Lamonts
 |
|
| Public | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Fate | Acquired by Gottschalks |
| Founded | Seattle, Washington, United States (1965) |
| Founder | M. Lamont Bean |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Kirkland, Washington, United States |
|
Area served
|
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington (2000) |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, furniture, jewelry, and housewares |
| Parent | Pay 'n Save (1965-1985) |
| Subsidiaries | Lamonts for Kids |
Lamonts was a chain of department stores founded in Seattle, Washington. The chain was started in 1970 when Pay 'n Save renamed its suburban branches of Rhodes, a department store chain the company acquired in 1965. Lamonts remained a division of Pay 'n Save until 1985. During the 1990s, the chain filed for bankruptcy twice and closed several stores before being sold to Gottschalks in 2000. Gottschalks itself went into bankruptcy and liquidated in 2009.
Rhodes Department store was founded in Seattle by Albert J. Rhodes in 1907 in the Arcade Building on Second Avenue. He was a former partner in the Rhodes Brothers Department Store in Tacoma but the two companies were never affiliated. He was inspired to install a pipe organ in his store after a trip to Wanamaker's famous Department Store in Philadelphia. Albert Rhodes died in 1921, before he had the chance to expand the store but his wife, Harriet W. Rhodes, continued operations. By 1927, the store had outgrown its quarters. Architects Harlan Thomas and Clyde Gral were commissioned to design a new seven story store that would take up half of a block. It included the Aeolian Pipe organ that Albert had planned. With the prosperity following World War II, the company expanded by opening branch stores in the University District of Seattle at University Village (1956), Crossroads Mall in Bellevue (July 1964), and in Lake Forest Center Mall in Lake Forest Park (October, 1964).
In October 1967, the financially ailing Rhodes was acquired by The Pay 'n Save Corporation followed in 1968 by the singular Bell's of Burien Department Store, founded in 1956 in Burien, Washington. Pay 'n Save proceeded to shutter Rhodes' flagship store in downtown Seattle in July 1968 as it shifted its focus to the suburbs. The three suburban Rhodes locations as well as the Bell's of Burien store continued to operate as they were for several years. In a move to create a strong department store brand to add to Pay 'n Saves roster of brands, the stores were all converted to the Lamonts name in 1970. The new chain was named for and by M. Lamont Bean, the head of Pay 'n Save Corp. at the time. The Bell's moniker (hyphenated with Lamonts) remained attached to the Burien store until 1974.
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Wikipedia