Peebles (store) explained

Peebles
Type:Department store
Defunct:2020
Hq Location:Houston, Texas, U.S.
Foundation: Lawrenceville, Virginia
Founder:William Smith Peebles
Industry:Retail
Fate:Bankruptcy
Products:Apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares
Parent:Stage Stores, Inc. (2003-2020)BrandX.com (2022-present)

Peebles was an American chain of department stores owned by Stage Stores, Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Peebles operated stores mainly in the eastern and upper-midwestern United States areas of Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The store specialized in retailing on-trend men's, women's, and children's apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares. Brands exclusively found at Peebles included Valerie Stevens; Signature Studio; Sun River; Rustic Blue; Rebecca Malone; and Wishful Park.

[1]

History

Peebles was founded in 1891 by William Smith Peebles, who opened his first store in Lawrenceville, Virginia.

Peebles mainly concentrated on small towns that didn’t have department stores, thus avoiding bigger cities and higher rents.

In 1981 the company acquired The Collins Company, a line of mid-priced, comparable stores. Collins was based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The family sold the company in 1986 for $85 million (~$ in) to two investment banking firms and to Peebles’ senior management.

The company had been sold twice before Stage Stores acquired Peebles in 2003 when it was based in South Hill, Virginia. At the time, Peebles had more than 125 stores primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern and Midwest states.[2]

After decades of expansion Peebles acquired the Nashville-based upscale Harveys Department Stores chain in September 1988, renaming the stores as Peebles.[3]

In 1998, Peebles purchased Watson's, a similar chain, later renaming all the Watson's stores as Peebles.

Houston-based Stage Stores purchased Peebles for $167 million in cash and $46.9 million in debt in 2003.[4] [5] In August 2019, it was announced that all Peebles stores, along with all other stores operated by Stage Stores Inc, would be converted into Gordmans stores.[6] [7]

On May 10, 2020, Stage announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and that it would liquidate all locations, Peebles and Gordmans included, unless a buyer purchased the chain.[8] Ultimately, no buyer was found, and going out of business sales began at all locations.[9]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Alpena Peebles to Close . . Julie . Riddle . March 20, 2019.
  2. Web site: After 125 years, Peebles' name on stores in Virginia is ending as locations are converted to off-price concept . Richmond Times Dispatch. 16 August 2019 .
  3. News: Business Brief: Investcorp. 20 September 1988. The Wall Street Journal. .
  4. Web site: Stage Stores to buy East Coast retailer for $167M. Houston Business Journal. 7 October 2003. 21 January 2016.
  5. News: Retailer Peebles to Be Acquired For $167 Million Plus Debt. The Wall Street Journal. 8 October 2003. .
  6. News: Debbie . Wachter . New Castle News. August 23, 2019. Peebles to become off-price clothing store in 2020. 2020-08-14. en.
  7. News: Gordmans Opening in Feb.; Holding Job Fair Next Week. Anne. Holliday. WESB. December 30, 2019. December 31, 2019.
  8. Web site: Stage Stores files for bankruptcy, says it will liquidate more than 700 stores if it can't find a buyer. Bhattarai. Abha. May 11, 2020. Philadelphia Inquirer. en-US. 2020-05-12.
  9. News: Harber. Terri. August 6, 2020. Stage parent company scraps plan for conversion into Gordmans. 2020-08-14. Mohave Valley Daily News. en. 2020-08-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805032847/http://www.mohavedailynews.com/news/stage-parent-company-scraps-plan-for-conversion-into-gordmans/article_85a1ab8e-d613-11ea-81c0-176a65cabc90.html. dead.