The ZCMI Building served as an official outlet of ZCMI, Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution, known as "America's First Department Store." From 1902 to 1932, the building housed the Consolidated Mercantile. It formed part of the ZCMI co-operative system, which began in 1868 and provided retail goods and services to more than 150 communities in the intermountain area.