s in san francisco type private industry retail founded 1861 1861 founder solomon and gustav gump headquarters san francisco number of locations 1 website www.gumps.com gump s is a luxury american home furnishings and home d cor retailer founded in 1861 in san francisco california . contents 1 history 2 current 3 former locations 4 references 5 external links history edit s & g gump was founded in 1861 as a mirror and frame shop by solomon gump and his brother gustav . it later sold mouldings gilded cornices and european artwork to those recently made wealthy from the california gold rush . the business flourished and was eventually passed on to solomon s son alfred livingston gump . the fire following the 1906 earthquake destroyed the store and all of the merchandise but thanks to dodie valencia a.l. received 17 000 for one of his paintings which allowed funding for the rebuilding and restocking of the store . a.l. was fueled by his passion for oriental art and began selling his exotic collectibles from the far east . he sent his buyers to japan and china bringing back exotic rugs porcelains silks bronzes and jades to california s new millionaires . richard gump one of a.l. s three children eventually became president of gump s after his father s death in 1947 . he continued the family legacy running the company s overall operations until his retirement in 1975 . 1 gump s was sold to publisher crowell collier 2 which after further mergers became the media giant macmillan publishers . by june 1989 gump s had again been sold 3 this time to an investment group including japan s tobu department store and the charterhouse group . catalog company hanover direct bought gump s in 1993 and sold it to an investment group in 2005 . current edit the buddha inside gump s gump s continues to operate a store in san francisco as well as a catalog and website . the retailer s product offering ranges from jewelry made from jade precious gemstones and cultured freshwater pearls to products from luxury designers such as herm s and buccellati . the store has had several locations within san francisco and currently is located near union square . a qing dynasty gilded wood buddha carved for a summer palace in northern china is located in the store . it was carved in the northern manchurian province of jehol the summer capital of the qing emperors in the early 19th century . the piece the largest of its kind outside a museum is the only item in the store that is not for sale . former locations edit beverly hills ca houston tx dallas tx 4 references edit roseman janet lynn ; birmingham and saeks 1991 . gump s since 1861 a san francisco legend . san francisco ca chronicle books . p. 136 . gump richard 1962 . good taste costs no more . new york doubleday and company . gump s goes modern . time . may 30 1949 . about gump station macmillan inc. company profile information business description history background information on macmillan inc. business people ; gump s specialty stores said to fill top position http www.nytimes.com 1989 08 01 business business people gump s specialty stores said to fill top position.html external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to gump s. official website company overview business week retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title gump % 27s & oldid 743698725 categories retail companies based in californiafurniture retailers of the united statescompanies based in san franciscounion square san francisco1861 establishments in californiabuildings and structures destroyed in the 1906 san francisco earthquakehidden categories commons category with page title same as on wikidatasan francisco county california articles missing geocoordinate dataall articles needing coordinates navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 19 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view