Peebles was an American chain of department stores owned by

Stage Stores, Inc. Stage Stores was a department store company specializing in retailing off-price brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares throughout the United States. Stores were usually located in shopping malls and centers or in s ...

and headquartered in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Peebles operated stores mainly in the eastern and upper-midwestern

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. The store specialized in retailing on-trend men's, women's, and children's apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares. Brands exclusively found at Peebles included Valerie Stevens; Signature Studio; Sun River; Rustic Blue; Rebecca Malone; and Wishful Park. Peebles alpena

History

Peebles was founded in 1891 by William Smith Peebles, who opened his first store in

Lawrenceville, Virginia Lawrenceville is a town in Brunswick County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,438 at the 2010 census. Located by the Meherrin River, it is the county seat of Brunswick County. In colonial times, Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswoo ...

. Peebles mainly concentrated on small towns that didn’t have department stores, thus avoiding bigger cities and higher rents. In 1981 the company acquired The Collins Company, a line of mid-priced, comparable stores. Collins was based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The family sold the company in 1986 for $85 million to two investment banking firms and to Peebles’ senior management. The company had been sold twice before Stage Stores acquired Peebles in 2003 when it was based in South Hill, Virginia. At the time, Peebles had more than 125 stores primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern and Midwest states. After decades of expansion Peebles acquired the

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

-based upscale Harveys Department Stores chain in September 1988, renaming the stores as Peebles. In 1998, Peebles purchased Watson's, a similar chain, later renaming all the Watson's stores as Peebles. Houston-based

Stage Stores Stage Stores was a department store company specializing in retailing off-price brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares throughout the United States. Stores were usually located in shopping malls and centers or in st ...

purchased Peebles for $167 million in cash and $46.9 million in debt in 2003. In August 2019, it was announced that all Peebles stores, along with all other stores operated by Stage Stores Inc, would be converted into

Gordmans Gordmans (stylized as gordmans) was a retailer founded in Omaha, Nebraska. The chain is owned by BrandX as of May 2022. In 2019, Stage Stores began converting other retail chains it owned into Gordmans stores, with the goal of having 700 Gordmans ...

stores. On May 10, 2020, Stage announced it had filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

, and that it would liquidate all locations, Peebles and

included, unless a buyer purchased the chain. Ultimately, no buyer was found, and going out of business sales began at all locations.

References

External links

Official website
(Archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Peebles (Store) 1891 establishments in Virginia 2020 disestablishments in Virginia Brunswick County, Virginia Companies based in Houston Retail companies established in 1891 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 Retail companies disestablished in 2020 Defunct department stores based in Texas Economy of the Midwestern United States Mecklenburg County, Virginia American companies established in 1891 American companies disestablished in 2020