Mervyn's

Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, toys, and housewares. Many of the company's stores were opened in shopping malls; however, some locations were operated independently. Based on 2005 revenue, Mervyn's was the 83rd largest retailer in the United States.

In 2006, Mervyn's had 189 stores in 10 states. One year later, after Mervyn's closed its stores in Oregon and Washington, Mervyn's had reduced its store count to 177 stores in seven states. On October 17, 2008, the company announced that it would liquidate its assets through a Chapter 7 filing, planning to close every remaining location by the end of the year. The Morris family bought back the intellectual property rights to the company in 2009 and announced plans to relaunch Mervyn's as an internet-based enterprise. As of 2024, Meryvn's Department Store has returned as an online only store that specializes in selling closeout and overstock merchandise from other retailers.

Mervin G. Morris founded the first Mervyn's store in San Lorenzo, California, on July 29, 1949. The store was supposed to be named Mervin's, but a designer suggested that a spelling with a "y" instead of an "i" would be more visually appealing. Mervyn's was located in the midst of San Lorenzo Village, a planned residential community between the cities of Hayward and San Leandro, composed of two- and three-bedroom tract homes built between 1944 and the 1950s. Mervyn's carved a niche for itself by having a relatively no-frills shopping environment that reduced overhead, enabling the store to price merchandise lower than competing department stores. Mervyn's also offered significantly-discounted factory seconds of basics such as jeans, T-shirts, underwear, and similar garments, as well as household linens, with flaws minor and undetectable by most. During the 1950s and 1960s, this made Mervyn's popular with the young suburban families comprising the majority of San Lorenzo's population. This marketing strategy was later abandoned before Mervyn's expanded beyond its original single location, but Mervyn's remained popular as a lower-priced alternative to national department store chains.

The second Mervyn's store opened about 15 miles (24 km) south as an anchor tenant of the Fremont Hub Shopping Center, one of two regional malls in Fremont, California, in 1962.

In mid-1975, Mervyn's operated stores in major cities and towns throughout California.^{[better source needed]}, and by October, it had expanded to Southern California, opening stores in Fullerton and Huntington Beach. The location in Millbrae was particularly popular among San Francisco Peninsula customers searching for deals on off-season discount items.^{[citation needed]}

By 1978, the company had grown to a chain of more than 50 stores in three states, and Mervyn's was acquired by the Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation). Mervyn's kept its separate identity as a Dayton Hudson subsidiary. The average store had 80–130 employees. There was a Store Team Leader (1), Executive Team Leaders (2–4), Department Leaders (7–10), benefited team members (full-time employees not part of the leadership team), and part-time employees. All employees had "credit goals", which referred to the number of customers that opened a Mervyn's credit account. Part-time employees were expected one per every eight hours, and the leadership team was expected one per every 40 hours.

Mervyn's entered Florida in 1988 with a store at Lakeland Square Mall in Lakeland, and began major expansions outside of California with Atlanta being the site of a particularly strong expansion campaign, followed by Miami in 1991 with the conversion of five Lord & Taylor locations--Cutler Ridge Mall (1982), Coral Square (1984), Miami International Mall, Boynton Beach Mall (both 1985), and Treasure Coast Square (1987). Mervyn's had not previously had a retail presence in the southern U.S., taking over a handful of Jordan Marsh sites in 1992 (along with a newly built store at Pembroke Lakes Mall). They also competed for mall space with JCPenney, which later received top anchor spots at the Town Center Mall in Kennesaw, Shannon Mall in Union City (rebuilt as a DHL Distribution Center), and Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth (now Beauty Master). Stores that were unaffected were those at North Dekalb Mall in Decatur that was taken over by Upton's (Burlington Coat Factory now occupies the store) and North Point Mall in Alpharetta, which became Parisian and was rebuilt as AMC Theatres. This was also likewise done at the same time in Florida where the company sold ten stores to Dillard's, including the 5 aforementioned L&T stores, along with former JM boxes at Pompano Fashion Square, Broward Mall, and Melbourne Square in Melbourne, and 2 others (Lakeland Square and Pembroke Lakes), the latter three locations became "double headers" for Dillard's. The eight other Florida stores weren't included in the deal and were sold to other retailers. Mervyn's had withdrawn from both Miami and Atlanta in 1997. During the 1990s, Mervyn's also expanded into Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Washington.

From 1995 to 2001, the stores were rebranded as Mervyn's California, in an effort to identify with its West Coast roots. A media campaign was launched to publicize the rebranding, with TV commercials and catalogs featuring former San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Joe Montana. The rebranding had little effect on the company's revenues, and the "California" was dropped from the name in 2001, reverting to the original name. The majority of their stores in Texas didn't even consider adding the "California" name to their stores.