 40-hour week. A special cafeteria sold food to employees at cost. Long-term employees got special treatment as members of the Moses Fox Club.
Because of the 40-hour week, G. Fox closed on Sundays and Mondays, except for the weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
Under Beatrice Fox Auerbach’s leadership, G. Fox offered training programs and promoted employees from within. Employees could achieve steady advancement and job security, and many worked at the store for decades.
One G. Fox employee told of his late mother who retired from G. Fox. She proudly won many customer service awards and was buried wearing her G. Fox name badge.
Beatrice Fox Auerbach
3. She guided the store to become the biggest in New England.
Fox was not only the biggest in the region, it was the biggest privately held department store in the United States.
By the time Beatric Fox Auerbach sold out to the May Department Stores Company, sales volume had increased to $60 million, 10 times what it was when she took the helm. By 1964, G. Fox had a fleet of 165 delivery trucks painted creamy white or robin’s egg blue. “G. Fox & Co.” The workforce ranged from 3,500 to 5,000 during the holiday season.
At its peak, G. Fox had 1,107,000 square feet of space in downtown Hartford, including a large hall where non profit organizations could hold meetings and events for free.
4. She had little formal education.
Beatrice Fox Auerbach not only didn’t graduate from college, she didn’t graduate from high school. But she received honorary degrees from three colleges and served on the boards of trustees for three others. The Delta Phi Epsilon sorority named her Woman of the Year in 1951, and in 1955 she served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Education.
Despite her lack of education, she took a keen interest in education for women. In 1938 she started a retailing program at Connecticut College for Women (now Connecticut College).
5. Beatrice Fox Auerbach hired the first Black employee in 1942.
But she didn’t just hire minorities, she promoted them to positions of responsibility on sales and executive tracks.
For her efforts, she won recognition from the National Urban League and a certificate of lifetime membership in the NAACP in 1957.
6. She insisted on impeccable customer service.
Under Beatrice Fox Auerbach, G. Fox cultivated an almost mythical standard of customer care. The impeccably trained staff had a deep knowledge of the merchandise. After a customer bought something, a courteous salesperson would always ask, “Would you like that sent?”
Personal shoppers helped customers with disabilities, and interpreters could assist non-English speaking shoppers.
The store honored all returns.
One G. Fox employee recalled, “The policy was if a customer wanted to return a spool of thread, the great G. Fox fleet would pick up the thread.”
When a child tore her sneaker on the escalator, G. Fox replaced her shoes for free.
In 1947, G. Fox marked its 100th anniversary by delivering packages by a fleet of three helicopters. On Christmas Eve, Beatrice Fox Auerbach always kept a small staff and drivers on standby until midnight for desperate parents who needed an emergency Christmas gift.
7. She wanted people to spend the entire day at G. Fox.
A trip to G. Fox was a full-day, curated experience. Before even browsing the merchandise, you could have your hair styled in the beauty salon, enjoy a complimentary makeover, or drop off a prescription—to be ready upon your departure. The mezzanine offered its own delights, from renting a book to purchasing rare coins. For lunch, the choice was between a quick bite at the lunch bar or the refined elegance of the Connecticut Room, where patrons still recall the signature chicken pot pie and date nut bread.
In-house tailors made sure even children’s clothes fit properly. And when fatigue set in, a serene Ladies’ Lounge with plush curved sofas offered some quiet relaxation.
8, She had a strong commitment to philanthropy.
In the aftermath of the Hartford Circus Fire in 1944, Beatrice Fox Auerbach learned Municipal Hospital was overwhelmed with more than 100 casualties. She sent over 500 sandwiches and 25 gallons of coffee. Then, when she found out the hospital had a shortage of bedding and night clothes, she sent over a truckload of sheets and pajamas with the G Fox price tags still attached.
During World War II, G. Fox set up a Red Cross unit in the store to make wound dressings. After the war, Beatrice Fox Auerbach established the Service Bureau for Women’s Organizations to train women in charitable and civic activities.
Eventually she established the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation, which donated money to colleges, hospitals, the Hartford Symphony and the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art.
During her lifetime she received many honors, including the distinguished service award from the Connecticut Bar Association.
When she sold the company to the May Co. in 1965, she said, “One thing you can be certain of is that I won’t be spending [the profits from the sale] on yachts and horses, but for the benefit of the people.”
She remained as president for one year after May bought G. Fox, Beatrice Fox Auerbach then died two years later in 1968.
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Images: Beatrice Fox Auerbach By Unknown – [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77399910. Image of Beatrice Fox Auerbach colorized by ChatGPT.
Cynthia Elder is the wife of Robert Elder, a great-great-grandson of Ruth and James Jenkins. She is author of the historical novels, 
