keokuk iowa headquarters iowa united states number of locations 50 2013 1 products clothing footwear bedding furniture jewelry beauty products housewares parent proffitt s 1996 1998 saks inc. 1998 2006 the bon ton 2006 present website http www.younkers.com younkers is an american department store chain founded as a family run dry goods business in 1856 in keokuk iowa . the retailer has since evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout iowa and bordering states in the midwest region of the united states . it rhymes with yonkers new york . younkers became influential as it acquired several rivals throughout the 20th century both inside and outside of iowa . the chain itself was sold by the late 1990s with ownership transferring out of state and its des moines based headquarters closed by 2003 as a part of corporate consolidation . following its most recent sale in 2006 younkers operates as a subsidiary of the bon ton with locations in seven midwestern states primarily in shopping malls . as of 2013 update it operates more than fifty locations in this region . contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings 1.2 younkers incorporated 1.3 fire 1.4 acquisitions of brandeis and h.c. prange 1.5 acquisition by proffitt s 1.6 sale to the bon ton 2 references 3 external links history edit beginnings edit the company was founded by three polish jewish immigrant brothers lipman samuel and marcus younker 2 who opened a general store in keokuk iowa in 1856 . herman younker the youngest of the brothers opened a dry goods store in des moines iowa in 1874 . following samuel s death in 1879 the keokuk store was closed and the des moines location became the main store . the future novelist and newspaper editor eleanor hoyt brainerd worked as a clerk at the younkers store in des moines in 1889 . 3 in 1899 the younker brothers main store in downtown des moines was moved to 7th and walnut streets and it operated at the same location for 106 years before closing on august 12 2005 . the downtown des moines store became known for its tea room restaurant which opened in 1913 and closed shortly before the store did . it also installed iowa s first escalator known as the electric stairs in 1939 . on march 30 2014 the closed younker s location caught fire resulting in total loss of the building . younkers incorporated edit the original younkers store in downtown des moines iowa . the building was vacated when the store closed on august 12 2005 . it was destroyed by fire in the early hours of march 29 2014 . a series of additions enlargements and mergers resulted in the company changing its name to younkers incorporated . the department store in downtown des moines was purchased in 1912 . the company started growing in the 1920s by acquiring other department stores throughout iowa including wilkins department stores 1923 harris emery 1927 and j. mandelbaum and sons 1928 . the iowa based retailers brintnall s of marshalltown and davidson s of sioux city were acquired in 1948 and yetters of iowa city was acquired in 1949 . younkers began expanding outside of iowa during the 1950s and opened its first shopping mall store in omaha nebraska in 1955 . it acquired another omaha department store kilpatrick s in 1961 . by 1978 younkers had 28 stores in five states . fire edit in november 1978 a fire broke out in the younkers store in the merle hay mall in des moines killing 11 people . to date it is the most devastating fire in des moines history and destroyed the original younkers at the mall . it is also the third deadliest department store fire in us history . the fire was caused by faulty wiring . in the early hours of march 29 2014 a fire ravaged the former younkers building in downtown des moines . acquisitions of brandeis and h.c. prange edit a younkers in marquette michigan which was converted from h.c. prange younkers was operated by the equitable of iowa insurance company from 1979 to 1992 after being a publicly traded company since 1948 . under equitable s ownership younkers acquired all 11 locations of the omaha based brandeis department store chain in 1987 . after returning to public ownership on the nasdaq on april 22 1992 younkers purchased the 22 stores of the h.c. prange chain in wisconsin and michigan . acquisition by proffitt s edit after a hostile takeover bid by carson pirie scott was rejected in 1995 younkers shareholders agreed to a friendly merger by proffitt s inc. of knoxville tennessee . the merger was completed in december 1996 . proffitt s would later acquire carson pirie scott and in 1998 proffitt s acquired saks fifth avenue to form saks incorporated . in 2003 saks closed younkers headquarters in des moines and merged its operations with those of carson pirie scott in milwaukee wisconsin . sale to the bon ton edit saks sold younkers and its other northern department store group stores carson pirie scott bergner s boston store and herberger s to bon ton stores in a 1.1 billion deal that was completed on march 6 2006 . 4 references edit the bon ton stores inc. 2012 annual report jewish daily forward iowa s fields of midwestern jewish dreams by stephen g. bloom september 23 2014 bushnell s des moines city and polk county directory des moines 1889 bon ton fundinguniverse.com . younkers inc. company history . retrieved 2007 06 07 . johnson patt november 1 2005 . younkers gets new owner . des moines register . saks incorporated 2004 . younkers history . archived from the original on 2004 04 13 . retrieved 2006 04 13 . external links edit younkers official website closing of sioux city downtown younkers kcci local news report of march 29 2014 fire v t e the bon ton and predecessors 2000 present elder beerman 2003 bergner s 2005 boston store 2005 carson s 2005 herberger s 2005 younkers 2005 parisian 2006 2013 1990 1999 j.w. rhodes 1991 watt & shand 1992 1995 am & a s 1994 chappell s 1994 hess s 1994 1980 1989 maxwell s f. 1980s 1989 fowler s 1980s pomeroy s 1987 1948 1979 eyerly s 1948 1989 mcmeen s 1957 1969 stock symbol nasdaq bont website bonton.com partial acquisition ; f. founded retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title younkers & oldid 743559327 categories economy of des moines iowacompanies based in milwaukeecompanies based in iowaeconomy of the midwestern united statesdepartment stores of the united states1856 establishments in iowacompanies established in 1856hidden categories articles containing potentially dated statements from 2013all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page 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