I. Magnin

• Founded: by Mary Ann Magnin in San Francisco, 1876.
• Company History: First branch opened in Santa Barbara, 1912; Los Angeles store opened, 1938, flagship San Francisco store opened, 1948; sold to Bullock's, 1943; to Federated Department Stores, 1964, which was acquired by Campeau Corporation (after an attempted merger with R.H. Macy Corporation); R.H. Macy Corporation purchases I. Magnin stores, 1988; Federated and R.H. Macy merge, announcing closure of I. Magnin chain, 1994; several stores bought by Saks Fifth Avenue and others, 1994-95; remaining Magnin stores renamed as other Federated retailers.

Founded by Mary Ann Magnin in 1876, I. Magnin & Company has always stood for beautiful designs of a high quality. They were responsible for making women in San Francisco, California, among the best dressed in the world.

Mary Ann and Isaac Magnin were married in London, England, though both were originally from Holland. They moved to San Francisco in the 1870s, traveling by boat around Cape Horn. They had eight children. Mary Ann did not want her husband working on ceilings as a wood carver, because he might fall and be crippled, leaving her with a large family to support. As a result she used her skills as an accomplished seamstress to make baby clothes which Isaac sold, carrying the items in a pack on his back. Before long they were able to open the first I. Magnin in San Francisco, selling needles, thread, and notions.

The store expanded to include the fashions Mary Ann made, including trousseau, and exquisite lingerie which she made for the fashion-starved ladies of Nob Hill, San Francisco. She made nightgowns, chemises and drawers, bridal gowns, and baby clothes, ordering her lace and linen from Europe. Owing to transportation costs, these items were expensive. Nevertheless, the orders increased and she was able to hire helpers. Her four sons—John, Grover, Joseph, and Sam—were encouraged to learn about fabrics and, most importantly, quality.

Magnin's moved to a larger store, but the 1906 earthquake destroyed it. Mary Ann and Isaac operated their business from their own home until they could rebuild. San Francisco was a thriving community of people who had money to spend and was an excellent market for the luxury goods available at I. Magnin. Eventually one son, John, moved to New York where he opened a buying office. While on a visit there, Mary Ann was so impressed with a marble floor she saw at B. Altman's store that she had one put into her own store. Magnin's store was elegant and designed as a stage for their fashions. Marble, crystal, and gold leaf were used extensively throughout; just as Mary Ann emphasized the best quality in fashion, she also demanded the best for the setting.

I. Magnin showcased the work of the major designers of the times, Jeanne Lanvin, Hattie Carnegie, and Christian Dior, where they introduced their new designs to the West Coast and the United States. The customers were wealthy—the Magnin woman purchased the best of everything, and price was no consideration. Magnin's was noted for fine apparel and having fashion firsts sometimes a year before they reached other stores. Quality, as Mary Ann impressed on her sons at an early age, was always an important ingredient in the operation of I. Magnin.

In her book Store (New York, 1978) Nan Tillson Birmingham described I. Magnin's doorman who would greet the car as customers arrived to shop for their school clothes. Clothing was selected by a personal shopper who would have them hanging in the dressing rooms, waiting for the approval of the shoppers. Service to the customer was another aspect of the Magnin shopping experience.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the ownership of I. Magnin changed hands many times. In 1988 when R.H. Macy Corporation bought the luxury chain, the future still seemed bright. By 1993 R.H. Macy was struggling and attempted to revitalize the I. Magnin stores, to no avail. The following year, overwhelmed by debt, Macy closed its first Magnin store, located on Chicago's famed Miracle Mile. Federated Department Stores then stepped in and proposed a merger with the stricken R.H. Macy; in the deal all remaining I. Magnin stores were slated for closure. Several individual stores were bought by Saks Fifth Avenue and other upscale retailers, and the once world renowned I. Magnin name ceased to exist.

Publications

On I. Magnin:

Books
• Crawford, M.D.C., The Ways of Fashion, New York, 1948.
• Riley, Robert, Fashion Makers, New York, 1968.
• Birmingham, Nan Tillson, Store, New York, 1978.
• Hendrickson, Robert, The Grand Emporiums, Briarcliff Manor, New York, 1979.
• Dresner, Susan, Shopping on the Inside Track, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1988.
• Frick, Devin Thomas, I. Magnin & Company: A California Legacy, Garden Groce, California, 2000.

Articles
• Stabiner, Karen, "Store Wars," in Savvy (New York), July 1988.
• Ginsberg, Steve, "I. Magnin: Seeking Solutions in the 1990s," in WWD, 9 October 1990.
• Adelson, Andrea, "Retail Dinosaur Tries to Put Off Extinction," in the New York Times, 10 April 1993.
• Schmeltzer, John, "A Merger on 34th Street," in the Chicago Tribune, 15 July 1994.
• Adelson, Andrea, "R.H. Macy Planning to Close I. Magnin Specialty Stores," in the New York Times, 19 November 1994.

— Nancy House; updated by Owen James

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (October 2008)

I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based, high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. In the 1970s under Federated Department Stores ownership, the chain entered the Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas. Mary Ann Magnin founded the company in 1876 and named the chain after her husband, Isaac. The chain's flagship San Francisco store was located next to Macy’s California flagship on Union Square.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Beginnings 1.2 Sale to Bullock's 1.3 Sale to Macy's 1.4 Liquidation 1.5 Brand 2 References

History

Beginnings

In the early 1870s, Netherlands born Mary Ann Magnin and her English husband Issac Magnin settled in San Francisco. Mary Ann opened a shop in 1876 selling high-end clothing for infants and lotions. Later, she expanded into bridal wear. As her business grew, her exclusive clientele relied on her for the newest fashions from Paris.

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

The 1906 earthquake & fire leveled the original store with the rest of the downtown area. After rebuilding, the store opened on new quarters at Stockton Street and Geary Street. During the 1910s, the chain opened shops in six high-end hotels around the state of California. The Los Angeles Wilshire Boulevard branch (which opened in 1939) and the new flagship Union Square store (opened in 1948) were considered among the most elegant in America. When famed designer Christian Dior paid a visit from Paris, he toured the Union Square store, which had already earned the nickname "White Marble Palace", and said "Magnifique!" The word would later be turned into a high compliment: "Magninique."^{[citation needed]}

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 in 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 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 consolidated 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 years of losses aggravated by the effects of the 1992 Rodney King riots.

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 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 West own adjoining flagship.

Brand

In October 2006 Macy's resurrected the I. Magnin name and now uses it as a house brand label on ladies apparel. This using of the name may be due to keeping the trademark rights.

References

• Frick, Devin Thomas (2000). I.Magnin & Co. A California Legacy. Park Place Press, Orange County, CA. ISBN 0-9663493-1-8. 
• Hendrickson, Robert (1979). The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of American’s Great Department Stores. Stein and Day, New York, NY. ISBN 0-8128-2516-0. 
• Mahoney, Tom and Sloane, Lenorard (1966). The Great Merchants: America’s Foremost Retail Institutions and the People Who Made Them Great. Harper & Row, New York, NY. ISBN 0-06-012739-2. 
• Mullane, James Thomas (2007). A Store to Remember. Falcon Books, San Ramon, CA. ISBN 0-9788513-0-7. 

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