The Bon Marché
Encyclopedia
The Bon Marché, whose name means "the good deal" or "the good market", was the name chosen for a department store
launched in Seattle, Washington
, United States
, in 1890 by Edward Nordhoff. The name comes from Le Bon Marché
, a noted Paris retailer and one of the world's first department stores, founded 40 years earlier. In 1929 it was acquired by Hahn Department Stores, which a few years later reorganized as Allied Stores
. A solid middle-range store, The Bon served largely working-class Seattle well; branches were added in several Northwestern cities. Among them were Spokane
, Tacoma
, Yakima
, Kennewick
, Longview
, Walla Walla
, Olympia
, and Bellingham, Washington
, and Boise, Idaho
. Commonly known to customers as The Bon, the company dropped the Marché from their name in the late 1970s before returning it in the mid-1980s.
The Bon was known for their catchy jingles, such as the following to the tune of "The Banana Boat Song": "Day-o, One Day Sale, One day only at The Bon Marché! Save 20, 30, 40 percent (example savings)! Saturday only at the Bon Marche. Prices are down in every department! Saturday only at the Bon Marche!..." This jingle continued after the name was changed to Bon Macy's, with the appropriate changes.
Allied Stores was merged into Federated Department Stores
in 1989. As part of its national rebranding program, Federated changed the name to Bon-Macy's in 2003. On March 6, 2005, the Bon-Macy's name was eliminated, with the stores renamed as the Macy's Northwest division of Federated. On February 6, 2008, the Macy's Northwest division was merged with the Macy's West division, based in San Francisco.
As of April 2011, Strategic Marks, LLC has obtained 'The Bon Marche' trademark and plans on re-introducing the famous department store name as part of a virtual mall, along with other nostalgic stores such as The Broadway, Joseph Magnin, Robinson's Department Store, Filene's, Abraham and Strauss and may others. The goal is to bring back the great department stores of the 20th century, with the hopes of re-opening the actual 'Brick and Mortar' stores throughout the US.
in 1858, and moved to Paris
as a young man. In Paris, he worked for the Louvre Department Store, but developed great admiration for its rival, the Maison of Aristide Boucicaut "Au Bon Marché" (now part of the LVMH group). Nordhoff admired the values of this rival store's owners, who built their business with a foundation in customer service. He dreamed of opening his own store along these lines. In 1881, Edward emigrated to the U.S. While managing a popular Chicago
department store he met Josephine Brennan, who worked on the sales floor. They married in 1888, and 2 years later set off for the West Coast with their baby, Eleanor.
Arriving in Seattle the year after the 1889 fire, the Nordhoffs found rental space scarce. They leased a one-story structure at the corner of First and Cedar in Belltown
, for $25 a month. Their entire savings of $1,200 was soon invested on merchandise for their store. Mrs. Nordhoff, not yet 20, stocked shelves, kept the books, cleaned and mopped. She learned the Chinook
language so that she could better wait on Native American customers. Though the store was blocks out of the way, townsfolk began to trade with the hardworking young couple. The panic of the early 1890s struck Seattle hard. Every cent was precious. Returning from his first buying trip east, Ed Nordhoff brought back something new -- sacks of pennies. Until then, change had been made only to the nearest nickel locally. Now customers walked for blocks to save pennies at The Bon Marché's sales. Their growing success allowed the Nordhoffs to relocate their store closer to the business heart of the city in 1896. They chose a one-story L-shaped building at Second and Pike.
. Josephine remarried two years later. Her new husband, Frank McDermott, joined her and Rudolph Nordhoff, Edward's brother, in operating The Bon Marché. The store entered a period of rapid growth under the management of this trio. Sales increased from $338,000 in 1900 to $8 million in 1923. The store was enlarged time and time again. In 1929, The Bon Marché opened at its current downtown location at Third and Pine. That year, the store was sold to Hahn Stores of Chicago. Five years later, Allied Stores
bought the Hahn chain. Both corporations continued to operate the store under its original name. In 1937, The Bon Marché opened its first store outside of Washington when Allied Stores merged Boise, Idaho
-based C.C. Anderson's into The Bon Marché. The downtown Boise store remained in operation for more than 70 years, until early 2010, albeit as a Macy's for its final few years.
