Beginnings
In the
early 1870s,
Netherlands born
Mary Ann Magnin and her English husband
Isaac Magnin 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.
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 in 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
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
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's own
adjoining flagship.
