Bergner's | |
Company type | Subsidiary |
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1889Peoria, Illinois | in
Founder | Peter Alan Bergner |
Defunct | 2018 | (original company)
Fate | Bankruptcy (2018); [1] e-commerce (2021 onwards) |
Headquarters | Peoria, Illinois |
Number of locations | 0 (2018) [2] |
Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, housewares |
Parent | Maus Frères (1938–1991) Proffitts Inc. (1991–2005) The Bon-Ton (2005–2018) CSC Generation (2018-2021) BrandX.com (2021-Present) |
Website | bergners |
P.A. Bergner & Co. (also known as Bergner's) was an upscale Midwestern department store in the United States, that was established in 1889. The chain is now an online retailer operated by BrandX.com, Inc. The flagship store was located in Peoria, Illinois at The Shoppes at Grande Prairie.
Bergner's was founded in downtown Peoria in 1889 by Peter Alan Bergner. The famous red stone building housed six floors that included a tea room, a millinery, a cobbler, and its famous Fine China department. The store stood on the corner of Adams at Fulton streets across from the then-rival, Block & Kuhl Company.
In 1957, a second Peoria Bergner's location opened at the then-suburban Sheridan Village Shopping Center. Between 1961 and 1973, the Sheridan Village location sold the most merchandise per square foot of any department store in the United States. This Bergner's was the largest department store in Illinois outside of the Chicago area. During the 1970s, the chain opened several additional locations in Pekin, Bloomington, Decatur, Champaign, Galesburg, Quincy and Peru. During the 1970s, Bergner's opened a budget store (formatted after the original bargain basement downtown store) in the Madison Park Shopping Center in Peoria. Not expanding on this concept, the Madison Park Store was closed in 1993. [3]
In April 2003, after the four-year process of the "Shoppes at Grand Prairie" lifestyle center development, Bergner's opened a new location serving as their flagship and it was the largest department store south of Chicago and north of St. Louis.
Bergner's grew robustly in the late 1970s and 1980s. It acquired the eight stores of Myers Brothers Company of Springfield, Illinois, in 1978. [4] In 1985, Bergner's acquired Boston Store and all of its department stores in Wisconsin along with three Gimbel's locations. In 1989, P.A. Bergner bought Chicago's Carson Pirie Scott for over $450 million. Carson's itself had just bought Minneapolis-based Donaldson's in November 1987. With this, Bergner's was a major Midwestern presence, with stores in five states: Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Iowa, operating under the Bergner's, Carson Pirie Scott, and Boston Store names.
P.A. Bergner owned the store until he died in 1926. [5] His son John Velde Bergner was president of the company until his suicide in 1938. [6]
Maus Frères SA, based in Geneva, Switzerland, acquired the company after the younger Bergner's death and gave the store its unique red logo of six hexagons, an emblem Bergner's now shares with five corporate siblings as well as two current Maus subsidiaries.
The downtown Peoria store remained open until 1986 and was demolished in 2000. One Technology Plaza now occupies the site. In memory of the long history of Bergner's to that location, the cornerstone of the red rock building is still on display outside the entrance to the college.
In August 1991, Bergner's filed for bankruptcy. It exited Chapter 11 in 1993 with the new name Carson Pirie Scott & Co. and became a publicly traded company.
Proffitt's Inc., now Saks Incorporated, bought the company in 1998 and named the purchased group of stores the Northern Department Store group internally; its purchase increased the northern presence of the Saks company.
In July 2005, Saks completed the sale of its Southern Department Store Group consisting of Proffitt's and McRae's to Charlotte, North Carolina–based Belk, Inc. On October 31, 2005, Saks announced that it was selling Bergner's and its other Northern Department Store Group stores (Carson Pirie Scott, Younkers, Boston Store, and Herberger's) to Bon-Ton Stores in a $1.1 billion deal. The transaction was completed on March 6, 2006. [7] As of 2006 [update] , the Bergner's name was used at 14 locations, all in Illinois.
Bon-Ton Stores announced on April 17, 2018, that they would cease operations and began liquidating all 267 stores after two liquidators, Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group, won an auction for the company. The bid was estimated to be worth $775.5 million. This included all remaining Bergner's stores after 128 years of operation. According to national retail reporter Mitch Nolen, stores closed within 10 to 12 weeks. [8] [9]
On September 10, 2018, of Merrillville, Indiana–based CSG Generation acquired all trademark and intellectual property assets of The Bon-Ton (York, Pa.). [10] Subsequently, in early 2021, CSC Generation sold all the acquired assets of Bon-Ton to New York-based BrandX.com, Inc in a private sale.
Parisian Inc. was an American chain of upmarket department stores founded and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Competing mainly through the 1980s against Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Gus Mayer, Parisian underwent a series of restructurings and mergers during its 130-year history, and was taken over by Proffitt’s, Inc. in 1996. In September 2006, Belk purchased Parisian from Saks for $285 million with twenty-four locations later becoming Belk by September 2007. Belk sold four stores in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio to The Bon-Ton in October 2006. Bon-Ton operated these stores individually under the Parisian name until 2013 when the exclusive marketing rights to operate under the Parisian name expired, marking the end of this upmarket department store.
Younkers Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and bordering 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 a corporate consolidation. Following its last sale in 2006, Younkers operated as a subsidiary of The Bon-Ton, with locations in seven Midwestern states, primarily in shopping malls. As of 2013 the chain operated more than fifty locations in the region. On August 29, 2018, Younkers closed its doors one last time.
