For the California beverage company, see Kern's (beverage company)
Kern's, or The Ernst Kern Dry Good Company, was a department store established in Detroit in 1883 by Ernst Kern, who was born in Germany.[1] In 1886, the original store was consumed by fire and was rebuilt at Randolph and Monroe. In 1900, the company purchased a five-story building at Woodward and Gratiot to accommodate increasing business.
When Ernst Kern died in 1901, his sons Ernst C. and Otto assumed control of the store.[1] After World War I, additional space was once again needed for expansion, and the department store acquired the adjoining nine-story Weber Building. In 1929, the old structures were demolished and a new store was erected at 1048 Woodward Avenue that was 49.3 m high and contained ten floors.[2] In 1957, the family decided to sell Ernst Kern Co., by then Detroit's third-largest department store, to Sattler's Inc. of Buffalo, New York. Following numerous corporate problems and changes in management, the store closed its doors for the final time on December 23, 1959.[3]