Younkers
Encyclopedia
Younkers is an American department store
chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa
. The retailer has since evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and surrounding states in the Midwest
region of the United States. Younkers became influential as it acquired several rivals throughout the 20th century both inside and outside of Iowa. The chain itself was sold by the late 1990s, with ownership transferring out of state, and its Des Moines-based headquarters closed by 2003 as a part of corporate consolidation. Following its most recent sale in 2006, Younkers operates as a subsidiary of The Bon-Ton
, with locations in seven Midwestern states, primarily in shopping mall
s. , it operates more than forty locations in this region.
immigrant brothers Lipman, Samuel, and Marcus Younker, who opened a general store in Keokuk
, Iowa
in 1856. Herman Younker, the youngest of the brothers, opened a dry goods store in Des Moines
, Iowa in 1874. Following Samuel's death in 1879, the Keokuk store was closed and the Des Moines location became the main store. The future novelist and newspaper editor Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
worked as a clerk at the Younkers store in Des Moines in 1889. In 1899 the Younker brothers' main store in downtown Des Moines was moved to 7th and Walnut Streets, and it operated at the same location for 106 years before closing on August 12, 2005. The downtown Des Moines store became known for its Tea Room restaurant, which opened in 1913 and closed shortly before the store did. It also installed Iowa
's first escalator
, known as the "electric stairs," in 1939.
and Davidson's of Sioux City
were acquired in 1948 and Yetters of Iowa City
was acquired in 1949. Younkers began expanding outside of Iowa during the 1950s and opened its first shopping mall
store in Omaha, Nebraska
, in 1955. (It acquired another Omaha department store, Kilpatrick's, in 1961.) By 1978 Younkers had 28 stores in five states.
in Des Moines, killing 10 of the store's 25 employees. To date, it is the most devastating fire in Des Moines' history, and destroyed the original Younkers at the mall. The fire was caused by faulty wiring.
on April 22, 1992, Younkers purchased the 22 stores of the H.C. Prange chain in Wisconsin
and Michigan
.
bid by Carson Pirie Scott
was rejected in 1995, Younkers' shareholders agreed to a friendly takeover by Proffitt's
, Inc., of Knoxville, Tennessee
. The acquisition was completed in October 1996. Proffitt's would later acquire Carson Pirie Scott, and in 1998 Proffitt's merged with Saks Fifth Avenue
to form Saks Incorporated
. In 2003, Saks closed Younkers' headquarters in Des Moines and merged its operations with those of Carson Pirie Scott in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
.
, Boston Store
, and Herberger's
) to Bon-Ton Stores in a $1.1 billion deal that was completed on March 6, 2006 http://www.bonton.com/investor_relations/pr030606.asp.
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa
Keokuk, Iowa
Keokuk is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park...
. The retailer has since evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and surrounding states in the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
region of the United States. Younkers became influential as it acquired several rivals throughout the 20th century both inside and outside of Iowa. The chain itself was sold by the late 1990s, with ownership transferring out of state, and its Des Moines-based headquarters closed by 2003 as a part of corporate consolidation. Following its most recent sale in 2006, Younkers operates as a subsidiary of The Bon-Ton
The Bon-Ton
The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. is a regional department store company based in York, Pennsylvania, chiefly operating 275 stores, including 11 furniture galleries, in 23 states throughout the northern United States. Stores carrying its namesake nameplate serve the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of...
, with locations in seven Midwestern states, primarily in shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
s. , it operates more than forty locations in this region.
Beginnings
The company was founded by PolishPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
immigrant brothers Lipman, Samuel, and Marcus Younker, who opened a general store in Keokuk
Keokuk, Iowa
Keokuk is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
in 1856. Herman Younker, the youngest of the brothers, opened a dry goods store in Des Moines
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
, Iowa in 1874. Following Samuel's death in 1879, the Keokuk store was closed and the Des Moines location became the main store. The future novelist and newspaper editor Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd was an American author of the early 20th century. She published at least 10 novels, mostly written for young women.- Childhood :...
worked as a clerk at the Younkers store in Des Moines in 1889. In 1899 the Younker brothers' main store in downtown Des Moines was moved to 7th and Walnut Streets, and it operated at the same location for 106 years before closing on August 12, 2005. The downtown Des Moines store became known for its Tea Room restaurant, which opened in 1913 and closed shortly before the store did. It also installed Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
's first escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
, known as the "electric stairs," in 1939.
