[3] Founded in 1881 by Joseph Lowthian Hudson, the store thrived during the record growth of Detroit and the auto industry in the first half of the 20th century.

Hudson operated the store until his death in 1912, when his four nephews (James, Joseph, Oscar, and Richard Webber) assumed control.

[4] Over time, the store grew from its beginnings in the Detroit Opera House to a 25-story building with 2,124,316 sq ft (197,355.4 m2) and occupying an entire city block.

It had an independent staff of buyers, carried its own line of merchandise, and was considered the greatest competition to the big store.

[6] Though customers flocked to the suburban locations, the downtown store still accounted for half of Hudson's business in 1961, but demographic changes continued to erode sales.

[7] By 1978, they agreed to construct a smaller store of 320,000 sq ft (30,000 m2) as part of a proposed downtown shopping center.

[citation needed] All executive and buying positions transferred to Minneapolis, and other staff moved to space at the Northland store in Southfield.

Hudson's operated a large warehouse complex in an area bounded by Madison, Brush, Adams and Beacon Streets in Downtown Detroit.

The vacant site in Detroit between Woodward and Farmer Street and between E. Grand River and Gratiot was turned into an underground parking garage with supports in place for a future building.