the main store for many years was located on the southeast corner of washington street at illinois (formerly the occidental building). in 1969, genesco—a conglomerate based in nashville, tennessee, and owner of such stores as bonwit teller—acquired l. strauss and hired thad larson as president. seeking to return the store to local control, larson purchased the store from genesco in 1979. the washington street store was torn down in the 1980s in order to make way for circle centre mall. the downtown store moved across the street to claypool court, atop which sits the indianapolis embassy suites downtown hotel. in the bankruptcy filing, one of the reasons listed for the bankruptcy was delays in opening of circle centre. l. strauss's main competitors were l. s. ayres, william h. block co., and h. p. wasson and company.