" 

Boy, this is the most understated thing I've read here on Wikipedia.  While the current details about ZCMI are pretty good, and the list of stores when the chain wwas closed down is pretty accurate, it is hardly an exaustive list of stores that have been in existance.  Virtually every Mormon community had a version of ZCMI at one time or another, and some decidedly non-Mormon communities as well.  The most remarkable being a ZCMI set up in Rapid City, South Dakota.

In addition, a huge part of the history of ZCMI is tied directly with the history of Utah, including the petition for Utah statehood and the fight between the ""Mormons"" and the ""Gentiles"" during the territorial days of Utah.  Part of this history should include how members of the LDS Church would face excommunication if they shopped anywhere except at ZCMI.  I am not kidding here.  Several LDS Church members were removed from the church rolls because of this seemingly irrational justification (based on modern sentiments).  Keep in mind that there was a coordinated economic plan to try and push the non-Mormons out of Mormon influenced areas, and this is really in keeping with other business traditions of 19th Century America as well, including Standard Oil and others that would be illegal with current fair trade laws.

Saying that the LDS Church was a significant influences is hardly doing justice here.  The LDS Church owned the store lock, stock, and barrel.  And the decision to sell ZCMI to May department stores was mainly a way for the LDS Church to get out of that sort of business.  What is surprising is that is was a subsiderary of the LDS Church for so long, making it into the 21st Century.  The LDS Church has divested itself from other businesses it started back elsewhen like a Sugar Company and a chain of Hospitals, and in that context ZCMI is just one of several aspects of life in Utah.   "