Bullock's


Bullock's was a department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles. The company operated full-line department stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated the more upscale Bullocks Wilshire in some parts of Southern California.

History

Bullock's was founded in 1907 at Seventh & Broadway in downtown Los Angeles by John G. Bullock, with the support of The Broadway Department Store owner Arthur Letts. In 1923, Bullock and business partner P.G. Winnett bought out Letts' interest after his death and the companies became completely separated. In 1929 Bullock & Winnett opened a luxury branch on Wilshire Boulevard, referred to at the time as Bullock's Wilshire.
In 1944 Bullock's acquired I. Magnin & Co., a venerable, San Francisco-based upscale specialty chain.
Starting in 1958, Bullock's built a series of four shopping centers initially called Bullock's Fashion Square, small, elegant, and open-air, with large Bullock's stores dominating, surrounded by only around 20 or 30 much smaller specialty stores, such as I. Magnin, Desmond's, Mandel's and Silverwoods. The total gross buildable area of Bullock's Santa Ana, for example was, versus only for all the other retailers combined. Bullock's Fashion Square in Santa Ana opened in 1958, followed by a Fashion Square for the San Fernando Valley in 1962, a Fashion Square in Torrance in September 1966 and Fashion Square in La Habra in April 1968.
in 1964 the then public-owned Bullock's/I. Magnin organization was acquired by Federated Department Stores, much to the dismay of surviving founder P.G. Winnett, who publicly lambasted the deal. In the 1970s, to differentiate itself from the full-line Bullock's stores, the very exclusive Wilshire location dropped its apostrophe, and became Bullocks Wilshire, and began its own expansion.
In February 1970, Federated Department Stores replaced its Bullock's Realty Corporation, which owned and managed the Fashion Square malls, with an organization called Transwest Management; Transwest sold the Torrance Fashion Square in March of that year to new co-owners Great Lakes and Guilford Glazer and Associates, while selling the three other Fashion Squares for $13 million to Urban Investment and Development Company, who would sell them in 1973 to Bank of America Realty Investor and Draper and Kramer for $16.3 million.
Bullock's, Bullocks Wilshire, and I. Magnin retained their autonomy under Federated, as well as their carriage-trade niche, with I. Magnin expanding into the Chicago and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas and Bullock's opening stores in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Northern California.
In 1983 however, Federated shuttered the Bullock's North division and sold most of its locations to Seattle, Washington retailer Nordstrom. In 1988, after an ugly takeover battle between Robert Campeau and Macy's for Federated, Bullock's and I. Magnin were sold by Campeau to Macy's as a consolation prize for one billion dollars, which plunged Macy's into debt. The new owners responded by dismantling Bullock's Los Angeles corporate offices, merging Bullocks Wilshire into I. Magnin, and Bullock's into its Macy's South division, thus sending what had been Federated's most profitable division into a precipitous decline and alienating the local customers.
The end came quickly for Bullock's after Macy's filed for bankruptcy protection in 1992, with the Bullocks Wilshire stores being renamed I. Magnin two years before. Underperforming I. Magnin and Bullock's locations were closed, and I. Magnin itself was dissolved in January 1995 once Federated Department Stores reappeared on the scene and acquired Macy's. In 1996—following the acquisition of Broadway Stores, Inc.—Federated consolidated all its traditional department-store business in California under the Macy's nameplate, ending 89 years of Bullock's.

Luxury market

Although the Bullocks Wilshire stores was deemed the most exclusive, the full-line Bullock's stores offered upscale designers such as Giorgio Armani, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Missoni, Krizia, Valentino, Salvatore Ferragamo, Byblos, Hugo Boss, Gieves & Hawkes, and Robert Graham. Under Federated, the 22 Bullock's stores offered consistent assortments in each location, a key to the company's profit and success Under the corporate oversight of Macy's South in Atlanta, the 22 Bullock's stores were divided into 3 competing regions: merchant offices with extremely limited control were established in Santa Ana, Sherman Oaks and the existing 800 S. Hope Street building. Macy's, now under tremendous debt, national economic issues and having alienated customers with swift and usually reactive changes to the Bullock's brand, focused and relied on South Coast Plaza, Sherman Oaks and Beverly Center to retain an upscale clientele.