Younkers Incorporated
A series of additions, enlargements, and mergers resulted in the company changing its name to Younkers Incorporated. The department store in downtown Des Moines was purchased in 1912. The company started growing in the 1920s by acquiring other department stores throughout Iowa, including Wilkins Department Stores (1923), Harris-Emery (1927), and J. Mandelbaum and Sons (1928). The Iowa-based retailers Britnalls of MarshalltownMarshalltown, Iowa
Marshalltown is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,552 in the 2010 census, an increase from the 26,009 population in the 2000 census. -History:...
and Davidson's of Sioux City
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
were acquired in 1948 and Yetters of Iowa City
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...
was acquired in 1949. Younkers began expanding outside of Iowa during the 1950s and opened its first shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
store in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, in 1955. (It acquired another Omaha department store, Kilpatrick's, in 1961.) By 1978 Younkers had 28 stores in five states.
Fire
In November 1978, a fire broke out in the Younkers store in the Merle Hay MallMerle Hay Mall
Merle Hay Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. Opened in 1959, it is the oldest regional shopping center in Iowa, and was the largest mall in Iowa in terms of gross leasable area before the 2004 opening of Jordan Creek Town Center in...
in Des Moines, killing 10 of the store's 25 employees. To date, it is the most devastating fire in Des Moines' history, and destroyed the original Younkers at the mall. The fire was caused by faulty wiring.
Acquisitions of Brandeis and H.C. Prange
Younkers was operated by the Equitable of Iowa insurance company from 1979 to 1992 after being a publicly-traded company since 1948. Under Equitable's ownership, Younkers acquired all 11 locations of the Omaha-based Brandeis department store chain in 1987. After returning to public ownership on the NASDAQNASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
on April 22, 1992, Younkers purchased the 22 stores of the H.C. Prange chain in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
.
Acquisition by Proffitt's
After a hostile takeoverTakeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
bid by Carson Pirie Scott
Carson Pirie Scott
Carson Pirie Scott & Co., known informally as Carson's, is an upscale chain of department stores that have been in business for over 150 years. Their product price points are targeted to the moderate-to-upscale shopper...
was rejected in 1995, Younkers' shareholders agreed to a friendly takeover by Proffitt's
Proffitt's
Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. On March 8, 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk stores. Belk acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks Incorporated.-Beginnings:...
, Inc., of Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
. The acquisition was completed in October 1996. Proffitt's would later acquire Carson Pirie Scott, and in 1998 Proffitt's merged with Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...
to form Saks Incorporated
Saks Incorporated
Saks Incorporated , founded in Birmingham, Alabama in 1998, is headquartered in New York City, New York, and is a Fortune 1000 operator of high-end department stores in the United States under the nameplate Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks evolved from Proffitt's Inc. after Proffitt's changed its name in...
. In 2003, Saks closed Younkers' headquarters in Des Moines and merged its operations with those of Carson Pirie Scott in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
.
Sale to The Bon-Ton
Saks sold Younkers and its other Northern Department Store Group stores (Carson Pirie Scott, Bergner'sBergner's
Bergner's is a major department store in central and northern Illinois, established in 1889 in Peoria, Illinois, and offering mid-line to higher end merchandise in their largest stores. The current flagship store is located in Peoria at The Shoppes at Grande Prairie.-Beginnings:Bergner's was...
, Boston Store
Boston Store
-History:The Boston Store is mentioned in Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" published in 1900 and Carl Sandburg's Mamie, part of his 1916 Chicago Poems collection....
, and Herberger's
Herberger's
Herberger's is a regional department store chain founded in 1927 in Osakis, Minnesota, United States. Herberger's operates 41 stores in nine states; more than one third of them are in Minnesota, where the chain maintained its headquarters for much of its history...
) to Bon-Ton Stores in a $1.1 billion deal that was completed on March 6, 2006 http://www.bonton.com/investor_relations/pr030606.asp.