Loveman's was a

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

-based chain of department stores with locations throughout

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 coun ...

and

North Georgia North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important eve ...

. Relatives of the founder of the chain founded

Loveman's of Alabama Loveman's of Alabama was a Birmingham, Alabama-based chain of department stores with locations across Alabama. It adopted this name to distinguish it from Loveman's department stores operating in Loveman's (Chattanooga), Chattanooga, Tennessee, an ...

and Loveman's located in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

History

In 1875, David Bernard Loveman and his brother Herman Herschel Loveman arrived in Chattanooga from

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and formed D. B. Loveman and Bro., a dry goods concern. In 1877, Ismar Noa joined the company and it became D. B. Loveman & Company. In 1884 they purchased property at the southeast corner of Eighth and Market Streets, in what was described as "the most important single real estate transaction that had taken place" in Chattanooga up until that time. Building commenced in 1885, and the city's first department store was constructed. It would become Chattanooga's largest department store, and remain so for just over a hundred years. December 26, 1891, the building was destroyed by fire and the business suffered accordingly. David even declared bankruptcy, but business did not cease. Eventually the company regained its footing and prospered, employing 300 people by 1917. In addition to the downtown Chattanooga flagship store, Loveman's expanded to

Oak Ridge, Tennessee Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson County, Tennessee, Anderson and Roane County, Tennessee, Roane counties in the East Tennessee, eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville. Oak Ridge's po ...

, along with several suburban stores in Chattanooga with locations such as

East Ridge, Tennessee East Ridge is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 22,167. East Ridge is bordered by Chattanooga, Tennessee, Chattanooga to the west, north, and east, and ...

. Loveman's established a store at Eastgate Mall in 1965. In the early 1970s, Loveman's located in the former JCPenney store in Highland Plaza. (In 1972, JCPenney opened at the then new Northgate Mall in nearby Hixson.) In 1980, Loveman's was an original anchor at Walnut Square Mall in

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, Whitfield County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton metropolitan area, Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encomp ...

. Loveman's final expansion came as an anchor at Hamilton Place Mall in 1987. In 1988, however, the chain, which had acquired considerable debt, was bought by

Proffitt's Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. The chain was founded in 1919 by David W. Proffitt and James Ellis. In 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk after Belk had acquired the two chains in ...

, which in turn was acquired in 2005 by

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 ...

. Starting in 2001, the flagship downtown building had been converted to mixed use, with luxury condominiums on the upper floors developed by RiverCity Company. In August 2008, the second floor was purchased at auction by the Maclellan Foundation for $1.4 million. Cohutta Banking Co. of Tennessee plans to move during the fall of 2008, into on the building's ground floor."Chattanooga: Lovemans 2nd floor in auction," by: Jason Reynolds, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, Jul 31, 2008 (retrieved Aug 30, 2008)
.

References

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External links

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081201084401/http://www.envirolinkhandbook.com/www/docs/193 "New Vitality for the Lovemans on Market," Envirolink Handbook Southeast website, undated (retrieved Aug 30, 2008)]. Defunct retail companies of the United States Defunct department stores based in Tennessee Companies based in Chattanooga, Tennessee