Up in San Francisco, a new mercantile -known as The Emporium- opened its doors in May 1896. Conceived by Adolph Feist, The Emporium was originally a congregation of individual shops that was consolidated into a standard department store in 1898. The company merged with Oakland's H.C. Capwell in 1927.
Advert from The Emporium


May Department Stores traced its beginnings to Leadville, Colorado and a store dedicated in 1877. The corporate headquarters moved to Denver in 1889. In 1899, the first branch opened in Cleveland. The HQ moved to St. Louis in 1905. Between 1911 and 1968, the May holding company acquired -or created- several regional department store chains. The newspaper ad above, from July 1914, promotes the Denver division.
Advert from The May Department Stores Company 


Washington State's The Bon Marche ("the good market") started, in this meager store in the Belltown section of Seattle, in 1890. The mercantile was established by Edward Nordhoff, who had worked at the Louvre Department Store, in Paris.  
Photo from University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division


"The Bon" went on to anchor America's very first shopping mall. The NORTHGATE CENTER store, in Seattle, welcomed first customers in April 1950.
Photo from http://archives.seattle.gov / Seattle Municipal Archives


Portland's Meier & Frank evolved from a general store opened -in 1857- by Aaron Meier. Eventually, this store went under. Meier established a partnership with Emil Frank and opened a new store in 1873. Meier & Frank was adopted as its moniker. M & F evolved into "One of America's Great Stores" as it morphed from general merchandiser into a modern department store. The LLOYD CENTER mall location is seen above.
Photo from Wikipedia / Steve Morgan


Hennessy's first store opened in Butte, Montana in 1898. This was a joint venture of Marcus Daly and Daniel Hennessy. The elegant structure was fitted with marble staircases, oak counters and bronze balustrades. There were seventeen departments over 4 levels. This mother store was shuttered in February 1980.
Photo from Library of Congress / Carol M. Highsmith