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Historic place

Auerbach's Department Store

324 S State Street, Salt Lake City, UT

Auerbach's started as a small shop in 1864 and moved into this State Street building in 1911; it is now offices.

📅 1911–present🏛️ StoreRepurposed
Open on the mapSlide back to 1911

The story

Brothers Frederick and Samuel Auerbach founded the store in 1864 as The People's Store: Auerbach & Brothers, after reaching an agreement with Brigham Young. It started small and grew on its merchandise and customer service. Early ads promised delivery within five days or a return, and one offered a free purchase after fifty-seven purchases. The firm marked its 80th anniversary in 1944.

The store later expanded to State Street and 300 South, with departments from the basement to the fifth floor. The building at 324 South State, built in 1911, originally housed Auerbach's. Sources give the store's closing as 1977 or 1979. The building was later converted to offices and is now The 324, which Mortenson renovated in 2025; crews found remnants of a mural and cloth signage more than 65 years old.

What's There Now

The five-story building is office space called The 324.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

The store began under the name The People's Store.
Frederick Auerbach died suddenly on a trip to New York, reported in the Sept. 2, 1896 Deseret News.
Wikipedia's Knutsford Hotel article says that hotel was converted to an Auerbach store in 1912, so the company used more than one building.

Nearby history

Centre Theatre

299 S State Street · 127 m away
An Art Deco movie house with a 90-foot tower opened Christmas Eve 1937 on the site of the old Knutsford Hotel and was go

Newhouse Building

10 E Exchange Place · 156 m away
One of Salt Lake's first skyscrapers, built by a mining magnate hoping to move downtown south to Exchange Place.

Quarters Arcade Bar

5 E 400 S · 185 m away
Pinball, Skee-Ball and retro video games in the old Manhattan Club basement.

Hotel Newhouse

400 S Main Street · 196 m away
A mining magnate's 12-story hotel went broke before it was finished, hosted Jefferson Airplane, and was imploded in fron

Keith-O'Brien Building

242 S Main Street · 293 m away
A department store building from 1902 that David Keith had built still stands on Main Street, behind a TRAX station.

Covey-Ballard Motor Company

464 S Main St · 383 m away
A quarter-million-dollar car dealership that was converted into a ballroom in 1931.

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Sourceshttps://utahcommhistory.com/2018/12/06/auerbachs-the-department-store-that-advertised-customer-service-and-quality-products/