Store list

Only full line Bullock's division stores. Note: "Closing" refers to store closing date as Bullock's or Macy's.
No.NameAddress/MallOpened
Closed*
Building
Current Use		Notes-
01DowntownBroadway and Hill St., Downtown Los Angeles 3/4/19076/26/1983St. Vincent Jewelry Center at opening, added additional buildings over time, at closing.-
Wilshire3050 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles 9/24/19294/13/1993 Southwestern Law Schoolbecame "Bullocks Wilshire" ca. 1972, then rebranded I. Magnin along with all other BW branches-
Palm Springs November 1930Razed to make way for the Desert Inn Fashion Plaza, which was in turn razed in 2013.This was a Spanish Colonial-style "resort store" within the Desert Inn complex, replaced by a full Bullock's branch in 1947.-
Westwood Collegienne1002 Westwood Blvd.5/14/1932Replaced by full-line store 1951Sur La TableThis was a specialist "Collegienne" store designed in Spanish Colonial style by Parkinson & Parkinson and built by Janss Investment Corporation at a cost reported variously as $150,000 and $185,000.-
03Pasadena402 S. Lake Ave. 9/19/1947-Macy'sArchitects Wurdeman & Becket
Palm Springs 151 S. Palm Canyon Drive10/18/47Razed to make way for The Mercado and a new Saks Fifth Avenue.Modernist building, replaced the Desert Inn "resort shop". Became a Bullocks Wilshire branch in the 1960s. Architects Wurdeman & Becket.-
04Westwood10861 Weyburn, L.A. 9/5/1951TargetReplaced "Westwood Collegienne" store; architect Welton Becket-
07Santa AnaSanta Ana Fashion Square9/17/1958-Macy'sThis was the first of four Bullock's Fashion Square centers. Architects Pereira & Luckman. Mall was built out extensively and is now called MainPlace.-
09San Fernando/ Valley/Sherman OaksSherman Oaks Fashion Square4/30/1962-Macy's-
10LakewoodLakewood Center4/26/19651993RazedRazed 1995, now site of The Home Depot and a supermarket-
12Del AmoDel Amo Fashion Square, Torrance9/12/1966-Macy's -
15La HabraLa Habra Fashion Square, razed, now site of La Habra Market Place strip mall8/12/19681992RazedRazed in late 1990s-
17NorthridgeNorthridge Fashion Center9/10/1971Macy'sStore was rebuilt new after 1994 Northridge earthquake-
18South Coast PlazaSouth Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, California9/26/1973-Macy's-
19Mission ValleyMission Valley Center, San Diego2/19/1975-Macy's Home & Furniture--
20West CovinaPlaza West Covina9/25/19752008, Macy's consolidated into former Robinsons-May storeRazedRazed in 2008, now site of Best Buy. 150,000 sq.ft. Welton Becket & Assoc., architects-
21Century CityCentury Square, later Century City Shopping Center, now Westfield Century City9/9/1976-Macy's-
22ScottsdaleScottsdale Fashion Square1/31/19771996part of Dillard's-
23Chris-TownChris-Town Mall, PhoenixNovember 1987-
24Mission ViejoMission Viejo Mall3/3/1980-Macy's-
25CarlsbadPlaza Camino Real, now The Shoppes at Carlsbad10/2/80Macy's Men's, Home, Furniture Store-
26Las VegasFashion Show Mall2/14/1981Macy's-
27Beverly CenterBeverly Center, Los Angeles4/4/1982-Macy's-
28Manhattan BeachManhattan Village4/4/1982-Macy's-
29Thousand OaksThe Oaks8/4/1983-Macy's Men's, Home & Children's-
30GrossmontGrossmont Center, El Cajon9/15/19831993Target-
31Palm DesertPalm Desert Town Center11/3/19832006, Macy's moved into former Robinsons-May storePartially razedRazed above ground, underground level is part of Macy's Furniture Store-
32Citicorp/Seventh Market PlaceSeventh Market Place, now FIGat7th, Downtown Los Angeles8/4/19861996?In this mall, the Robinsons-May became the Macy's, which also later closed as there was a Macy's in nearby Broadway Plaza.-
74*BurbankBurbank Town Center9/2/1992-Macy's*opened under Macy's ownership, 74 was under Macy's numbering scheme-

