 | |
| Company type | Department store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1883 |
| Defunct | 1987 |
| Fate | Purchased by Carson Pirie Scott |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, toys, records, beauty products, and housewares. |
Donaldson's, previously known as the L. S. Donaldson Company, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a defunct department store company.
Scottish immigrant William Donaldson opened a small store in Minneapolis in 1881, located at 310 Nicollet Avenue. [1] In 1883, William and his brother Lawrence purchased a 1+1⁄2-story store named Colton and Company, featuring a large expanse of glass block. The Donaldson brothers department store was known in its early years as "Donaldson's Glass Block Store" because of this distinctive design feature. [2] In 1888, the original building was demolished, and replaced with a five-story building featuring a dome on top, elevators, and rows of plate glass windows. By 1899, William had died, and Lawrence renamed the company the "L.S. Donaldson Company". The store continued to expand, which culminated in the construction of a new $2,000,000 (~$59.6 million in 2023) eight-story building, taking up an entire block of Nicollet from Sixth Street to Seventh Street, topped by the distinctive dome from 1888. The new store opened to great fanfare November 10, 1924. [3] The dome was eventually dismantled in April 1942, and turned into war materials during the Second World War. [4]
Lawrence Donaldson had remained as president of L.S. Donaldson Company until his death in 1924. [5] Dying just 4 months before the opening of the new store in Minneapolis, Lawrence Donaldson didn't live to see the store he had dreamed of and envisioned. He was succeeded by Joseph Chapman as president. In an effort to further expand and have greater buying power, while retaining their management and name, L.S. Donaldson Company merged with Hahn Department Stores Inc. in 1928. [6] In 1935, Hahn's recapitalization plans resulted in a name change; and Hahn Department Stores Inc became known as Allied Stores Corporation. [7]
Donaldson's continued to expand after being acquired by Allied Stores, including their first branch store located in Rapid City, South Dakota, which opened in the former C.C. Anderson building in January 1948. [8] A second branch followed in Rochester, Minnesota, opening October 15, 1953. [9]
In 1961, The Golden Rule store of St. Paul, Minnesota was transferred by Allied Stores to Donaldson's, [10] and operated as Donaldson's - Golden Rule. By April 1965, Donaldson's advertising for the St Paul store dropped the Golden Rule name, and became known as Donaldson's. [11]
Donaldson's continued to expand; and by 1976 Donaldson's had stores in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as in the Twin Cities suburbs, including Southdale Center, Brookdale Center, Rosedale Center and Ridgedale Center. [12]
In 1978, Donaldson's parent company, Allied Stores, transferred control of the three-store James Black Company chain of Waterloo, Iowa to Donaldson's, further expanding the chain. [13]
Donaldson's announced in 1977 that they would be relocating from their flagship store in Minneapolis, on the east side of Nicollet, for the new City Center development across Nicollet. [14] Additionally, Donaldson's updated their marketing plan, closed their budget store, and relocated from the old Golden Rule building to a newly constructed St. Paul store under the guidance of president Charles B. James II in 1980. [15] Allied Stores promoted Charles B. James II to their Joske's division in 1981, and appointed 37 year old William Murray as president of Donaldson's. [16] Prior to the opening of the new Minneapolis location, and just 11 months after being named president, William Murray died of cancer; Leonard Snyder was named the new president. [17] The Minneapolis City Center Donaldson's opened August 1982. [18] At that time the downtown location was third in sales in the chain, behind Southdale Center and Brookdale Center. [19]
The vacated Donaldson's store complex, which comprised half a city block, along with the adjacent Northwestern National Bank Building, burned in the 1982 Thanksgiving Day Fire [20] as a result of arson. The fire caused 75 million dollars in damage, and was the most destructive fire in the history of Minneapolis. [21] Two juveniles were charged with setting fire to the building [22] while it was undergoing demolition; however, charges were later dropped. [23] The sites were replaced and are currently occupied by Gaviidae Common on the Donaldson's tract, and Wells Fargo Center (the successor to Northwestern National Bank/Norwest) on the bank property.