The Bon began opening additional stores after World War II
. In 1949, it provided the anchor store for one of the world's first modern shopping centers, at Northgate Mall
. By 1986, when Campeau Corporation
acquired Allied Stores, the Bon Marché was one of the best-known retailers in the Northwest, with about 40 stores throughout the region. In 1978, the company acquired nine stores including Missoula Mercantile of Missoula, Montana
. The Missoula store closed as Macy's in 2010.
The Bon also opened and operated three stores in Utah
: The largest one was in Ogden
, at the Ogden City Mall. The second was in Layton Hills Mall
in Layton
, a bedroom community north of Salt Lake City. Third was the smallest store in the entire chain - Logan
. This store was located in the Cache Valley Mall. The stores in Ogden and Logan were sold to Lamonts
department stores in 1988 because they weren't performing well for the company. Layton's location remained open until 1993, when it was sold to J.C. Penney
.
After yet another change in corporate ownership in 1992, the Bon ended up in the hands of Federated Department Stores
, a Cincinnati-based company which also owns the Macy's
and Bloomingdales chains. In 2001, The Bon Marché debuted a prototype store in Helena, Montana
. The 65000 square feet (6,038.7 m²) store featured everything a typical Bon Marché had plus centralized checkouts.
In August 2003, Federated "rebranded" The Bon Marché, turning it into Bon-Macy's. Federated also tacked Macy's onto the names of four other regional chains under its umbrella (Burdines
in Florida, Lazarus
in the Midwest, Goldsmith's
in Tennessee, and Rich's
in the Southeast). Customers had about a year to get used to that change when, in September 2004, Federated announced that all its regional chains would be renamed Macy’s.
As of 2004, Bon-Macy's consisted of 50 stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. New store signs, reading simply Macy's, were in place by January 2005. The former flagship store in downtown Seattle retains one small, original example of The Bon Marché signage; this can be seen above the north entrance of the store, at the corner of 4th Ave & Olive Way.
On February 6, 2008, Terry Lundgren announced the localization strategy and the company's plan to shed 2,550 jobs. This included laying off the Macy's Northwest headquarters and merging all of the former The Bon Marché stores under the Macy's West division.
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...
launched in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in 1890 by Edward Nordhoff. The name comes from Le Bon Marché
Le Bon Marché
Le Bon Marché is the name of one of the best known department stores in Paris, France. It is sometimes regarded as the "first department store in the world". Although this depends on what is meant by 'department store', it may have had the first specially designed building for a store in Paris...
, a noted Paris retailer and one of the world's first department stores, founded 40 years earlier. In 1929 it was acquired by Hahn Department Stores, which a few years later reorganized as Allied Stores
Allied Stores
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928...
. A solid middle-range store, The Bon served largely working-class Seattle well; branches were added in several Northwestern cities. Among them were Spokane
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, Yakima
Yakima, Washington
Yakima is an American city southeast of Mount Rainier National Park and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the eighth largest city by population in the state itself. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 91,196 and a metropolitan population of...
, Kennewick
Kennewick, Washington
Kennewick is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, near the Hanford nuclear site. It is the most populous of the three cities collectively referred to as the Tri-Cities...
, Longview
Longview, Washington
Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the "Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area", which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longview's population was 36,648 at the time of the 2010 census and is the largest city in Cowlitz County...
, Walla Walla
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
, Olympia
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, and Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
, and Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
. Commonly known to customers as The Bon, the company dropped the Marché from their name in the late 1970s before returning it in the mid-1980s.
