May 26, 2022

Younkers, Gordmans and other department store names of the past could be coming back.

The new owner of former Bon-Ton and Stage Stores intellectual property, the BrandX company, told Women’s Wear Daily it plans to bring back physical store locations for brands including Bergner’s, Bon-Ton, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Goody’s, Gordmans, Herberger’s, Palais Royal, Peebles, Stage Stores and Younkers.

The Empire Mall campus lost both Younkers and Gordmans stores in recent years.

BrandX plans to bring back Bon-Ton as an e-commerce site this summer and then add a physical location in Joliet, Illinois. A Younkers store is planned after that with a Carson’s next spring.

The company is looking for lower-profile class B, C and D markets, it said, adding that the department store model is still viable.

“They didn’t have a sales problem. They had a profitability problem,” BrandX founder Deepak Ramani told WWD.

The plan is to bring back a moderately priced mix of merchandise similar to what the department stores used to carry, the company said.