Saks, Inc. was an American holding company founded in 1998 through the merger of Proffitts, Inc. and Saks Fifth Avenue. Before acquisition by the Canadian-founded Hudson's Bay Company in 2013, it held ownership of numerous regional department store chains including Carson's, McRae's, Parisian, and Proffitt's as well as the New York City-based Saks Fifth Avenue. It acquired several mid-range and specialty department store chains in the 1990s, however, refocused on upscale retailing and divested of them in the mid-2000s.
Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. The chain was founded in 1919 by David W. Proffitt and James Ellis. In 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk after Belk had acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks, Inc. At the time of their demise they operated 47 Proffitts & McRae's stores.
McRae's was a mid-range regional department store chain founded and based in Jackson, Mississippi, with locations in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida. The nameplate was in existence for more than a century.
Carson Pirie Scott & Co. is an American department store that was founded in 1854, which grew to over 50 locations, primarily in the Midwestern United States. It was sold to the holding company of Bon-Ton in 2006, but still operated under the Carson name. The entire Bon-Ton collection of stores, including Carson's, went into bankruptcy and closed in 2018. Bon-Ton's intellectual property was quickly sold while in bankruptcy, and the new owners reopened shortly afterwards as a BrandX virtual retailer.
Boston Store is a digitally native retailer. It was established in 1897 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a department store.
G. R. Herberger Inc. is a digitally native retailer. It was established in 1927 in the Midwestern United States as a department store.
Bonton Holdings Inc. operating as Bonton was an American department store chain and group founded in 1898. It operated in Western New York, Pennsylvania, and throughout the Midwestern United States. The former York, Pennsylvania-based company BonTon filed for bankruptcy in February 2018 and sold the name to CSC Generation, which sold it to BrandX.com in 2021, operating an e-commerce site under the brand name. Along with Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's, and Younkers, the names of most of the defunct retail group's department store chains are owned by BrandX.
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.
The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., commonly known as Elder-Beerman, was an American chain of department stores founded in 1883 and whose last stores closed in 2018. The chain, based primarily in the Midwestern United States, was composed of 31 stores in eight states at the time of its liquidation in 2018, and peaked around 2003 with 68 stores and $670 million in annual sales.
Spring Hill Mall was a shopping mall in West Dundee, Illinois. The mall's anchor tenants are currently Kohl's and Cinemark. There are four vacant anchor stores that were once Carson Pirie Scott, Sears, Macy's, and Barnes & Noble.
Donaldson's, previously known as the L. S. Donaldson Company, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a defunct department store company.
Northfield Square is a shopping mall located in Bourbonnais, Illinois, United States. The mall serves Kankakee County, which includes Bourbonnais, Bradley, and Kankakee. The mall's anchor store is Cinemark Theatres. There are 4 vacant anchor stores that were once 2 Carson Pirie Scott stores, Sears and JCPenney.
The Plaza, formerly known as Evergreen Plaza, was a shopping mall in Evergreen Park, Illinois, United States. It was legally organized by Arthur Rubloff, who is also credited with coining the phrase "Magnificent Mile" describing the upscale section of Michigan Avenue north of the Chicago River to Oak Street. Rubloff secured the funding for the Evergreen Plaza from the Walgreen family who lived nearby in Beverly, Chicago. The Evergreen Plaza operated from 1952 to 2013. It featured over 120 stores, as well as a food court. The mall closed in 2013 and became an outdoor shopping center. Anchors include Whole Foods Market, and Burlington Coat Factory.
Randhurst Village is a shopping center located at the corner of Rand Road and Elmhurst Road in Mount Prospect, Illinois. The shopping center took its name from combining the names of these two roads into a portmanteau.
Eastland Mall is a shopping mall in Bloomington, Illinois. It opened in 1967 and has expanded several times in its history. It features more than 90 stores and a food court. The anchor store is Kohl's. There are 3 vacant anchor stores that were once Macy's, Bergner's, and Sears. The fifth anchor store, JCPenney, has been rebuilt, partially demolished, and subdivided into in-line mall retail space. The mall is owned and managed by CBL & Associates Properties.
The Shoppes at College Hills is a lifestyle center retail complex located in the city of Normal, Illinois, USA. It is one of two major shopping centers in the Bloomington-Normal area. The complex was built in 1980 as a small enclosed shopping mall called College Hills Mall, and was demolished and rebuilt in 2005 as an outdoor center. Anchor stores include Hobby Lobby, Target, Crunch Fitness, and Von Maur.
Hickory Point Mall is a shopping mall in Forsyth, Illinois, United States. The mall opened in 1978. The anchor stores are Kohl's, Von Maur, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Ulta Beauty, Ross Dress for Less, and Shoe Dept. Encore. The mall is managed by Namdar Realty Group. There are 3 vacant anchor stores that were once JCPenney, Sears, and Bergner's.
The Shoppes at Grand Prairie is an outdoor lifestyle center in Peoria, Illinois, United States, which opened in April 2003. It features Dick's Sporting Goods, Marshalls and many more stores. Original stores include Bergner's, Galyan's, Borders, and Linens N Things.
John Bergner, 44 years old, president of the P. A. Bergner company store, Peoria, leaped to his death from the high bridge at Henry [Illinois] today. He had been in ill health for a month. A coroner's jury brought in a verdict of suicide.