Friday, February 13, 2009
Mervyns Back from the Dead?
Business Chris Thompson — Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 11:05 AM
When the East Bay department store chain Mervyns closed its stores and liquidated its assets a few months back, everyone assumed that the chain was gone for good. Now, reports the San Francisco Business Times, the store may be making a comeback. John Morris, the son of Mervyns founder Mervin Morris, has bought the name and the Internet properties from the dead company, and reportedly claims that Mervyns still has a core of loyal customers that would come back to the stores. We'll see what happens.
Comments (5)
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I to was a long time employee of Mervyns. The sad thing about the resurrection of Mervyns is that many of the old loyal employees of Mervyns are that, old. I am now 63 and would love to return to Mervyns if resurrected but I would be doing them an injustice. To succeed they would need young energitic employees to launch a new company with old values. I wish them luck.
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In the mean time... try Gottschalks for purchases, it's sad when any regional player bites the dust, and Gottschalks is struggling and needs all the sales they can get. They have really stocked up on many of the brands that the Mervyn's customer shopped for, like Levi's and much more. Gottschalks received sales information from their vendors about Mervyn's to target the right merchandise.
Good luck to Mervyn's again & Gottschalks, I like(d) them both.
I worked at Mervyn's for 16 years, starting with the company while Merv himself was still running it - and leaving only after he left the board of Directors of the Dayton Hudson Company at the end of his 5 year contract with them.
During the years when Mervin Morris was in charge of the company, I used to wake up in the morning and say, "Oh good. I GET to go to work today!" OK. It sounds really corny - but it's true.
After Dayton Hudson took over, the atmosphere changed. I would drag myself to work, as would my colleagues. We stayed on to support one another while railing against corporate management & policies which were changing the direction and profitability of what had been an outstanding retail company. More than that, Merv had founded the company on ethics and "heart" - and Dayton Hudson knew the meaning of neither of those.
If the Morris family decides to resurrect the original concept, they should have no trouble finding people to staff the company. I'll bet that thousands of former employees will be beating the doors down to have the opportunity to try it all again - and to get it right this time - without the bungling of the corporate pundits who just never understood what had made Mervyn's great from the beginning.
I wish the Morris family loads of luck if they pursue their goal. I believe they have the power to return ethics and heart to retail and would have an incredibly positive impact on the communities in which they would base their stores.
Wanda Allison
Former Employee
I've been their customer for a number of years & it was sad to see that they are no longer in business. I would defenitly shop there if they re-open the stors
I've been shopping at Mervyn's for over twenty years for clothes and housewares. Almost without fail, I made my weekly and sometimes twice weekly trek through that department store looking to buy clothes that was appealing and affordable. It did kind of help that this particular store was located at the edge of the mall allowing easy passage to the main street leading to the various restaurants and other type of stores in the area.
Often I would see clothes that was really to my liking and end up buying multiple purchases of the same item. I would safely say that about 95% to 98% of my waredrove was from Mervyn's department store. High Sierra were one of my favorite brands at the store among other brands.
It was disappointing to say the least, when I found out my favorite clothing store was closing. I've overheard a number of guests say it was depressing to see the store close. Friends and co-workers reiterated similar feelings about the closings.
Lately I've been trying to find a replacement store for my future clothes purchases to take the place of Mervyn's. But even though Target, Ross Dress for Less, J.C. Penneys, Sears, and Macy's are fine stores in their own right, their clothes don't attract my eye as much as Mervyn's did and make me open my wallet. At times it wasn't the style of the clothes, but the prices did not agree with my budget.
So that being said, I would definitely shop again at my favorite clothing store as a long-time guest/ customer at Mervyn's department store. And I'd imagine that all of Mervyn's inventory has already been liquidated and previous store locations leased out to other companies. So if Mervyn's store was to come back again, their prices may be somewhat higher due to starting over again and relocating. But again it was their style of inventory that brought me in the store.
BTW I am a college student who is working full time so time is always precious which made me appreciate the employee staff at Mervyn's with their friendly and helpful attitude that always mede shopping there a joyful experience. Thank you!
-Robert
Loyal Mervyn's customer
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