Selected divisions

Bullocks Wilshire

Bullocks Wilshire was one of the more important divisions of Bullock's, Inc. until it was consolidated into I. Magnin by Macy's in 1989. The division could be traced to the opening of a single luxury branch store of Bullock's in 1929. In 1968, The Bullock's store in Palm Springs was transferred to the control of Bullock's Wilshire to be its first branch store. Four years later, in 1972, Bullock's Wilshire store was separated from Bullock's as a separate division with its own, president, chairman, buyers and staff with Walter Bergquist, former president of Bullock's, assigned as the division's first president.

I. Magnin

I. Magnin was acquired in 1944 and stores in this division were kept separate from those of Bullock's and the other divisions. Many I. Magnin stores were near the first Bullock's branches and complemented them in such as fashion that Bullock's purposely placed I. Magnin branches in three of the four Fashion Square malls that it built. The division lasted until 1994 when Macy's liquidated the brand and converted some of the stores to Macy's stores, selling some to Saks Fifth Avenue, and closing the rest.

Bullock's North

In the early 1970s, Federated wanted to move into the San Francisco Bay Area, an area of the country in which they never had any stores and was dominated by stores owned by Macy's and Broadway-Hale. Federated decided to open a new division that reported directly to Federated, but chose a name, Bullock's North, that had some name recognition in Northern California, but was distinct enough from its sister division to the south.
The first store in the division opened at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto in March 1972. It had 150,000 square feet on two floors. Two years later, a second store was opened in downtown Walnut Creek in 1974, followed by a third store that was opened in the following year at the Vallco Fashion Park in Cupertino.
A store was originally scheduled to open in Marin County the following year. Federated obtained property and even received clearance from the Corte Madera City Council to start construction, but resistance by local residents was so strong that they were able to obtain a recall election and were able to eject the city council members that had voted in favor for the new store off the council and thus killing the project. A fourth store opened in 1977 at the Stonestown shopping center in San Francisco and was followed by the opening of a fifth store in 1978 at the Oakridge Mall in San Jose. In 1982, Bullock's North opened its sixth and final store in the ill-fated Fashion Island Mall in San Mateo. This particular store was unusual because the store was covered by a tent instead of a conventional roof. The unusual roof was probably one of the reasons why Federated was unable to sell this particular store and closed the store as soon as the lease had expired.
A year later, Federated closed the division and sold five of the stores and quietly closed the San Mateo store. Nordstrom purchased three stores while Emporium-Capwell and Mervyn's each purchased a single store.

Bullock's Woman

In the late 1980s, Federated recognized that many of their young affluent women customers were unable to find youthful designer clothing in plus sizes and that very few stores were catering to that market, with the exception of Lane Bryant, Federated decided to test the idea that the plus-sized market young adult market was under-served by opening a stand-alone shop called Bullock's Woman in an upscale Las Vegas mall that already held a full-line Bullock's department store in March 1987. After operating the store for a few months, Federated determined that the venture was profitable enough to expand the concept to other malls containing Bullock's and/or Bullocks Wilshire by opening second and third stores in Palm Desert and in Woodland Hills in September 1987.
By 1992, other units were opened in Burbank, Century City and Santa Ana. When the Bullock's and Broadway nameplates were replaced with that of Macy's in 1996, a situation was created in which Macy's inherited excess floor space in the same malls that held the stand-alone Bullock's Woman stores so these were eventually integrated into the nearest Macy's store as the Macy's Woman department which specialized in the plus-sized designer clothing market.