I. Magnin

History

Beginnings

In the early 1870s, Dutch-born Mary Ann Magnin and her husband Isaac Magnin left England and settled in San Francisco. Mary Ann opened a shop in 1876 selling lotions and high-end clothing for infants. Later, she expanded into bridal wear. As her business grew, her exclusive clientele relied on her for the newest fashions from Paris. In the 20th century I. Magnin imported clothing by major designers including Jeanne Lanvin, Hattie Carnegie, and Christian Dior.

At the turn of the century, Mary Ann's four sons entered the business. While John, Grover, and Sam became associated with the I. Magnin store, the fourth son, Joseph, became known for his own store, Joseph Magnin Co.

The 1906 earthquake and fire leveled the San Francisco store with the remainder of the downtown area. The store reopened in new quarters at 50 Grant Avenue at Geary Boulevard in 1912. During the 1910s, the chain opened shops in six high-end hotels in California. The Los Angeles Wilshire Boulevard branch (opened in 1939) and the Union Square store (opened in 1948) were among the most elegant in the United States. When designer Christian Dior visited, he toured the Union Square store, and called it the "White Marble Palace".

In Los Angeles

Daughter Flora married Myer Siegel, who launched a namesake department store in Los Angeles, which would later become a chain. In Los Angeles in 1897 and 1898, I. Magnin & Co. advertised its wares for retail sale at 237 South Spring Street, noting that Mr. Myer Siegel was the manager. The I. Magnin store that Siegel managed moved to 251 S. Broadway on January 2, 1899; on June 19, 1904, I. Magnin announced that the Los Angeles store would henceforth be known as "Myer Siegel". I. Magnin would return with its own Los Angeles-area retail store later when it opened boutiques in the Maryland Hotel in Pasadena and the Ambassador Hotel in Mid-Wilshire, a branch at 6340 Hollywood Boulevard, and in 1939 a landmark store at 3240 Wilshire Boulevard near Bullocks Wilshire, designed by Myron Hunt, architect of the Ambassador Hotel.

Sale to Bullock's

In 1944, the chain was bought by the Los Angeles-based Bullock's department store chain. In the late 1950s the combined chain expanded into the Southern California suburbs by opening the Fashion Square concept in Santa Ana in 1958, the San Fernando Valley (Sherman Oaks) in 1962 and Del Amo (Torrance) in 1965.

After a major proxy battle in 1964, Bullocks-I. Magnin was merged into Federated Department Stores. Bullock's, I. Magnin, and eventually Bullocks Wilshire were run as separate divisions of Federated. I. Magnin expanded in the Chicago and Washington, D.C. areas in the 1970s.

Sale to Macy's

R.H. Macy & Company had long yearned in the 1980s to enter the Southern California market. Along with trying to build their own stores, they attempted to purchase Federated, eventually losing a takeover war to the Campeau Corporation in 1988. As part of the settlement with Campeau, Macy's purchased Bullock's, Bullock's Wilshire and I. Magnin, subsequently beginning a reorganization of its divisions and consolidating the I. Magnin and Bullock's Wilshire stores into a semi-autonomous division under Macy's California. The seven Bullock's Wilshire stores were renamed I. Magnin in 1989.

In 1991 Macy's announced plans to re-align its divisional structure and created a new Macy's West/Bullock's division by February 1992. While in the process of doing so, it declared bankruptcy on January 27, 1992. During the next two years, the I. Magnin group shuttered 11 stores of an already-reduced franchise with the historic original Bullock's Wilshire flagship on Wilshire Boulevard closed in early 1993 after months of losses aggravated by the effects of the 1992 Rodney King riots. The Oakland, California, store was closed in 1995.

Liquidation

In 1994 Federated Department Stores reached an agreement with R.H. Macy's creditors to buy the company out of bankruptcy, completing the acquisition on December 19 and making Macy's West/Bullock's a division of Federated. Even before the acquisition closed, it pulled the plug on the remainder of the I. Magnin chain, eventually selling four stores (Carmel, Beverly Hills, San Diego, and Phoenix) to Saks Fifth Avenue and ultimately converting six former I. Magnin locations in Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, Woodland Hills, Palm Desert, Newport Beach, and Palos Verdes to specialty Macy's or Bullock's locations, replicating the success of the 1991 conversion of I. Magnin at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, into a separate Bullock's Men's location. The upper floors of the former I. Magnin store on Union Square were later converted to an expansion of Macy's Union Square, Macy's West's own adjoining flagship.