In 1985, Allied Stores acquired a struggling Twin Cities rival, The Powers Dry Goods Company, from Associated Dry Goods Corp. [24] Acquiring 6 of the 7 area Powers stores (the downtown Minneapolis store was sold to a real estate firm) gave Donaldson's some breathing room against dominant rival Dayton's by increasing Donaldson's retail footprint in the Twin Cities by 40%, bringing Donaldson's store count in the area to 12. [25]
In January 1987, after Campeau Corp.'s buy-out of Allied Stores Corp., Campeau needed to sell 15 of Allied's 24 retail properties in order to pay off the $1.1 billion (~$2.53 billion in 2023) dollar debt incurred in the takeover. [26] Campeau announced in February 1987 that Donaldson's was one of the retail properties for sale. [27] However, in May 1987 it was reported that possibly Donaldson's sale was postponed, as there hadn't been a buyer willing to pay the $190 (~$437 million in 2023) Million being asked by Campeau. [28] Additionally, Donaldson's had just completed the most profitable first quarter in the company's history. August 1987 it was announced Donaldson's was acquired by Carson Pirie Scott & Co. of Chicago, Illinois for $163.5 Million; [29] and the Donaldson's name was permanently changed to Carson Pirie Scott & Co. in April 1988, 107 years after the first Donaldson's store opened. [30]
Less than two years after Carson's acquiring Donaldson's, Carson's in turn was acquired by P.A. Bergner & Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and formerly of Peoria, Illinois) in May 1989, in a deal in excess of $450 million (~$963 million in 2023). [31] Bergner itself filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 1991, two years after acquiring Carson's. [32] In cost cutting moves, it announced that the flagship store in downtown Minneapolis would close in May 1992 (10 years after opening); [33] and the store in St. Paul would close in July 1992 (12 years after opening) [34]
Bergner emerged from bankruptcy in August 1993, and took Carson's name. [35] October 1993, Carson's closed two more stores in the Twin Cities, Highland Park in St. Paul, and Knollwood in St. Louis Park. [36]
Carson's closed all Twin Cities area locations of the chain in January 1995, and sold the spaces to Dayton's' parent Dayton Hudson Corp. [37] Many of these locations were valuable mall properties that would have been attractive to Dayton's competitors. In a strategic move, Dayton Hudson opened the first local outlets of its moderate Mervyn's chain at these locations, preventing potential competitors who had little or no local presence, such as Nordstrom from acquiring prime mall sites.
By 2004, after the Dayton's stores had been renamed Marshall Field's and, ultimately, sold by their owner Target Corporation, new owner May Department Stores also acquired the 9 Twin Cities Mervyn's locations—all promptly shuttered—and assumed responsibility for disposing of the real estate. [38] In 2005, May Department Stores was acquired by Federated Stores, [39] which later changed its name to Macy's. [40]
The last former Donaldson's location to close in Minnesota was in Rochester at Miracle Mile. That location continued in operation as Carson Pirie Scott until 2001, when Carson's parent company at that time, Saks, announced Carson's would move to the former Montgomery Ward building. [41] However when the store opened, it was under the Herberger's name, which was another retail property owned by Saks. [42] As of 2018, the Herberger's chain was liquidated and ceased operations. [43]
When the producers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show were filming Minneapolis exteriors for the opening sequence of the show in March, 1970, the famous hat-toss scene was filmed directly in front of Donaldson's. [44] This can best be verified in the opening scenes—frame by frame—of the shows from the first season. Openings from the show's later seasons deleted most of this footage, but the hat-toss itself remained part of the credits for the entire run of the series.
A statue of Moore was commissioned by the TV Land channel and now stands in front of the entrance to the former Dayton's across the street. [45]
Macy's, Inc. is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito's. Bloomingdale's joined Federated Department Stores the next year. Throughout its early history, frequent acquisitions and divestitures saw the company operate a number of nameplates. In 1994, Federated took over Macy's, the old department store chain originally founded in 1858 by American entrepreneur Rowland Hussey Macy. Despite Federated's long history of preserving regional nameplates, its acquisition of the May Department Stores Company in 2005 marked the end of those nameplates. By the following year, both the Macy's and Bloomingdale's brands had replaced them nationwide. Ultimately, Federated itself was renamed Macy's, Inc. in 2007, an acknowledgment of the old store's venerable name.
Nicollet Mall is a twelve-block portion of Nicollet Avenue running through Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is a shopping and dining district of the city, and also a pedestrian mall and transit mall. Along with Hennepin Avenue to the west, Nicollet Mall forms the cultural and commercial center of Minneapolis.
Whittier is a neighborhood within the Powderhorn community in the U.S. city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, bounded by Franklin Avenue on the north, Interstate 35W on the east, Lake Street on the south, and Lyndale Avenue on the west. It is known for its many diverse restaurants, coffee shops and Asian markets, especially along Nicollet Avenue. The neighborhood is home to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the Children's Theatre Company.
Dayton's was an American department store chain founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It operated several local high-end department stores throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest for almost 100 years. Although it was regionally known as a high-quality shopping destination, Dayton's is best remembered for starting the discount shopping chain Target. The company was also instrumental in the history of shopping malls, opening the first indoor shopping mall in the United States—Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, in 1956.
Southdale Center is a shopping mall located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It opened in 1956 and is the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. Southdale Center has 1,297,608 square feet of leasable retail space, and contains 106 retail tenants. The mall is owned by Simon Property Group and the anchor stores are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, AMC Theatres, Hennepin Service Center, and Life Time Athletic.
