Von Maur

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Von Maur

Type of Company	Private/Department store
Founded	1872
Headquarters	Davenport, Iowa
Key people	Charles R. von Maur, Co-Chairman Richard B. von Maur, Co-Chairman James D. von Maur, President
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, jewelry, handbags, beauty products.
Website	www.vonmaur.com

Exterior of the Von Maur at Valley West Mall in West Des Moines, Iowa

Von Maur is a department store chain in the Midwestern United States. The chain, based in Davenport, Iowa, sells mostly high-quality brand-name clothing and luxury goods. As of November 2005, the chain has 23 stores in nine states. All of its stores are anchors of shopping malls or lifestyle centers.

As an independent retailer, Von Maur offers unique perks compared to its larger competitors, such as free gift wrapping, free shipping within the United States, and an interest-free store credit card. Von Maur will also cash checks for customers as long as they have a Von Maur credit card in good standing. Sales associates also keep in contact with customers via thank you cards and phone calls.

[edit] History

In 1872 German immigrant J.H.C. Petersen and his three sons opened a store in a 20-foot-by-50-foot storefront in downtown Davenport, Iowa. The store would eventually expand and move into the Redstone Building at 2nd and Main Streets in Davenport.

In 1916, the Petersens sold their store to a partnership of R.H. Harned, C.J. von Maur, and Cable von Maur. C.J. von Maur, who also came from Germany, established the Boston Store (later renamed Harned & Von Maur) in downtown Davenport in 1887. Despite the common ownership, Petersen's and Harned & Von Maur would continue to operate as separate stores for twelve years, even after C.J. von Maur died in 1926. On May 7, 1928, Harned & Von Maur merged with the Petersen's store in the Redstone Building. The store was renamed Petersen Harned Von Maur, which was often shortened to "Petersen's". The von Maur family assumed complete ownership of the store after R.H. Harned died in 1937.

In the company's centennial year of 1972, Petersen Harned Von Maur opened its first branch store at Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf, Iowa. Another branch store opened at Southpark Mall in Moline, Illinois, in 1974. In 1976, Petersen's opened its first store outside the Quad Cities area at Valley West Mall in West Des Moines, Iowa. The company continued to open new stores in shopping malls throughout Iowa and Illinois during the late 1970s and 1980s; along the way it acquired two former Killian's department stores in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa, in 1981. As the company shifted its focus to malls, Petersen's flagship store in downtown Davenport closed in 1986. (The Redstone Building is now home to the River Music Experience.)

Petersen Harned Von Maur shortened its name to Von Maur in 1989 to reflect the von Maur family's management of the company. One year later, it moved its corporate headquarters and executive offices from the Redstone Building to a 200,000-square foot building on Brady Street (near the interchange with Interstate 80) in Davenport. The company distributes all of its merchandise from this building using its own fleet of semi-trucks. It also has its own credit union and credit department as well as a print shop.

Von Maur successfully entered the Chicago market in 1994 with a 207,000-square foot flagship store at Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois. From there, the company expanded its geographic reach into Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Nebraska during the late 1990s and early 2000s while closing stores in Bettendorf and Muscatine, Iowa, during this period. In 2004 Von Maur expanded into Michigan by taking over two mall locations of the defunct Jacobson chain. In late 2005 it opened a store at Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, Ohio, the 23rd store in the chain. As of now, Von Maur plans to open a 140,000sq ft store in Phase II of The Greene, a project of Steiner Associates in Dayton, OH. The scheduled completion date is set for the fall of 2008.

Today, the privately held company remains under the leadership of the Von Maur family. The family members include co-chairmen Charles R. von Maur and Richard B. von Maur, as well as president James D. von Maur.

Von Maur has a very strict dress code for its employees both in its stores, and at their corporate headquarters. Women must wear skirts, even in winter, and men must wear ties. They do not require their employees to wear nametags, as they believe that it "cheapens their appearances". Employees working in the corporate headquarters are forbidden from keeping any personal objects (picture frames, etc) on their desks. Managers and salaried employees are discouraged from eating lunch with hourly employees in the corporate dining room.

They are proud of their "old fashioned" image. As of this writing, they do not allow customers to make credit card payments online.

The biggest competitors to Von Maur are Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Macy's.