Stage Stores

Stage Stores was a department store company specializing in retailing off-price brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares throughout the United States. Stores were usually located in shopping malls and centers or in standalone locations. The corporate office was located in Houston, Texas.^[4]

Stage Stores operated 782 department stores in 42 states, almost all of which were eventually converted to their flagship brand,

On May 11, 2020, Stage Stores announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer for the chain. The company had suffered poor sales in the 2019 holiday season, and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing retail shutdowns that began in March 2020, Stage Stores was unable to secure financing that would allow the continued operation of the chain. The company said that it would begin inventory liquidation sales at stores as soon as they could reopen.^[5][6][7]

Exclusive brands of the company included Valerie Stevens, Signature Studio, Sun River, Rustic Blue, Rebecca Malone, and Wishful Park.

Chains

• Stage Stores: South Central-based (department store)
• Bealls
  : Texas-based (department store, founded 1923) (previously owned)
• Palais Royal
  : Texas-based (department store, founded 1921)
• Peebles: Eastern and upper midwestern areas of US. (department store, founded 1891)
• Gordmans: Midwestern-based (off-price department store, founded 1915)
• Goody's
  : Southeastern-based (department store, founded 1953)

History

Through a series of acquisitions the company grew to 793 stores as of July 29, 2017.

In June 1992, Stage Stores, then known as Specialty Retailers, Inc. (SRI), acquired Colorado-based

In 1996, SRI completed the closure of the other Fashion Bar Stores but retained the Stage name. The company purchased the forty-nine stores of Beall-Ladymon, Inc., sold by company president Horace Ladymon. The outlets were located in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi; they were reopened in 1994 under the "Stage" name.^[8]

Stage expanded into the Northwest with the acquisition in 1997 of C. R. Anthony Co. and Tri-North stores.

The company acquired Uhlmans in 1996, which brought Stage to Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. All of these newly acquired stores, however, were closed by 2001 when Stage Stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Closures as part of the bankruptcy included most of the former Fashion Bar, Milliken's, Tri-North, and Uhlman's stores, as well as an exodus from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota.

In 2003, Stage Stores acquired 136 Peebles stores located in 17 states.

The company purchased the

In 2011, Stage Stores began a new chain called Steele's,[10] but in March 2014 it was announced that these stores are being sold to Hilco Global.^[11]

Stage Stores acquired the

In March, 2019, Stage announced that by mid-2020 they planned to convert at least 220 of their current department stores, including those of other brand names, into Gordmans off-price stores. CEO Michael Glazer cited the high sales increases in the locations that were converted in 2018 as the deciding factor in the decision.[14] In September, 2019, Stage Stores announced that they planned to completely exit the department store market, moving completely to the off-price model, converting all other stores brands to the Gordmans brand, and operating approximately 700 Gordmans stores by the third quarter of fiscal 2020 (August-October).^[15]

In May 2020, Stage Stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, even though the ongoing conversions had resulted in same-store sales rising more than 17% in the November-January fiscal quarter. ^[16]

Acquisitions

Stage Stores, Inc. has acquired many stores over the years, including the following:

• Fashion Bar (Colorado, Wyoming). Acquired in 1992, all stores converted to Stage.
• Beall-Ladymon (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kansas). Acquired in 1994, all stores converted to Stage.
• Uhlman's (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio). Acquired in 1996. In addition to the Uhlman's name, Uhlman's operated Milliken's stores in Michigan. All were renamed Stage, except for the Milliken's locations in Michigan in Traverse City, Cadillac, Manistee, and Mount Pleasant which operated as Stage-Milliken until their closure in 2001.^[17]
• C. R. Anthony Co. (Montana, Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Wyoming) Acquired 1997, most stores converted to Stage, while some Anthony's, such as those located in Amarillo, Texas, became Bealls locations.
• Tri-North (Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington) Most of these locations operated as Hub Clothing Stores before the 1998 acquisition, when all 15 stores converted to Stage.
• B. C. Moore & Sons, (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina). Acquired February 2006. By November 2006, 69 of these 76 stores were converted to the Peebles name and format, and the other nine were closed.

Future and bankruptcy

On September 17, 2019, Stage Stores announced plans to convert all remaining Stage, Bealls, Palais Royal, Peebles, and Goodys department store locations into Gordmans stores by the end of 2020.^[15] This would mean that Stage Stores would completely exit the department store market and instead go all in as an off-price retailer.

By the end of fiscal year 2020, Stage planned to operate approximately 700 Gordmans Stores. CEO Michael Grazer cited the high sales increases in locations that had already been converted as the main factor in this decision.

After the COVID-19 pandemic caused most of its stores to temporarily close, Stage Stores announced that it would enter bankruptcy proceedings and liquidate its inventory, except for individual stores for which it could find a buyer.

External links

• Official website (Archive)