Mervyns is an American department store chain based in Hayward, California. It carries national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, and housewares. Many of the company's stores are found in shopping malls. As of December 2006 Mervyns had 189 stores in 10 states. However, Mervyns closed all of their locations in Oregon and Washington by February 2007, reducing its store count to 172 stores in 8 states. The company said it closed underperforming locations that did not contribute to the company's success. Based on 2005 revenue, Mervyns is the eighty-third largest retailer in the United States. In July 2008, Mervyns announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

History

Beginnings

The founder of Mervyns, Mervin G. Morris, founded the first Mervyns store in San Lorenzo, California in 1949. The store was supposed to be named Mervin's, but the architect suggested that a spelling that included a "Y" instead of an "I" would be more visually appealing.

Target years, expansion

In 1978, Mervyns was acquired by the Dayton Hudson Corporation (later known as Target Corporation). It was not merged into Target, and it kept its separate identity.

In 1986, Mervyns made major expansions into the Southeast, with Atlanta being the site of a particularly strong expansion campaign. Mervyns, who never had a retail presence in Georgia, competed for mall space with J.C. Penney and received top anchor spots at several area malls, such as the Town Center Mall, Shannon Mall, North DeKalb Mall, Gwinnett Place Mall and North Point Mall.

The foray into Atlanta was a failure, however, and Mervyns withdrew from Atlanta by 1997. Its former locations were acquired by other department stores.

Mervyn's also ventured into Florida during this time. It also ended in failure, with Mervyn's closing all of its Florida stores in 1998.

Mervyn's California

From 1996 to 2001, the stores were rebranded as Mervyns California, in an effort to identify with its West Coast roots and history. A media campaign was launched to publicize the rebranding, with TV commercials and catalogs featuring former San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Joe Montana.

The rebranding had little effect on the company's revenues, and the "California" was dropped from the name in 2001, reverting the store back to the original name it has used for years.

Sale from Target

In July 2004, Mervyns was sold by Target to a group of investors, including private investment firm and turnaround specialist Sun Capital Partners, Inc, Cerberus Capital Management, and real estate investment company Lubert-Adler Management Inc. Rick Leto was named the new president and chief merchandising officer in January 2005.

In June 2006, Mervyns implemented the MARS (Mervyns Advanced Retail Systems) systems, which replaced the old Target-based cash register systems that the company used. The new program streamlined cash register functions, in addition to integrating store merchandise distribution, logistics, and personnel management functions.

Store closures prior to bankruptcy

One of the first acts of the new owners was to cease store operations in certain states, with stores in Minnesota being the first ones to fold.

Further store closures were announced in September 2005, as Mervyns announced that it would begin to focus exclusively on its Western and Southwestern markets, and that 62 stores would be closed. Mervyns stores in Michigan, Oklahoma, and Louisiana were the first to close, in February 2006. 28 stores in Texas, as well as one store in Salt Lake City, Utah, were also closed.

In 2007, a further 18 stores were closed. Of the stores closed, 17 of them were in Oregon and Washington, and one was in Grand Junction, Colorado, which was the last remaining Mervyns store in that state.

Bankruptcy

Signs of financial distress and possible bankruptcy first surfaced on July 21 2008, when the Associated Press reported that Mervyns had stopped updating its financial status, and that the department store's vendors have ceased shipping some products to the chain, which has hurt the store's back-to-school season sales efforts. In addition, financing requests have been denied by certain lenders. This raised the possibility of the company being forced to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy, or being forced out of business altogether. The company made no official comments at the time, but on July 29 2008, Mervyns announced that it had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Store closures due to bankruptcy

Although the company initally vowed to keep all locations open during the reorganization efforts, the company announced in August 2008 the closure of 26 underperforming stores. The company hired an outside company to assist in the liquidation of assets from the stores affected. The closure also marks a complete retreat by Mervyns from the Idaho market, whose sole store in Boise is marked for closure. In Texas, a complete retreat is slated from San Antonio, where all three remaining stores will also close, in addition to the closure of the sole stores in Lubbock, Midland and Odessa.

After the closures are complete, Mervyns will operate about 150 stores: 16 in Arizona, 121 in California, 3 in Nevada, 3 in New Mexico, 7 in Texas and 6 in Utah.

References

External links

• Mervyns