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Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 17 Oct 2008 02:19
by wrallen99
I just heard on the news that Mervyn's plans to file chapter 7 Friday morning and liquidate:

http://cbs5.com/business/mervyns.chapte ... 42505.html

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 17 Oct 2008 04:28
by lvkewlkid
this will kill some older shopping centers in Las Vegas...

As with the closures of other stores...

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 17 Oct 2008 18:31
by runchadrun
Story at latimes.com:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-m ... 4403.story
Ailing department store chain Mervyns, which had been operating for almost five decades, has become the latest merchant headed for extinction.

The retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, said today that it plans to begin liquidation sales at its remaining 149 stores and wind down its business. The Hayward, Calif.-based chain said liquidation sales during the holiday season were the best way to maximize value for the company's creditors after exhausting all its options, including the sale of the company.

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 17 Oct 2008 20:37
by Jeff
The thing about Mervyns is that a lot of stores are not in malls, but in strip centers or freestanding (like downtown Alhambra). I was thinking how many malls this would affect in Southern California, and these are the only anchors to a mall I know of. A lot of the stores were basically the same 2-level design and about 80-90k square feet.

Montebello Town Center
Galleria At South Bay
Burbank Town Center
Glendale Galleria (this is the only three level Mervyns)
Cerritos (former Ohrbachs)
Stonewood Center

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 17 Oct 2008 21:25
by javelin
Mervyn's is an anchor at the mall of Victor Valley in Victorville, CA. I noticed on Tuesday that all the signage indicating the opening of the store in San Bernardino had been removed, and that the newly remodeled building had no signs in place. After seeing that, I was expecting some bad news.

Cerberus is (or was) a part owner, and also owns some of the Albertson's stores and 80 percent of Chrysler (who's now trying to dump it onto GM). I wonder if they ever considered combining the retail operations into a hypermarket, a la Mervynson's? Could've worked; I see SuperTargets popping up all over So Cal these days.

I still remember part of their old jingle...“At Mervyns today … we’ll help you find a way … to make your shopping day a little easier …”

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 17 Oct 2008 23:13
by wrallen99
In Newark, California, Mervyn's had moved out of an anchor spot in Newpark Mall and into a new building just across the street from the old location. This just happened this year.

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 18 Oct 2008 00:48
by Brian Lutz
It's been about two years since the Mervyn's stores around here closed down. Several have been reoccupied. The freestanding store here in Redmond is a Kohl's now, and the one up in Lynwood (also a freestanding store across from Alderwood Mall) is being turned into an H-Mart (a Korean grocery store chain.) The one at Everett Mall (2 stories) got divided into a health club and a Steve and Barrys (which is, for the time being anyway, remaining open.)

The former Mervyn's at Southcenter (also 2 stories) has remained vacant since it closed (since the mall has Sears, Macy's, Nordstrom and JCPenney already, I'm not sure who's left to take over an anchor space around here,) and the one at Factoria Mall in Bellevue is going to be eventually be demolished to make way for the residential portion of the upcoming redevelopment of that mall.

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 18 Oct 2008 11:41
by Super S
Some of the Mervyn's which were not in enclosed malls in the Northwest have been converted to Kohl's. A few I know of are in Portland at Gateway, Portland at Clackamas, and South Sound Center in Lacey, WA.

Mervyn's had a store at Vancouver Mall which has sat vacant, this year it is being used for a Spirit Halloween store on the top floor only. Two Kohl's have opened in new buildings since then. It is my understanding (and I could be wrong) that Kohl's will not open new stores in enclosed malls. On a related note, JCPenney, which for years would only locate in malls, recently opened a freestanding store on Mill Plain in Vancouver, not far from one of the new Kohl's.

I had a feeling Mervyn's would fold when they shuttered all of their northwest stores, and, previously, when Target unloaded them.

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 18 Oct 2008 15:20
by Kroger472
The only Mervyn's I knew of in my area (Ann Arbor, MI) closed about the time they went bankrupt and is supposed to open as a Whole Foods soon. It was a one-story location at the west end of a strip-mall.

Re: Goodbye Mervyns?

Posted: 18 Oct 2008 23:33
by Dean
The San Bernardino CA location was set to open this month!

IF there are ANY chains left to fill such a building...they will have a brand new completely remodeled site! The site is former BROADWAY turned MACY*S.

Gosh...another chain biting the dust.

Mr. Host/Chad...should this thread be merged with the other MERVYN'S thread? This thread will probably duplicate info from the other thread.

Re: Mervyns

Posted: 19 Oct 2008 01:03
by Jeff
Even though they are hurting, it would be prime for Dillards to move into the Los Angeles Region now.

As for San Bernardino, JCPenney would be a great fit for the mall.

Re: Mervyns

Posted: 19 Oct 2008 12:57
by Groceteria
Hi all,

I've merged the Mervyn's threads here by request. Just a reminder/request: if we could please try to keep the discussion focused on the history of the chain and its stores rather than speculation on the current logistics of any closure and operations, etc.

Thanks,
David

Re: Mervyns

Posted: 20 Oct 2008 12:15
by runchadrun
The Westchester store on Sepulveda was designed by Victor Gruen and was originally Milliron's that opened in 1949. It later became a Broadway and then a Mervyn's. It had rooftop parking, though that was closed off by the time it was a Mervyn's. There was also a restaurant, child care area, and a small theater for musical performances on the roof, none of which were used by Mervyn's. A few years ago they did a rather unfortunate remodel and expansion on the parking lot side of the store, but the side along Manchester and Sepulveda essentially remained the same. The remodel blocked off the access ramps to the roof.

I have a picture on my flickr here: http://flickr.com/photos/10500064@N06/2275393091/ You can see the restaurant windows above the sign, wrapping around to the right.

The original handles on the doors were a "M" for Milliron's. The Broadway turned them upside down to represent Westchester and Mervyn's turned them back to make an M again.

Re: Mervyns

Posted: 20 Oct 2008 16:14
by Jeff
chad, how large is that store? is it two levels or three?

Re: Mervyns

Posted: 21 Oct 2008 17:31
by Groceteria
Jeff wrote:chad, how large is that store? is it two levels or three?
It's two, I believe (even though I'm not Chad). I've got some great old photos of that store in the Milliron's days that I'll try to find and post soon.