The Bon was known for their catchy jingles, such as the following to the tune of "The Banana Boat Song": "Day-o, One Day Sale, One day only at The Bon Marché! Save 20, 30, 40 percent (example savings)! Saturday only at the Bon Marche. Prices are down in every department! Saturday only at the Bon Marche!..." This jingle continued after the name was changed to Bon Macy's, with the appropriate changes.
Allied Stores was merged into Federated Department Stores
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....
in 1989. As part of its national rebranding program, Federated changed the name to Bon-Macy's in 2003. On March 6, 2005, the Bon-Macy's name was eliminated, with the stores renamed as the Macy's Northwest division of Federated. On February 6, 2008, the Macy's Northwest division was merged with the Macy's West division, based in San Francisco.
As of April 2011, Strategic Marks, LLC has obtained 'The Bon Marche' trademark and plans on re-introducing the famous department store name as part of a virtual mall, along with other nostalgic stores such as The Broadway, Joseph Magnin, Robinson's Department Store, Filene's, Abraham and Strauss and may others. The goal is to bring back the great department stores of the 20th century, with the hopes of re-opening the actual 'Brick and Mortar' stores throughout the US.
Beginnings
Edward Nordhoff was born in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1858, and moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
as a young man. In Paris, he worked for the Louvre Department Store, but developed great admiration for its rival, the Maison of Aristide Boucicaut "Au Bon Marché" (now part of the LVMH group). Nordhoff admired the values of this rival store's owners, who built their business with a foundation in customer service. He dreamed of opening his own store along these lines. In 1881, Edward emigrated to the U.S. While managing a popular Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
department store he met Josephine Brennan, who worked on the sales floor. They married in 1888, and 2 years later set off for the West Coast with their baby, Eleanor.
Belltown, Seattle, Washington
Belltown is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, in the 98121 Zip Code, located on the city's downtown waterfront, on land that was artificially flattened as part of a regrading project...
, for $25 a month. Their entire savings of $1,200 was soon invested on merchandise for their store. Mrs. Nordhoff, not yet 20, stocked shelves, kept the books, cleaned and mopped. She learned the Chinook
Chinookan languages
Chinookan is a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples.-Family division:Chinookan languages consists of three languages with multiple varieties. There is some dispute over classification, and there are two ISO 639-3 codes assigned: and...
language so that she could better wait on Native American customers. Though the store was blocks out of the way, townsfolk began to trade with the hardworking young couple. The panic of the early 1890s struck Seattle hard. Every cent was precious. Returning from his first buying trip east, Ed Nordhoff brought back something new -- sacks of pennies. Until then, change had been made only to the nearest nickel locally. Now customers walked for blocks to save pennies at The Bon Marché's sales. Their growing success allowed the Nordhoffs to relocate their store closer to the business heart of the city in 1896. They chose a one-story L-shaped building at Second and Pike.
Initial growth and expansion
In 1899, at age 40, Edward died of an illness his doctor called "phthisis", probably tuberculosisTuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. Josephine remarried two years later. Her new husband, Frank McDermott, joined her and Rudolph Nordhoff, Edward's brother, in operating The Bon Marché. The store entered a period of rapid growth under the management of this trio. Sales increased from $338,000 in 1900 to $8 million in 1923. The store was enlarged time and time again. In 1929, The Bon Marché opened at its current downtown location at Third and Pine. That year, the store was sold to Hahn Stores of Chicago. Five years later, Allied Stores
Allied Stores
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928...
bought the Hahn chain. Both corporations continued to operate the store under its original name. In 1937, The Bon Marché opened its first store outside of Washington when Allied Stores merged Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
-based C.C. Anderson's into The Bon Marché. The downtown Boise store remained in operation for more than 70 years, until early 2010, albeit as a Macy's for its final few years.
The Bon began opening additional stores after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1949, it provided the anchor store for one of the world's first modern shopping centers, at Northgate Mall
Northgate Mall
Northgate Mall may refer to:*Northgate Mall in Durham, North Carolina*Northgate Mall in Hixson, Tennessee*Northgate Mall in Seattle, Washington*Northgate Mall in Cincinnati, Ohio...
