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Private Company
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1949 San Lorenzo, California
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Hayward, California
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Retail
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Rick Leto, President and CMO
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Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, and housewares
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wwwmervynscom
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is a and
Washington by February 2007, reducing its store count to 172 stores in 8 states. The company said it closed underperforming locations that did not contribute to the company's success. Based on 2005 revenue, Mervyns is the eighty-third largest
Retailer in the
United States .
Top 100 Retailers: The Nation's Retail Power Players (PDF) , ''Stores'', July 2006.
Mervin G. Morris was born in Delano, California. His family had a small department store in Delano where he worked during his youth. Though he started college at U.C. Berkeley, he soon had to return home when his father became ill. He never returned to college. He eventually left Delano, however, to become a captain in the United States Army during World War II. After the war, Mervin Morris married Roslyn ("Roz") Grossman. Mervin and Roz Morris have four children and thirteen grandchildren.
The first Mervyns store opened in 1949 in
San Lorenzo, California , named after the founder
Mervin G. Morris (and adopting the misspelling on the company's first sign). However, the Dayton Hudson Corporation (later known as
Target Corporation ) acquired the company in 1978.
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In 1986, Mervyn's made a major expansion into the
Southeast , especially the
Atlanta market. The chain had never previously been in
Georgia , but competed for mall space with
J.C. Penney and got top anchor spots at several area malls. Known Mervyn's locations in the Atlanta area were
Town Center Mall ,
Shannon Mall ,
North DeKalb Mall ,
Gwinnett Place Mall and
North Point Mall . The Akers Mill Crossing strip center across from
Cumberland Mall in
Smyrna was also a location.
The chain, however, failed to sustain itself in the Atlanta market and left the area in 1997.
Parisian to open in Mervyn's spot at North Point , ''Atlanta Business Chronicle'',
April 4 ,
1997 J.C. Penney acquired and converted the Town Center, Shannon and Gwinnett Place stores in 1997. The others became a movie theater at North Dekalb, a
Parisian at North Point and a
Sports Authority at the Smyrna strip center.
Mervyn's closed all of its Florida stores in 1998.
From 1996 to 2001, the stores were rebranded as , in an effort to identify with their West Coast heritage. Mervyn's TV commercials and catalogs featured former
San Francisco 49ers '
Quarterback Joe Montana in their advertising and one of its popular commercials, "Open, Open, Open." After this, the company later reverted to the original name after seeing no marked improvements.
In July 2004, Mervyn's was bought from the Target Corporation by a group of investors including private investment firm and turnaround specialist
Sun Capital Partners, Inc of
Boca Raton, Florida ,
Cerberus Capital Management of
New York , and real estate investment company
Lubert-Adler Management Inc. of
Philadelphia , immediately closing its
Minnesota stores.
1 Rick Leto was named the new president and chief merchandising officer in January 2005. The company announced in September 2005 that it would focus exclusively on
Western and
Southwestern markets, and planned to close its stores in
Michigan ,
Oklahoma , and
Louisiana by February 2006. Twenty-eight of the 62 stores announced for closure were locations in the 40-store Texas market, a market Mervyn's entered in 1981.
2 In addition, the store has closed its location in the upscale
Washington Square mall in
Tigard, Oregon ; in January, the company announced plans to close its 17 remaining Oregon and Washington stores by 2007. A
Salt Lake City, Utah area store, located in Crossroads Plaza, closed in March 2006.
As of June 2006, Mervyn's has implemented new technology in an effort to become recognized as a more independent company, as well as to keep up with the demands of customers and other retail companies, such as
Wal-Mart or its former parent company, the
Target Corporation . The new technological program, known as MARS (Mervyns Advanced Retail Systems), features more streamlined and efficient cash register functions, as well as a simpler system of store merchandise
Distribution and
Logistics .
