Английская Википедия:Buffums

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Файл:Buffums newly expanded store, 1924.jpg

Buffums newly expanded store, 1924

Buffums, originally written as Buffums' with an apostrophe, was a chain of upscale department stores, headquartered in Long Beach, California. The Buffums chain began in 1904, when two brothers from Illinois, Charles A. and Edwin E. Buffum, together with other partners, bought the Schilling Bros., the largest dry goods store in Long Beach, and renamed it The Mercantile Co. The store grew to a large downtown department store, and starting in the 1950s, grew slowly over the years to be a small regional chain of 16 speciality department stores across Southern California at the time of its closure in 1990.

Over the years, the stores gained a reputation as the “Grand Dame” of department stores in the area. The stores’ interiors were known for large chandeliers and other upscale touches. The chain marketed itself as “Buffums Specialty Store,” in an attempt to differentiate itself from other local chains, including The Broadway and Bullock's, and the national stores such as May Co. and Robinson’s.Шаблон:Citation needed Its most famous advertising line, “I’ve been to Buffums,” was used in newspaper and television advertisements during the 1970s and '80s. It was also known for its “Bag-A-Bargain” promotion that placed actual shopping bags (printed with a discount offer) in local newspapers.Шаблон:Citation needed

Like other local department stores of the era, Buffums was challenged by old-fashioned business models, changing consumer tastes, and the arrival of Seattle-based retailer Nordstrom. The chain was bought in the 1970s by the Australian-based David Jones Ltd, which looked to sell the struggling chain in the 1980s. By the time of the sale it had become part of Adelaide Steamship, an Australian conglomerate, who never found a buyer. In a last-ditch effort to modernize, Buffums installed new IBM point-of-sale registers in all stores in 1990 (to complement their data center's newly purchased IBM AS/400, IBM's then-new midrange computer), only to enter liquidation following the 1990 Christmas shopping season.

Stores

Flagship

Файл:Buffums’ logo and sketch of newly expanded store, 1924.jpg

Buffums’ logo and sketch of newly expanded store, 1924

Buffums' Downtown flagship grew as follows:

The predecessor of Buffums, Wm. Schilling & Sons dry goods store opened in 1892 at the corner of 2nd and Pine in Long Beach. By 1902 they were located at the Stafford Block, 127–129 Pine Avenue, and described as a "commodious", Шаблон:Convert "department store", "embracing a complete line of dress goods ladies and gents furnishings, clothing, shoes, hats and caps, blankets, comforts, etc.". That same year the father William retired and the firm became Schilling Bros.

In 1904, a partnership bought the Schilling Bros. business for $65,000 (~$Шаблон:Format price in Шаблон:Inflation/year); the partners were Charles A. and Edwin E. Buffum arrived from Illinois, and local businessmen S. Townsend, W. L. Porterneld and C. J. Walter. The company started operating as The Mercantile Co. The 127–9 Pine Avenue Schilling Bros. store, several doors south of Broadway, would eventually become the men's shoe store of the future Buffums flagship store. The next year, the Mercantile Co. announced the purchase of a lot on the southwest corner of Pine and Broadway, 74.5 ft. by 150 ft. (Шаблон:Convert with the intention of building a five-story building on it. However, the building would only be three stories and was completed in 1912.

• 1924: added a new six-story building; the “New Buffums’” opened in stages in early May, 1924
• 1941: built the "Autoport" parking garage (still standing)
• 1960: added a Varsity Shop, Red Cross Shoe Store, and four-story parking garage
• 1964: added 14,000 sq. ft., expanded to occupy the full block of Broadway between Pine and Pacific, for a total of Шаблон:Convert of floor space in the Downtown flagship complex. The new space housed a full Interior Design and Home Furnishings area as a "Sportsman's Shop".

The store competed downtown with smaller, local Long Beach department stores like Marti and Wise Cos. as well as Sears and Ward's, all of which opened large new stores downtown in 1928-9. In the early 1950s Lakewood Center would provide competition with May Company California and Los Altos Center, with The Broadway for the suburban shopper.

