Younkers Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and bordering states in the Midwest region of the United States. It is pronounced yong-kers. Younkers became influential as it acquired several rivals throughout the 20th century both inside and outside of Iowa. The chain itself was sold by the late 1990s, with ownership transferring out of state, and its Des Moines-based headquarters closed by 2003 as a part of a corporate consolidation. Following its last sale in 2006, Younkers operated as a subsidiary of The Bon-Ton, with locations in seven Midwestern states, primarily in shopping malls. the chain operated more than fifty locations in the region. On August 29, 2018, the last 17 remaining Younkers outlets were all shut down. Starting on September 14, 2018, Younkers currently operates as an online retailer. , located at the Cherryland Center, in a former H. C. Prange Co.. Interestingly, the interior of this store was never remodeled, and retained 1970's style decor until it closed in August 2018.
History
Beginnings
The company was founded by three Polish Jewish immigrant brothers Lipman, Samuel, and Marcus Younker, who opened a general store in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1856. Herman Younker, a younger half-brother to the three founders, opened a dry goods store in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1874. Following Samuel's death in 1879, the Keokuk store was closed and the Des Moines location became the main store. The future novelist and newspaper editor Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd worked as a clerk at the Younkers store in Des Moines in 1889. In 1899 the Younker brothers' main store in downtown Des Moines was moved to 7th and Walnut Streets, and it operated at the same location for 106 years before closing on August 12, 2005. The downtown Des Moines store became known for its Tea Room restaurant, which opened in 1913 and closed shortly before the store did. It also installed Iowa's first escalator, known as the "electric stairs," in 1939.. The building was vacated when the store closed on August 12, 2005. The eastern building was destroyed by fire in the early hours of March 29, 2014.|alt=|left
Younkers Incorporated
A series of additions, enlargements, and mergers resulted in the company changing its name to Younkers Incorporated. The department store in downtown Des Moines was purchased in 1912. The company started growing in the 1920s by acquiring other department stores throughout Iowa, including Wilkins Department Stores, Harris-Emery, and J. Mandelbaum and Sons. The Iowa-based retailers Brintnall's of Marshalltown and Davidson's of Sioux City were acquired in 1948 and Yetters of Iowa City was acquired in 1949. Younkers began expanding outside of Iowa during the 1950s and opened its first shopping mall store in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1955. By 1978 Younkers had 28 stores in five states.
Fires
In November 1978, a fire broke out in the Younkers store in the Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines, killing 11 people. To date, it is the most devastating fire in Des Moines' history, and destroyed the original Younkers at the mall. It is also the third deadliest department store fire in US history. The fire was caused by faulty wiring. In the early hours of March 29, 2014, a fire ravaged the former Younker Brothers Department Store in downtown Des Moines while it was under renovation. The eastern, original 1899 building partially collapsed in the fire and was demolished; the western 1909 Wilkins Department Store building, that Younker's had expanded into in 1924, was still standing and undergoing renovation.
Younkers was operated by the Equitable of Iowa insurance company from 1979 to 1992 after being a publicly traded company since 1948. Under Equitable's ownership, Younkers acquired all 11 locations of the Omaha-based Brandeis department store chain in 1987. After returning to public ownership on the NASDAQ on April 22, 1992, Younkers purchased the 22 stores of the H.C. Prange chain in Wisconsin and Michigan.
After a hostile takeover bid by Carson Pirie Scott was rejected in 1995, Younkers' shareholders agreed to a friendly merger by Proffitt's, Inc., of Knoxville, Tennessee. The merger was completed in December 1996. Proffitt's would later acquire Carson Pirie Scott, and in 1998 Proffitt's acquired Saks Fifth Avenue to form Saks Incorporated. In 2003, Saks closed Younkers' headquarters in Des Moines and merged its operations with those of Carson Pirie Scott in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Saks sold Younkers and its other Northern Department Store Group stores to Bon-Ton Stores in a $1.1 billion deal that was completed on March 6, 2006. On January 31, 2018, Bon-Ton announced that they were going to close 42 locations nationwide including 9 in the state of Wisconsin between February and April 2018. It was further announced on April 17, 2018 that Bon Ton Stores would be closing doors and began liquidating all 267 stores after two liquidators, Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group, won an auction for the company. The bid was estimated to be worth $775.5 million. This included all remaining Younkers locations after 162 years of operation. According to national retail reporter Mitch Nolen, stores closed within 10 to 12 weeks. , a former H. C. Prange Co., in 2006, which was converted into Boston Store in 2008. On August 29, 2018, Younkers closed its doors and shut down.
