Von Maur opened its first department store in Pennsylvania at South Hills Village in Pittsburgh on Saturday. The two-level, 118,000-square-foot location is a new anchor tenant at the mall, the company said in a press release.
The retailer offers brand-name and specialty apparel, shoes, accessories and gifts from a variety of brands, including Bobbi Brown, Rhone, Vuori, Peter Millar, TravisMathew, Hammitt, Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch and Liverpool Los Angeles. The retailer also recently added L.L. Bean through a wholesale partnership.
“The people of Pittsburgh value hard work, loyalty and service — qualities that are at the core of our company,” Jim von Maur, the president and fourth-generation leader of the company, said in the press release. “We’re excited to bring our signature customer service and exceptional shopping experience to Pittsburgh and to becoming a part of this vibrant community.”
The new store employs over 100 full- and part-time associates. It occupies a former Sears anchor spot at the Simon-owned mall, according to local news reports. Beyond its in-store and online merchandise offering, Von Maur also touts its customer service, complimentary gift wrapping and shipping, a rewards program and an interest-free charge card.
The new Pittsburgh store is part of a national growth strategy, the privately held company previously said. Von Maur announced in May it plans to open its first North Dakota location at the West Acres Mall in the spring of 2025. When that location opens, the family-owned retailer said it will have 39 department stores nationwide. Earlier that month, the company said it’s investing $100 million to renovate its existing stores over the next five years.
As Von Maur expands, sales growth has fallen at several major department store chains, and some have moved to shrink or revamp their brick-and-mortar footprints, Retail Dive reported in October. Macy’s is likely to see the largest change in its store footprint, announcing in February plans to close 150 locations over the next three years. J.C. Penney is spending $1 billion to revamp its merchandising, supply chain and customer experience, while keeping its store count relatively even. And Belk recently repositioned itself, shedding nearly $1 billion in debt with a new financing deal.
Meanwhile, the off-price sector, led by companies like Burlington, TJX and Ross, is poised to take more market share from the department store sector in the coming years, analysts told Retail Dive in September. That’s leading the likes of Nordstrom to invest further in off-price concepts over the traditional department store format.