Store locations

References

References

1. House, Nancy. (2000). "I. Magnin".
2. Cox, Heather. (28 May 2014). "I. Magnin and Company: A History".
3. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/380062348 I. Magnin advertisement in the ''Los Angeles Times'', 16 January 1898, p. 12]
4. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/378361550 "We move Monday to 251 South Broadway", I. Magnin advertisement in the ''Los Angeles Times'', 31 Dec 1898, p.4]
5. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=31238170 Advertisement by I. Magnin, 19 June 1904, Los Angeles Times, p. 12]
6. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=31237687 I. Magnin advertisement in the ''Los Angeles Times'', 1 May 1935, p.2]
7. (4 October 2015). "I. Magnin department store, 6340 Hollywood BLVD at Ivar, 1928 {{pipe}}".
8. (October 18, 1887). "Advertisement for Magnin's Pacific Underwear House, 848 Market St.". San Francisco Examiner.
9. (October 18, 1894). "Advertisement for I. Magnin". San Francisco Examiner.
10. (March 3, 1901). "Plan of I. Magnin & Co's New Store". San Francisco Examiner.
11. (March 5, 1911). "Big Addition to Be Opened: Several Thousand Floor Feet Added for Women's Millinery". San Francisco Call.
12. (January 6, 1912). "Advertisement for I. Magnin". Santa Barbara Independent.
13. [http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/3802/ "Potter Hotel", Pacific Coast Architecture Database]
14. (1010). "The American Department Store Transformed 1920–1960". Yale.
15. [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8v69ks3/admin/ "Finding Aid to the I. Magnin & Co. Records 1893-1998 (bulk 1930-1994) SFH 2", Online Archive of California]
16. (17 January 1921). "I. Magnin & Co. (ad): ...January eighteenth, on the occasion of the formal opening of the Ambassador...". Los Angeles Evening Express.
17. (November 8, 1933). "I. Magnin & Co. to Open Twelfth Branch". San Francisco Examiner.
18. (December 1, 2009). "Department Store Branches, 1910–1960".
19. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/53409445@N04/6338805321 "I. Magnin - Vallco", ''Flickr'']
20. [http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/11/i-magnin-co-san-francisco-california.html "I. Magnin", ''Department Store Museum'']
21. (April 23, 1923). "Advertisement for I. Magnin Hollywood". Los Angeles Daily Express.
22. (July 25, 1949). "Ad for I Magnin Moving Sale, Pasadena". Los Angeles Times.
23. (26 March 2012). "Beverly Hills then and Now".
24. (February 11, 1939). "Leaders visit latest addition to city's mercantile establishments: Store holds gay premiere: Magnin's new style center on Wilshire viewed by leaders". Los Angeles Times.
25. [https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/wilshire-galleria "Wilshire Galleria", Los Angeles Conservancy]
26. (March 26, 1947). "Bullock's-I. Magnin Company Sales Hit $107,042,039". San Francisco Examiner.
27. (December 26, 1994). "Saks to Expand on I. Magnin Site". Los Angeles Times.
28. "[https://www.noozhawk.com/article/urban_hikers_stroll_through_micheltorena_bike_lane_controversy Urban Hikers Take a Stroll Through Micheltorena Bike-Lane Controversy]", ''Noozhawk'', 5 April 2016. See also this blog post: "[http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/11/i-magnin-co-san-francisco-california.html I. Magnin & Co.]", The Department Store Museum, accessed 26 September 2021.
29. (February 3, 1954). "New Magnin Store Planned for La Jolla". Los Angeles Times.
30. "Tough times in La Jolla: I. Magnin closing its doors after 39 years", Bloom, Barry M. ''[[San Diego Union - Tribune]]'', March 2, 1993, p. C-2
31. (September 26, 1992). "I. Magnin San Diego (Fashion Valley) Grand Opening".
32. Wendy Fry. (May 4, 2010). "Iconic Fashion Valley Store Being Shuttered".
33. (July 17, 1991). "I. Magnin to Fill Buffum's Vacancy in Fashion Valley". Los Angeles Times.
34. (March 6, 1992). "Merchants bemoan loss in Palm Springs of I. Magnin Store". Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA).
35. "Macy's to shutter 11 store employing 1,450 people - UPI Archives".
36. (24 October 1971). "I. Magnin Adds New Gem to Michigan Av". Chicago Tribune.
37. (23 October 1971). "Gala Opening for I. Magnin in Chicago". Chicago Tribune.
38. (August 21, 1990). "It's Not I. Magnin's Kind of Town". Los Angeles Times.
39. (March 20, 1978). "Magnin Firm to Open Store in Maryland". Times-Advocate (Escondido, CA).