 
Fastcarsfreedom
Member
Username: Fastcarsfreedom
Post Number: 151
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 11:26 am: |    |
A minor thing, but I know there are people on here who post about retail.
It appears that Parisian, founded in Birmingham, AL in 1880, will be a Michigan-centric retail brand in the near-future. As part of the deal Belk and Bon-Ton have agreed to, Bon-Ton has stated that it intends to keep the Parisian nameplate for use on it's Michigan stores--at Laurel Park, Village of R.H. and Partridge Creek. The other two stores it bought, in Indy and Dayton are now a Carson's and an Elder-Beerman respectively.
Perhaps other MI stores, such as the E-B in Monroe or the Younkers in Port Huron could take on the Parisian name. Better yet, maybe Bon-Ton will expand it's presence locally--I know Fairlane has some space available. |
Scottr
Member
Username: Scottr
Post Number: 409
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 1:35 pm: | |
I'm just glad to see a company that actually KEEPS its regional brand names, rather than going to a single national brand, throwing away the history and local connection to the old names. It can hurt tourism too, since many tourists like to shop, but it loses its luster when you can go to the same store in every city in the country.
Strange though, to see a brand from alabama become a michigan one... |
Fastcarsfreedom
Member
Username: Fastcarsfreedom
Post Number: 152
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 2:01 pm: | |
Really it's Birmingham's (AL) loss. You're correct, it's nice to see a company keeping regional names--May and Mercantile followed the same path and both are gone. Dillard and Federated have erased nearly every regional nameplate left.
As for Bon-Ton, they had initally planned to retire the Elder-Beerman name, but met some resistance--when they bought the Saks Northern Department Store Group (Carson's, Younkers, Herberger's, Bergner's, The Boston Store) they decided to keep all of the above as well as Elder-Beerman. In the early 1990s they bought Buffalo, NY-based AM&A's and dropped the name from the stores in Western New York--they were burned badly, the decision was unpopular and they lost share they have yet to reclaim.
Again, like you said, odd to see something as Southern as Parisian become Michgan-centric--would be like Crowley's or Hudson's surviving, but only in Anchorage. |
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