Frank and Seder Department Store

Frank & Seder was a department store in downtown Pittsburgh. The company was started in the early 1900s, when Jewish immigrants Jacob H. Frank and Isaac Seder opened a wholesale women’s wear business on upper Fifth Avenue. Within a few years, Frank & Seder had expanded its offerings, shifted into retail and moved downtown. After a fire destroyed its downtown store in 1917, Frank & Seder commissioned a seven-story building on Smithfield Street between Fifth and Forbes avenues. The company opened branches in New York City, Philadelphia and Detroit between 1915 and 1921. A group of five Frank & Seder companies was acquired by the conglomerate National Department Stores in 1923. Frank & Seder closed its Philadelphia and Detroit branches in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The flagship location on Smithfield Smith closed in February 1959. The building was later added to the Pittsburgh Central Downtown Historic District.