The Bon Marche

The Bon March , whose name means "the good deal" or "the good market", was the name chosen for a department store launched in Seattle, Washington, United States, in 1890 by the Nordhoff family. The name comes from Le Bon March , a noted Paris retailer and one of the world's first department stores, founded 40 years earlier.

Familiarly known to Washingtonians as The Bon, it was acquired by Allied Stores in 1929. A solid middle-range store, The Bon served largely working-class, boom-and-bust Seattle well branches were added in several Northwestern cities. Among them were Spokane, Tacoma, Yakima, Kennewick, Longview, Walla Walla, and Bellingham, Washington and Boise, Idaho.

The Bon was known for their catchy jingles, such as the following to the tune of "The Banana Boat Song" "Day-o, One Day Sale, One day only at The Bon March ! Save 20, 30, 40 percent example savings ! Saturday only at the Bon Marche. Prices are down in every department! Saturday only at the Bon Marche!..." This jingle continued after the name was changed to Bon Macy's, with the appropriate changes.

Allied Stores was merged into Federated Department Stores in 1989. As part of its national rebranding program, Federated changed the name to Bon-Macy's in 2003. On March 6, 2005, the Bon-Macy's name was eliminated, with the stores renamed as the Macy's Northwest division of Federated. On February 6, 2008, the Macy's Northwest division was merged with the Macy's West division, based in San Francisco.

Edward Nordhoff was born in Germany in 1858, and moved to Paris as a young man. In Paris, he worked for the Louvre Department Store, but developed great admiration for its rival, the Maison of Aristide Boucicaut "Au Bon March " now part of the LVMH group . Nordhoff admired the values of this rival store's owners, who built their business with a foundation in customer service. He dreamed of opening his own store along these lines. In 1881, Edward emigrated to the U.S. While managing a popular Chicago department store he met Josephine Brennan, who worked on the sales floor. They married in 1888, and 2 years later set off for the West Coast with their baby, Eleanor.

Arriving in Seattle the year after the 1889 fire, the Nordhoffs found rental space scarce. They leased a one-story structure at the corner of First and Cedar in Belltown, for 25 a month. Their entire savings of 1,200 was soon invested on merchandise for their store. Mrs. Nordhoff, not yet 20, stocked shelves, kept the books, cleaned and mopped. She learned the Chinook language so that she could better wait on Native American customers. Though the store was blocks out of the way, townsfolk began to trade with the hardworking young couple. The panic of the early 1890s struck Seattle hard. Every cent was precious. Returning from his first buying trip east, Ed Nordhoff brought back something new -- sacks of pennies. Until then, change had been made only to the nearest nickel locally. Now customers walked for blocks to save pennies at The Bon March 's sales. Their growing success allowed the Nordhoffs to relocate their store closer to the business heart of the city in 1896. They chose a one-story L-shaped building at Second and Pike.