The J. N. Adam & Co. was founded in 1881 by
James Noble Adam, a brother of Robert B. Adam, a founder of
AM&A's, another Buffalo based department store. The co-founder of the store was William H. Hotchkiss who, in 1905, negotiated the purchase of rival store
Hengerer's. Both stores continued to operate and, in 1916, became initial parts of the
Associated Dry Goods Corporation. They later moved to the corner of Main and Eagle Streets, where over a span of thirty years they built a massive 600,000 sq. ft. downtown store. The flagship store was designed by architects
Starrett & van Vleck, who also designed the
Downtown Athletic Club and the flagship stores of
Lord and Taylor,
Bloomingdales, and
Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. In 1937, a satellite branch of J. N. Adam & Co. opened at 114-120 Falls Street in
Niagara Falls, New York.
Closure J. N.'s closed in 1960, and the Buffalo store became the new home for the downtown location of
AM&A's. The flagship store operated as a
Bon Ton until 1995. On February 20, 2009, the former store complex was added to the
National Register of Historic Places as the
J. N. Adam–AM&A Historic District. In 2015, a New York City-based development group purchased the building with the intention of converting it into a 10 floor, 300-room, Asian-themed hotel and restaurant complex. ==See also==