In 1903, the brothers would shift into the department store business, opening in the newly built Snell Building at Broadway and 11th Street in the heart of Tacoma's retail core.

The store achieved great success, and by 1911, three floors were added to the building, eventually bringing it to 170,000 ft² (15793.52m²), including a tea room (opened in 1908) and a branch of the Tacoma Public Library.

[2] In the early 1950s, Rhodes was acquired by Western Department Stores, Inc., which also owned Kahn's of Oakland, California, and Olds & King of Portland.

Threatened with demolition, the downtown Tacoma location was bought and renovated by the University of Puget Sound in 1978 for use as a law school.

(See the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods web site, Seattle.gov, and its information on the Albert J. Rhodes mansion, designed by Ambrose J. Russell and Frederick Heath (architect).)