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Recently crowned "America's Best Department Store" by Newsweek for the fourth year in a row, Von Maur’s apparent success comes despite the chain forgoing much of modern department store retailing, including not offering any private labels and focusing on service and selection rather than price.
“You walk into our store and you are going to feel special, and we make sure you get what you need and that you leave happy,” Jim Von Maur, president and CEO, told WWD in a 2022 interview timed to the chain’s 150th anniversary.
He added of the store experience, “It’s hassle-free. We have exciting merchandise. We make it relaxing, no loud music, hardly any vendor signage. We’re not screaming 40% off. You’re walking into a nice relaxing residential environment. Our aisles are not merchandised. You don’t run into a rack or a dump table. You don’t get people bumping into you. People come to our store to relax and enjoy themselves, rather than just to get in and get out. There is a piano in every store with live music. We employ a lot of piano players.”
The focus on service is exemplified by emphasizing above-average wages, full-time hires, and slow expansion – opening only one or two stores annually in recent years. Von Maur told Fargo Inc., “I’ve seen other stores grow way too quickly, and they didn’t have the personnel or the attention from leadership to ensure the culture was really being transferred to the new location.”
Von Maur Emphasizes Slow Growth Over Rapid Expansion
Being family-owned and privately-held has allowed Von Maur to focus on the long term rather than expand too quickly.
Von Maur recently announced plans to open its first store in New Jersey, a 164,000-square-foot three-level store at Freehold Raceway Mall, set to open in 2027 to represent its 40th store. This comes after entering Pennsylvania in 2024, and North Dakota this year.
Von Maur also stands out for its strong access to trending brands, with the mix currently playing up Vuori, Free People, Varley, and TravisMathew. While the lack of private labels and high in-store curation is part of the appeal, newer brands can also reach consumers in the middle part of the country they can’t reach on the coasts and in urban centers.
Joy Place, VP of merchandising, recently told Modern Retail that customers typically come in frequently to discover new brands and products. She said, “Our stores tend to be out in nice suburban areas.”
Touring a store in Atlanta, RetailWire BrainTrust member Warren Shoulberg -- in a recent column for The Robin Report -- complemented the location’s “relaxed, almost elegant layout with wide aisles, products displayed on formal fixturing and no signs of merchandise stacked and racked high.”
He added, “You want to say it looks old-fashioned reminding you of department stores of days gone by, but that’s not entirely accurate: it presents an atmosphere where you just want to shop and not get out of the store as fast as possible as is the case with many retailers today.”