The complex was sold in 1981 and was demolished in 1985 to create office space (as of 2020 a WeWork, and Buffums moved its Long Beach store operation and headquarters to the nearby Long Beach Plaza mall when it opened in 1982.

Branches

When Buffums was liquidated it had 16 locations:

Community	Location	Square footage	Notes
Arcadia	Santa Anita Fashion Park		demolished and replaced by Nordstrom in 1994
La Cañada Flintridge	Plaza de la Cañada		former Iver's that Buffums bought; rebranded on October 1, 1986. now TJ Maxx
La Mesa	Grossmont Center		became an Oshman's, later Sports Authority, now a Restoration Hardware Outlet
Laguna Hills	Laguna Hills Mall	Шаблон:Convert	Opened September 5, 1973, two levels
Lakewood	Lakewood Center
Downtown Long Beach	Long Beach Plaza		opened 1982, replaced Шаблон:Cvt flagship store, which closed
Marina Pacifica, Long Beach	Marina Pacifica Mall	Шаблон:Convert	Two stories, opened 1976. Closed 1991. Moved its Marina branch to Marina Pacific from a smaller adjacent Шаблон:Convert location. At the time, the new Buffum's formed part of a 108-store, six-restaurant center.
Manhattan Beach	Manhattan Village		Opened in 1980. Became a Macy's Men and Home Store, which closed in 2018. Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and West Elm now occupy the space.
Newport Beach	Fashion Island		space was subdivided
Palm Springs	Palm Springs Mall, now occupied by College of the Desert		opened October 18, 1989, in the former Walker Scott space, later Harris Gottschalks in 1990.
Palos Verdes Peninsula	Peninsula Center
Pomona	Pomona Mall East, former pedestrian mall in Downtown Pomona		opened 1961. There were murals by Millard Sheets in the Palomare Room, one 24 ft., one 36 ft. Sheets was a native of Pomona. The murals portrayed early Spanish settlement of the Pomona Valley. Sheets also designed the pedestrian mall itself.
San Diego	Fashion Valley		later occupied for about a year by I. Magnin, then Saks Fifth Avenue and now Forever 21
Solana Beach	Lomas Santa Fe Plaza		originally a Walker Scott, later a Ross Dress for Less and now a HomeGoods
Westminster	Westminster Mall		first became Robinsons-May Home Store, later demolished for Macy's in 2002, now Target
Stores that had closed before Buffums' liquidation
Downtown Long Beach	Fourth Street at Pine Avenue	Шаблон:Convert	Flagship store opened in 1912 and expanded over the decades. Closed in 1982, replaced by Long Beach Plaza store. Demolished 1985.
Glendale	Glendale Galleria		demolished and replaced by Robinsons-May in 1993 and Target in 2007
La Habra	La Habra Fashion Square
Santa Ana	Square block between Main, Bush, Ninth and Tenth Streets. Built on site of the old Santa Ana Junior College, demolished 1947, which moved to 17th Street. Wurdeman & Becket, architects. who also designed Bullock's Pasadena.	Шаблон:Cvt	Freestanding store opened on July 6, 1950. Men's store added across the street in 1963; closed 1987, buildings currently used by County of Orange Department of Probation, Community Court, and Department of Child Support Services.

Relaunch

A California investor group filed Buffums' Stores, LLC. with the California Secretary of State in January 2015. According to the buffumstores Facebook site, they re-launched in a small specialty format in October 2015, located in the Belmont Shore neighborhood of Long Beach. This reappearance of the Buffums name in retail was short-lived, however, as the former principals of Buffums Stores, Inc. moved their operations to Naples, FL, opening their store there under the name The Шаблон:Proper name, and shuttering the Belmont Shore 2nd street Buffums storefront in March 2016.

See also

• Dorothy Buffum Chandler