. By 1986, when Campeau Corporation
Campeau Corporation
Campeau Corporation was a Canadian real estate development and investment company founded by entrepreneur Robert Campeau. It was infamous from its ultimately unsuccessful acquisitions of American department store holding companies Allied Stores in 1986 and Federated Department Stores in 1988...
acquired Allied Stores, the Bon Marché was one of the best-known retailers in the Northwest, with about 40 stores throughout the region. In 1978, the company acquired nine stores including Missoula Mercantile of Missoula, Montana
Missoula, Montana
Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
. The Missoula store closed as Macy's in 2010.
The Bon also opened and operated three stores in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
: The largest one was in Ogden
Ogden, Utah
Ogden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
, at the Ogden City Mall. The second was in Layton Hills Mall
Layton Hills Mall
Layton Hills Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Layton, Utah. Opened in 1980, the mall features Dick's Sporting Goods, J.C. Penney and Macy's as its anchor stores. The mall is owned by CBL & Associates Properties.-History:...
in Layton
Layton, Utah
-External links:*...
, a bedroom community north of Salt Lake City. Third was the smallest store in the entire chain - Logan
Logan, Utah
-Layout of the City:Logan's city grid originates from its Main and Center Street block, with Main Street running north and south, and Center east and west. Each block north, east, south, or west of the origin accumulates in additions of 100 , though some streets have non-numeric names...
. This store was located in the Cache Valley Mall. The stores in Ogden and Logan were sold to Lamonts
Lamonts
Lamonts was a chain of department stores founded in Seattle, Washington. The chain was started in 1970 when Pay 'n Save renamed its suburban branches of Rhodes, a department store chain the company acquired in 1965. Lamonts remained a division of Pay 'n Save until 1985...
department stores in 1988 because they weren't performing well for the company. Layton's location remained open until 1993, when it was sold to J.C. Penney
J.C. Penney
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many...
.
After yet another change in corporate ownership in 1992, the Bon ended up in the hands of Federated Department Stores
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....
, a Cincinnati-based company which also owns the Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
and Bloomingdales chains. In 2001, The Bon Marché debuted a prototype store in Helena, Montana
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
. The 65000 square feet (6,038.7 m²) store featured everything a typical Bon Marché had plus centralized checkouts.
Name changes
Burdines
Burdines was a leading department store chain in the state of Florida. The first Burdines store was opened in Bartow, Florida in 1896., Burdines became part of Federated Department Stores, Inc in 1956...
in Florida, Lazarus
Lazarus (department store)
F&R Lazarus & Company — commonly known as Lazarus — was a regional department store retail chain operating primarily in the U.S. Midwest, and based in Columbus, Ohio...
in the Midwest, Goldsmith's
Goldsmith's
Goldsmith's was a department store founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1870 by German immigrant brothers Jacob and Isaac Goldsmith. With a $500 investment, they opened a dry goods store on a muddy lane called Beale Street. It grew into a chain largely located in the Memphis metropolitan area, until...
in Tennessee, and Rich's
Rich's
Rich's was a department store retail chain, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated in the southern U.S. from 1867 until March 6, 2005 when the nameplate was eliminated and replaced by Macy's...
in the Southeast). Customers had about a year to get used to that change when, in September 2004, Federated announced that all its regional chains would be renamed Macy’s.
As of 2004, Bon-Macy's consisted of 50 stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. New store signs, reading simply Macy's, were in place by January 2005. The former flagship store in downtown Seattle retains one small, original example of The Bon Marché signage; this can be seen above the north entrance of the store, at the corner of 4th Ave & Olive Way.
On February 6, 2008, Terry Lundgren announced the localization strategy and the company's plan to shed 2,550 jobs. This included laying off the Macy's Northwest headquarters and merging all of the former The Bon Marché stores under the Macy's West division.