Another great department store bites the dust.
Mervyns To Close - Liquidation/Out Of Business Sale By Xmas
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Sad But Inevitable
I'm sad in a way about the closure of Mervyns. When I was younger, one of my first credit cards was a Mervyns charge, and I used to buy everything from the store--shirts, pants, underwear, socks. But over the years, I drifted away from Mervyns--or had Mervyns drifted away from me? Their prices became too high and their quality no better than I was getting from TarKWalMaxx.
RIP to Mervyns. It was fun while it lasted.
I'm sad in a way about the closure of Mervyns. When I was younger, one of my first credit cards was a Mervyns charge, and I used to buy everything from the store--shirts, pants, underwear, socks. But over the years, I drifted away from Mervyns--or had Mervyns drifted away from me? Their prices became too high and their quality no better than I was getting from TarKWalMaxx.
RIP to Mervyns. It was fun while it lasted.
I'll have to cherrish the dark blue collandrs you see in my BobLoad dishwasher pics on this thread--they came from Mervyns in Houston from around 1982 or 1983.
I mentioned the closing of Mervyn's to a friend and he advised that not all stores would be closing. I hope he's right, just for the sake of continuing to provide another choice, even though I rarely shopped at Mervyn's other than to take advantage of a particularly good price point on a specific item.
This retail giant has apparently come full circle after starting out as a single store in Hayward, CA. Not far from there was the Mother's Cookies plant and HQ, another operation that folded last week. A couple more Bay Area icons lost.
This retail giant has apparently come full circle after starting out as a single store in Hayward, CA. Not far from there was the Mother's Cookies plant and HQ, another operation that folded last week. A couple more Bay Area icons lost.
Mother's Cookies were outsourced out of state a couple of years ago. But it didn't keep the company from going under.
Mervyn's HQ is practically right around the corner from me. The building is looking rather deserted and depressing these days - as I drive by it on 238 near downtown Hayward.
The last time I shopped at Mervyn's, however, had to be in the mid-90's. Since then, I get my clothes at (gasp) Costco. I briefly considered applying for a job with Mervyn's in the late 90's, because they were one of the few big local companies left to use the operating system I made a career out of, but never did. And since then I've moved on from that OS anyway.
Supposedly tonight on local news at 11, the founder of Mervyn's is going to explain "what went wrong", but I think I've already read that Mervyn's was having a hard time finding a niche in the mid-priced dept store field in the face of big box retailers like Walmart, Target, and even Costco. What local papers said a few months ago was that Mervyn's was attributing its fall in sales to the lack of inventory on the shelves, and it attributed that to a bad inventory tracking system. But I suspect that lack of inventory was more due to getting credit cut off by suppliers for non-payment of bills due.
Mervyn's HQ is practically right around the corner from me. The building is looking rather deserted and depressing these days - as I drive by it on 238 near downtown Hayward.
The last time I shopped at Mervyn's, however, had to be in the mid-90's. Since then, I get my clothes at (gasp) Costco. I briefly considered applying for a job with Mervyn's in the late 90's, because they were one of the few big local companies left to use the operating system I made a career out of, but never did. And since then I've moved on from that OS anyway.
Supposedly tonight on local news at 11, the founder of Mervyn's is going to explain "what went wrong", but I think I've already read that Mervyn's was having a hard time finding a niche in the mid-priced dept store field in the face of big box retailers like Walmart, Target, and even Costco. What local papers said a few months ago was that Mervyn's was attributing its fall in sales to the lack of inventory on the shelves, and it attributed that to a bad inventory tracking system. But I suspect that lack of inventory was more due to getting credit cut off by suppliers for non-payment of bills due.
Mervyn's here in MI closed a year or two ago. Can't say I ever liked them. there was something about the store ambiance that turned me off, but that would not be a killer if they had stuff I wanted to buy. Stuff seemed second rate at close to first rate prices. Mervyn's here had a large store built as a 4th anchor to our local mall. It stood empty for a years or 2 and now Burlington moved in, what a dump.
Kohl's seem to be going strong, at least around here. Their prices are better than Mervyn's ever were, and much of their stuff is name brand.
Kohl's seem to be going strong, at least around here. Their prices are better than Mervyn's ever were, and much of their stuff is name brand.
nurdlinger
Well-known member
Mervyn's (was) one of the few ... companies left to use
VAX/VMS? Pick? Just curious.
VAX/VMS? Pick? Just curious.
Mervyns got nailed by Kohl's advance around the country and Penney's renaissance...I doubt I've ever been in a Mervyns, but I'm just not in the habit of shopping at any of those type of stores...either K-Target, Costco/Sears or Nordstrom/Parisian. My partner likes them, but I just can't be bothered. That said, I got a pair of trousers about 5 years ago at Kohls' (they sent a $10 off a $10 purchase) which absolutely wore like iron...I can still wear them to work...they wash very well. Funny Penney's story from years ago...I grew up in second-ring suburbia, with a super-regional mall under a mile away with 2 local department stores and Sears. Needless to say I lived in Toughskins. However, one back to school season, my mom decided to forsake that mall for the next closest (about 7 miles away) which had only one of the local department stores and Penneys. I was most upset that although I could wear regular Toughskins, I needed husky Super Denim.
alanlendaro
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- Dec 27, 2006
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i was curious also, nurdlinger...
I haven't heard of those in a long time. Used to work for an insurance co that had a lot of Pick... I was on the team doing a conversion to Oracle.... I don't think they ever fully finished it and i still think some of the old Pick applications were moved from the Sequoia machines to something called Universe'?' that is now sold by IBM.
I haven't heard of those in a long time. Used to work for an insurance co that had a lot of Pick... I was on the team doing a conversion to Oracle.... I don't think they ever fully finished it and i still think some of the old Pick applications were moved from the Sequoia machines to something called Universe'?' that is now sold by IBM.
JerseyMike
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It's always a shame to read stories like this. I feel bad for the people who are going to be losing their jobs. It's very scary out there.
My only experience with Mervyn's was when they made their very brief, ill-fated expansion into Florida. (They bought several former Jodan Marsh/Mass Brother's locations -- including the one at Town Center in Boca Raton. Saks Fifth Avenue relocated their existing store at the mall when Mervyn's exited the Florida market.) To say that I was underwhelmed, would be an understatement. I walked out without buying anything. I remember later telling a friend that I couldn't understand why she was so upset that Mervyn's had decided to exit the Portland, OR market. She said that she couldn't imagine not shopping there.
Mike
My only experience with Mervyn's was when they made their very brief, ill-fated expansion into Florida. (They bought several former Jodan Marsh/Mass Brother's locations -- including the one at Town Center in Boca Raton. Saks Fifth Avenue relocated their existing store at the mall when Mervyn's exited the Florida market.) To say that I was underwhelmed, would be an understatement. I walked out without buying anything. I remember later telling a friend that I couldn't understand why she was so upset that Mervyn's had decided to exit the Portland, OR market. She said that she couldn't imagine not shopping there.
Mike
OK, this morning's paper makes it official. All stores are closing. What my friend had heard must have something to do with the chain "Forever 21" or something like that being interested in taking over about 150 old Mervyn's stores.
Apparently the founder - whose first name is Mervyn - sold the stores to another company some years ago. Since then it's been on a downhill decline, and I gather some critics say the new owners really didn't understand how to run a retail business.
All water under the bridge, now, I guess. Local employees are saying that it was a great company to work for... so it's doubly sad to see it go under.
All water under the bridge, now, I guess. Local employees are saying that it was a great company to work for... so it's doubly sad to see it go under.
