Emporium (department store chain)
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| Department store | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1955 (North Bend, Oregon) |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Eugene, Oregon |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. |
Emporium, more formally known as Troutman's Emporium, was a chain of department stores founded in 1955 by Dallas Troutman in North Bend, Oregon. After 1977, Emporium's headquarters was located in Eugene, Oregon. At its peak, Emporium operated at least 34 stores, in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California and Washington. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 and liquidated. The last stores closed in 2003.
Emporium was founded in 1955, when Dallas Troutman opened the first Emporium store, in North Bend, Oregon, a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) store in a building previously used as a grocery store. In 1963, Troutman's Emporium moved to a 14,000-square-foot (1,300 m2) space in Pony Village Shopping Center, an enclosed shopping 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 1973, Troutman's Emporium acquired two Alexander's stores in Springfield and Florence, Oregon. Years earlier, Dallas Troutman had worked at the Springfield Alexander's store while in high school, working stock and sweeping floors. The company's headquarters was moved to the Springfield store after its acquisition, but when it was damaged by fire in 1977, the headquarters was relocated to Eugene, where Emporium also opened a new distribution center.
The next several years were a period of major expansion, and by 1983, Emporium was a 13-store chain. The company's gross sales in 1984 exceeded $50 million, and as of 1985 the company had about 1,000 employees. Founder Dallas Troutman was still company president. Around 325,000 customers held Emporium charge accounts at that time. By this time, at least, the stores were all identified simply as Emporium, and the company name was alternatively given as Emporium Inc. or Troutman's Emporium. The average store size was 30,000–40,000 square feet (2,800–3,700 m2) at that time, following early 1980s remodeling of some stores.
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