P.A. Bergner & Co. is an upscale Midwestern department store in the United States, that was established in 1889. The chain is now an online retailer operated by BrandX.com, Inc. The flagship store was located in Peoria, Illinois at The Shoppes at Grande Prairie.
The Eden Prairie Center is a mall located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. It has been managed by Jones Lang LaSalle as of 2020. It is anchored by Kohl's, Target, Von Maur and Scheels Sporting Goods.
Associated Dry Goods Corporation (ADG) was a chain of department stores that merged with May Department Stores in 1986. It was founded in 1916 as an association of independent stores called American Dry Goods, based in New York City.
The Powers Department Store of Minneapolis, Minnesota was a department store chain with roots dating to 1873, and that, at its peak, consisted of 7 locations in Minnesota.
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928. In 1935 Hahn's was reorganized into Allied Stores.
Burnsville Center is located in Burnsville, Minnesota. It is one of the larger enclosed malls in Minnesota with 100 stores on 3 floors and approximately 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m2). The mall opened in 1977 with three anchor stores, Sears, Dayton's, and Powers Dry Goods as anchors.
Crossroads Center is a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States, and is the largest mall in the state outside the core Twin Cities metro area. Its six anchor stores are Macy's, JCPenney, Target, Scheels All Sports, HomeGoods, and DSW Inc. The Marshall Field's store (originally Dayton's was officially renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006.
Wilsons Leather is a U.S. leather brand, selling products such as leather jackets, belts, shoes, handbags, and gloves. At its peak in 2002, the Minneapolis-based retailer had 763 stores in 46 states and Canada. The company stores used to sell product assortments from brands such as DKNY, Michael Kors, Guess?, and Cole Haan.
Ridgedale Center, colloquially known as Ridgedale, is an enclosed shopping mall in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a western suburb of the Twin Cities. It is directly located off I-394/US 12 between Ridgedale Drive and Plymouth Road. Ridgedale Center comprises 1,105,337 square feet (100,000 m2) of leaseable retail space, and contains approximately 140 retail tenants. It is currently jointly owned by Brookfield Properties and CBRE Group, and managed by Brookfield. The anchor stores are JCPenney, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Dick's House of Sport.
Northtown Mall is a shopping mall located in Blaine, Minnesota, United States. The mall's anchor stores are Hobby Lobby, Best Buy Outlet, 2 Becker Furniture World stores, and Burlington. In addition, Northtown Mall features over 100 stores and restaurants, as well as a food court and Paladin Career and Technical High School public charter school which was open in September 2002. The mall is owned by 4th Dimension Properties. Over 5.5 million people visit the mall every year.
Shingle Creek Crossing, formerly Brookdale Center, is a regional shopping mall in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. It became the third enclosed shopping mall in the Twin Cities, after Southdale Center and Apache Plaza. The mall opened in phases beginning with Phase One in March 1962 which included anchor stores Sears and JCPenney. Phase Two opened in 1966, adding Dayton's as the third anchor. Donaldson's became the fourth anchor in September 1967. Brookdale Center was part of "The Dales", what was referred to as the four "Dale" centers circling the Twin Cities, originally developed by Dayton-Hudson Corporation. The others are Southdale Center in Edina, Rosedale Center in Roseville and Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka. After a long decline, the mall closed in 2010 and was demolished in 2012 before being redeveloped into the Shingle Creek Crossing development.
Rosedale Center, commonly known just as Rosedale, is a shopping center in Roseville, Minnesota. The mall is surrounded by suburbs and close to major highways and serves a trade area population almost 2 million people, and boasts 14 million visitors annually.
Maplewood Mall is a super-regional shopping mall in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States. It is near Interstate 694 on the Saint Paul side of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Maplewood Mall opened in 1974. It was later renovated and expanded in 1996. It is managed by Washington Prime Group of Columbus, Ohio. The mall's anchor stores are Barnes & Noble, JCPenney, Kohl's, and Macy's with one vacant anchor last occupied by Sears.
The history of Target Corporation first began in 1902 by George Dayton. The company was originally named Goodfellow Dry Goods in June 1902 before being renamed the Dayton's Dry Goods Company in 1903 and later the Dayton Company in 1910. The first Target store opened in Roseville, Minnesota in 1962, while the parent company was renamed the Dayton Corporation in 1967. It became the Dayton-Hudson Corporation after merging with the J.L. Hudson Company in 1969 and held ownership of several department store chains including Dayton's, Hudson's, Marshall Field's, and Mervyn's. In 2000, the Dayton-Hudson Corporation was renamed to Target Corporation.
Minneapolis City Center is a mixed-use shopping mall on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1983 and occupies the bottom three floors of the 33 South Sixth office building. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Minneapolis City Center contains 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of leasable retail space. The mall was built around the pre-existing Forum Cafeteria restaurant. The building is adjacent to the Marriott Hotel City Center and connected to the Gaviidae Common shopping mall.