History Elder-Beerman

former elder-beerman logo used until 2006

in 1962, beerman stores merged elder & johnston company form elder-beerman. next 20 years, elder-beerman stores corp. grew include furniture , home lines, , company expanded new stores throughout western ohio , several surrounding states, competing dayton rival, rike kumler. after arthur beerman s death in 1970, max gutmann promoted chairman , chief executive officer. in 1985, herb glaser named president , ceo of department store division. herb glaser president, gutmann , glaser developed elder-beerman franchise through 1980s , 1990s. when company forced file chapter 11 reorganization in 1995, max gutmann , herb glaser returned retirement turn company around. during bankruptcy, frederick j. mershad asked replace gutmann chairman , chief executive officer. result of bankruptcy, elder-beerman closed of margo s lamode stores in 1996.

elder-beerman has acquired 3 chains throughout history: cincinnati-based mabley & carew in 1978; terre haute, indiana-based meis in 1989; , wheeling, west virginia-based stone & thomas in 1998.

1999 , 2003 prototypes

in late 1999, elder-beerman opened prototype stores in jasper, indiana; warsaw, indiana (later carson pirie scott , carson s); , frankfort, kentucky. these stores included service centers, open-stock cosmetic , shoe departments, , courtesy telephones. 4 years later, chain opened smaller-scale prototypes in dekalb, illinois , muscatine, iowa, latter being first iowa location. these stores represented new marketing strategy of operating smaller-format stores in mid-sized markets.

today

elder-beerman acquired bon-ton in 2003. @ point, elder-beerman had exited bankruptcy , in discussions go private when bon-ton stepped in offering more cash outstanding stock.

in 2012, bon-ton began re-branding several elder-beerman stores of other nameplates. several in michigan , indiana have been converted carson s or younkers. re-branding has reduced number of elder-beerman stores 37.