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Family may bring back Mervyn’s
February 12th, 2009, 7:00 am · 47 Comments · posted by Hang Nguyen, retail reporter
Here’s an excerpt from The Wall Street Journal:
John Morris, the son of the department store chain’s founder, Mervin Morris, along with his two brothers Jeff and Jim, agreed to purchase the retailer’s name and all its Internet-related intellectual properties, in a sale that closed Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s great to have it back in our family after 31 years,” said Mr. Morris, principal of Morris Management, a private-equity and real-estate investment company. “We strongly believe we have a very strong, loyal base of families in the Western states that would support Mervyn’s.”
For Mr. Morris, it means potentially reopening locations of the discount department store his father opened nearly 60 years ago in San Lorenzo, Calif.
John Morris could not be reached for comment.
Mervyn’s began closing 26 stores, including four O.C. stores, in late August 2008. To get a list of those four local stores, CLICK HERE.
Then in November, it began closing its remaining 149 stores, including nine in Orange County. For the list of those local stores, CLICK HERE.
The 59-year-old retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2008. Mervyn’s stores averaged 80,000 square feet.
More from OC Retail:
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- Brea Mall store to close
- Home Depot to close 3 O.C. Expo stores
- Forever 21 to move into O.C. Mervyn’s store
- Circuit City gives liquidation sales date
- Another Calif. retailer bankrupt
- Downtown Disney store owner files for bankruptcy
- Clothing maker files for bankruptcy
- O.C. surfwear maker to cut 200 jobs
- O.C. clothing retailer announces layoffs
For more from OC Retail, see list of links on the right-hand side of this blog.
47 Comments
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I sincerely hope the Morris family can bring back the Mervyn’s store chain. My family and I have been steady customers of theirs for many years and it was sad to see them close. Good luck and best wishes in, hopefully, bringing back Mervyn’s in the future.
It would be nice to see the stores come back, owned by the family. In recent years, the chain lost its focus, and we stopped going very often. That said, I’ve always loved their line of men’s shirts, slacks, shorts, etc, and always went there when I needed some.
I hope they go back to what they did best: sell good quality inexpensive clothes.
One hint: my wife didn’t like to go their because their catalog always featured large women.
Just our two cents.
I MISS MERVYS SO MUCH AND HOPE THEY BRING IT BACK TO MY HOMW TOWN OF OXNARD CALIFORNIA.. THAT STORE HELPED SO MANY FAMILIES WHO OTHER WISE COULD NOT AFFORD QUALITY CLOTHING FOR THEIR FAMILIES… BRING BACK MERVYNS!!!!
I would be so stoked if Mervyns re-opened. I am lost without them. Been goin there for over 15 yrs.
Let the thing die.
Were any of the locations in Orange County ever operated by the family, or were they all opened during the time Target’s predecessor company, Dayton-Hudson operated the chain? My hunch is that all were opened here under the ownership of Dayton-Hudson, post 1978.
Mervyn’s in it’s heyday offered a compelling place to shop, clean and well stocked stores with good values. Since the early 1990’s, the chain was on a downhill slide, more apparent after Target stopped injecting capital in the former Mervyn’s stores for renovations, until finding a buyer.
No wonder Kohl’s passed on Mervyn’s more than once. Kohl’s did better by cherry-picking sites during Mervyn’s bankruptcy and added locations where they had some holes for pennies on the dollar.
Kohl’s today is what Mervyn’s was in 1978.
Let the thing die and move on. Why the founding family would want to throw good money in today’s retail environment is simply a big waste. I bet they blow their inheritence…lol