| Type | Department store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1955 (North Bend, Oregon) |
| Headquarters | Eugene, Oregon |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. |
| Website | None. |
Troutman's Emporium (commonly known as Emporium) was a chain of department stores founded in 1955 by Dallas Troutman in North Bend, Oregon. Emporium's headquarters was located in Eugene, Oregon. Emporium operated stores in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California and Washington. Emporium filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 and liquidated.
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At age 23, Dallas Troutman, had a dream to run a department store. His dream came true when in 1955 he opened Troutman's Emporium in North Bend, Oregon. In 1963, Dallas moved Troutman's Emporium to a 14,000-square-foot (1,300 m2) space in Pony Village Shopping Center, the Northwest's first enclosed mall. Troutman's Emporium started growing when the company opened a second store at the Willamette Plaza in Eugene, Oregon in 1968. A third store was built in 1972 in Mount Vernon, Washington.
In 1972, Troutman's Emporium acquired two Alexander's store in Springfield and Florence, Oregon. Dallas Troutman previously worked there over 20 years before at Alexander's working stock and sweeping floors. The next 13 years were years of major expansion and by 1985, Troutman's Emporium was 13 store chain. In 1986, Troutman's Emporium acquired six Quisenberry stores in Oregon and Idaho. For the next two years Troutman's Emporium opened 5 stores including a store in Chico, California. In 1988, Emporium acquired a J.C. Penney store in Nampa, Idaho at the Karcher Mall. In 1999, Troutman's Emporium was in merger talks with Lamonts but it fell through[1]. In 2000, Ron Schiff was hired as the new president and CEO of Troutman's Emporium. Ron Schiff added six new stores in fall 2000 including stores in Aberdeen, Washington, Brookings, Oregon, The Dalles, Oregon, Elko, Nevada Winnemucca, Nevada and Cottage Grove, Oregon.
In 2002, faced with increasing debt with creditors Troutman's Emporium filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company initially planned on closing one store but instead found themselves with far more debt than expected. Unable to secure financing or investment partners while in bankruptcy, Troutman's Emporium announced it would be closing all of its stores and was formally going out of business. The company's remaining assets were liquidated, moved out of their old headquarters and completed the remainder of its bankruptcy proceedings by 2004. When the closure was announced, the company had been operating 34 stores across five western U.S. states employing 1,600 people.[2]
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