Von Maur, the Davenport-based department store chain, has again expanded its retail footprint in Michigan with the opening of its “most anticipated” new store in Rochester Hills. The new Von Maur store, which celebrated its grand opening Saturday, March 19, is located at the Village of Rochester Hills, an outdoor lifestyle center in the Detroit […]
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Von Maur, the Davenport-based department store chain, has again expanded its retail footprint in Michigan with the opening of its “most anticipated” new store in Rochester Hills.
The new Von Maur store, which celebrated its grand opening Saturday, March 19, is located at the Village of Rochester Hills, an outdoor lifestyle center in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills. Spanning nearly 125,000 square feet over two levels, the new store marks Von Maur’s fourth location in Michigan since entering the market in 2003.
“This is our most anticipated store opening,” Melody Wright, Von Maur’s chief operating officer, told the QCBJ. “This store was supposed to open in the fall of 2020 but when COVID hit in March (2020), we hit the pause button.”
In fact, Ms. Wright said construction crews already were beginning to demolish the former Carson’s department store on site when the pandemic shut down the project. The shuttered department store was part of the Carson Pirie Scott Co., which closed in August 2018 after parent company The Bon-Ton Stores filed bankruptcy
“When we take over an existing store, we go in and gut it and it goes down to the steel beams,” she said. “It’s reimagined now as a Von Maur and you wouldn’t know it’s a new building. The store is really beautiful, we’re excited about it.”
The Quad Cities-based department store chain entered Michigan and the metro Detroit market in 2003 with a store in Ann Arbor. It later added stores in Livonia, another Detroit suburb, and a store in Grand Rapids.
The latest store joins Whole Foods as co-anchors at the lifestyle shopping complex. Developed in 2002, The Village of Rochester Hills replaced an enclosed shopping mall known as Meadowbrook Village Mall. Describing the new mall as “amazing,” Ms. Wright said “It’s a great fit for us.”
Von Maur’s arrival in Rochester Hills marks the first new department store in the metropolitan Detroit area in years as well as Von Maur’s first Detroit metro store since its Livonia store in 2008. “The Detroit market has not had a lot of newness there,” Ms. Wright said, adding “A lot of department stores have gone by the wayside.”
In fact, the latest expansion for Von Maur comes as the privately-owned company celebrates its 150th anniversary. Von Maur holds the distinction as the nation’s last remaining department store still operated by the founding family.
In an interview with the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal in late 2021, Von Maur CEO and President Jim von Maur said the company is “excited about 2022.”
He spoke of the challenges and uncertainty the chain faced as it re-opened and emerged from the difficulties that COVID-19 created for the Midwest retailer. In the spring of 2020, Von Maur’s stores and its north Davenport headquarters were closed down six weeks because of restrictions caused by the pandemic.
But in his optimistic view of 2022, he said “I think the pandemic brought the stores back to the forefront. People realized they enjoy shopping and if you make it a real experience, which is what we’re good at, you’ll be successful.”
Mr. von Maur, the fourth generation company leader, is the great grandson of founder Charles Jacob “C.J.” von Maur.
From its humble beginnings in a rented storefront in downtown Davenport, Von Maur now operates 36 stores across 15 states including Iowa, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas City, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. It also has 70 Dry Goods stores – a newer brand whose fashions cater to women ages 14 to 30.
Ms. Wright said Rochester Hills is one of three store openings planned this year. The company will open a new store in Madison, Wisconsin, and will move its Des Moines store to Jordan Creek Mall. “It’s going to be a busy October,” she said.
Like many employers, Von Maur faces challenges in attracting and recruiting new employees but it hopes to hire 150 people at the new location.
