Ivey's (J.B. Ivey & Company), a former department store chain, was acquired by

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...

, Inc. in 1990. Ivey's was based in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, and was founded in 1900 by Joseph Benjamin (J. B.) Ivey.

History

J. B. Ivey opened the first Ivey's store on February 19, 1900, on North Tryon Street in Charlotte, North Carolina. The initial location, "one and half blocks from the town square," resulted in poor sales. Later in 1900, Ivey moved the store location to the first block of West Trade Street. The business grew and relocated to 13 North Tryon Street in fall 1914. George M. Ivey, J. B. Ivey's only son, joined the company in 1920 and moved to convert the firm from a partnership to a corporation, which was completed in 1922. The company built a new store in Charlotte in 1924, which remained the only Ivey's store until 1935. Ivey's opened a store in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1935, and in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1937. Ivey's became a publicly-traded corporation in the 1940s. Ivey's was purchased by

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (colloquially Marshall Field's) was an American department store chain founded in 1852 by Potter Palmer. It was based in Chicago, Illinois and founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, ...

in 1980. Marshall Field's itself would be purchased by BATUS Retail Group in 1982. Field's and its The Crescent,

Frederick & Nelson Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Founded in 1890 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acqu ...

, and Ivey's divisions joined other BATUS divisions,

Gimbel's Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842 ...

Kohl's Kohl's Corporation (Kohl's is stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain store, chain. currently has 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawaii. The company was founded by Polish immigrant Maxwe ...

, and

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

. BATUS sold Ivey's to Dillard's in 1990, prior to the sale of Marshall Field's to Dayton Hudson Corporation. Ivey's typically offered more upscale merchandise than another Charlotte-based chain,

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, a ...

, which was a competitor to Ivey's in many Southern cities. The two chains were frequent neighbors at many malls and in many downtowns.

Locations

In 1975, Ivey's had 20 stores in the following locations: ''Florida'' * Clearwater * Pinellas Park * Daytona Beach * Jacksonville * Merritt Island * Orange Park * Orlando * Winter Park ''North Carolina'' *

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...

* Chapel Hill * Charlotte * Gastonia * Greensboro * Raleigh ''South Carolina'' * Greenville

References

External links

The Ivey's Archive
I Retail companies established in 1900 Retail companies disestablished in 1990 Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina Defunct department stores based in North Carolina Defunct companies based in North Carolina 1900 establishments in North Carolina 1990 disestablishments in North Carolina {{US-retail-company-stub