McRae's was a mid-range regional department store

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 and based in Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...

, with locations in Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, and Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. The nameplate was in existence for more than a century.

History

Samuel P. McRae founded the store in Jackson, Mississippi in 1902 as a dry goods

Dry goods

Dry goods are products such as textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and sundries. In U.S. retailing, a dry goods store carries consumer goods that are distinct from those carried by hardware stores and grocery stores, though "dry goods" as a term for textiles has been dated back to 1742 in England or...

 store. It remained a family-owned business through the ensuing decades, while continuing to grow. Sales increased from only $1 million in 1955 to $10 million in 1970. In 1987, McRae's acquired 13 stores in Alabama from Pizitz

Pizitz

Pizitz was a major regional department store chain in Alabama, with its flagship store in downtown Birmingham. At its peak it operated 12 other stores, mostly in the Birmingham area with several locations in Huntsville and other Alabama cities....

. With strengths in home furnishings, men's apparel, and cosmetics

Cosmetics

Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...

, the chain was considered one of the most successful family-owned businesses in the country.

McRae's was acquired by Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

-based 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:...

 in 1994 in a transaction that The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

called "a case of a little fish swallowing a bigger one." McRae's had 28 stores with combined annual sales of $419 million and Proffitt's had 25 stores with annual sales of only $201 million. After the sale, McRae's stores retained their name and were operated as a separate subsidiary.

After 1998, when Proffitt's merged with Saks Holdings Inc. and changed its corporate name to Saks Incorporated, the chain shared a corporate parent 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...

.

Foley's

Foley's

Foley’s was a chain of department stores owned by May Department Stores and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. As of August 30, 2005, the division was dissolved and operation of the stores was assumed by Federated's Macy's West and Macy's South divisions. Foley's operated stores in Texas,...

 acquired one McRae's in Louisiana at The Mall at Cortana.
As 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...

 sought repositioning as a more luxury retail-oriented operation, its mid-range chains became targets for sale. McRae's and Proffitt's, representing the Southern Department Store Group within Saks Incorporated, were among the first to sell. North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

-based Belk

Belk

Belk is a department store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South via the chain in the USA, with its stores primarily located in the...

, the nation's largest privately owned department store chain, was the buyer of the stores in a deal that closed in July 2005.

On March 8, 2006, most McRae's stores were converted into Belk stores, with three stores excluded. Locations in Tuscaloosa

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...

 and Gadsden

Gadsden, Alabama

The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...

 in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, were retained by Saks to convert to its Parisian chain, though both stores eventually would be among the Parisian locations also sold to Belk. In addition, the Mall of Louisiana

Mall of Louisiana

Mall of Louisiana is an upscale shopping mall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is located between I-10 and Bluebonnet Blvd.Built in 1997 by developer Jim Wilson & Associates which also built the Riverchase Galleria in Alabama, it is the second largest mall in Louisiana and is currently owned and...

 store in Baton Rouge became a Dillard's

Dillard's

Dillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...

 location.

External links

• Details of the sale of McRae's to Belk from the Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi, April 30, 2005
• History of McRae's timeline, Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi, April 30, 2005