The Bon Marche



In 1928, the Bon Marche left its old location on 2nd Street
and moved to this new four-story building, designed in a
rich art-deco style, designed by noted architect
John Graham Sr.

In the mid-1950s, four more floors were
added to the Bon Marche's Seattle flagship,
making it the largest department store
on the west coast.










The Bon Marche (1890)
Third and Pine
Seattle, Washington 98181       

MAin 4-1234




Street Floor Fine Jewelry • Silver Shop • Costume Jewelry • Cosmetics • Toiletries • Fashion Accessories • Discovery Shop • Handbags • Small Leather Goods • Gloves • Umbrellas • Handkerchiefs • Hosiery • Almost Shoes • Neckwear • Handkerchiefs • Shoes • Casual Shoes • The Shop for Pappagallo • Blouses • Main Floor Sportswear • Emphasis 1 • Camera Shop • Luggage • Notions • Stationery • Men’s Sportswear • Men's Pacesetter • Men’s Furnishings • Men’s Toiletries • Men’s Sweaters • Men’s Sport Shirts • Men’s Leisurewear • Tiger Shop • California Shop • Men’s Corner • Men’s Shoes

South Mezzanine

Men’s Clothing • Men’s Hats
North Balcony

Sportsmen’s Shop • Ski Shop

Second Floor
Fashion Circle
The Northwest Room • Northwest Shoe Room • Fur Salon • Bridal Salon • Designer Coats and Suits • Young Couture Shop • After Five Shop • Plaza 66 • House and Town Shop • Women’s Shop • Ms. Bon Dresses • Ms. Bon Dresses • Ms. Bon Coats • Suede & Leather • Sportswear Now • Accent Shop • Esprit • Paragon Collections • Ms. Paragon • Contempo Shop • Pacesetter Shop • Inexpensive Dresses • Millinery • Wig Salon

Junior Fashion Center Junior Sportswear • Junior Dresses • Junior Coats • Junior Intimate Apparel • The Cube

Third Floor

Foundations • Corset Salon • Lingerie • Loungewear • Robe Shop • Photo Studio • Beauty Salon
Children’s World Infants’ and Children’s Wear • Infants’ Furniture • Children’s Shoes • Girls’ Wear • Chattery Shop • Boys’ Wear • Tiger Shop • Toys

Fourth Floor

Fabrics • Sewing Center • Art Needlework • Linens and Bedding • China • Glassware • Gift Shop • Lamps • Pictures • Mirrors

Fifth Floor

Furniture • Sleep Shop • Interior Decorating Studio • Floor Coverings • Personnel Office

Sixth Floor

Housewares • Small Appliances • Creative Kitchen • Party Shop • The Four Corners • Hardware • Green House • Garden Center • Appliances • Paint Center • Television • Radio • Records • Books • Coins and Stamps • Cascade Room • Men’s Grill • Jet Room • Sky Terrace • The Corner House • Bon Voyage Travel

Seventh Floor

Around-the-World Shop • Trim-the-Home Shop
Wholesale Contract Division

Eighth Floor

Photograph Studio • Offices
(878,000 sq. ft.)




Street Floor

Second Floor

Third Floor

Fifth Floor

Sixth Floor

















Spokane
Main at Wall
1947
357,000 s.f.
The Palouse Room

Everett
2804 Wetmore St.
1949
(Acquired Rumbaugh-MacLain Co.)
80,000 s.f.


Tacoma
1104 Broadway

1952
(Acquired Fisher's 1950)
Northgate
April 21,1950/November 1963
303,000 s.f.
The Legend Room
The Corner House

Walla Walla
1951
(Acquired A.M. Jensen Co.)
55,000 s.f.

Longview
1952
(Acquired The Merk)
70,000 s.f.

Yakima
1953
(Acquired Barnes-Woodin Co.)
110,000 s.f.

Eugene, OR
1954
98,000 s.f.

Ogden, UT
1955
(Acquired C.C. Anderson Co.)
The Redwood Room

Pendleton, OR
1956
32,000 sq. ft.


Bellingham
114 West Magnolia St.
1957
)Acquired Montague-McHugh Co)
57,000 s.f.

Boise, ID
August 12, 1962
(Acquired C. C. Anderson Co.)
918 W. Idaho St.
118,000 s.f.


Idaho Falls, ID
August 12,1962
(Acquired C. C. Anderson Co.)
46,000 s.f.


Lewiston, ID
510 Main Street
August 16, 1962
(Acquired C. C. Anderson Co.)
40,000 s.f.

Tacoma Mall
August, 1964
257,000 s.f.
The Legend Room
The Men's Grill
The Corner House

Southcenter
Tukwila
July, 1968
260,000 s.f.
The Legend Room
The Men's Grill
The Corner House

Columbia Center
Pasco/Richland/Kennewick
July, 1969
107,000 s.f.


Twin Falls, ID   
April 5, 1972
(acquired C.C. Anderson Co.)
40,000 sq. ft.

Karcher Mall
Nampa, ID
August 3,1973
60,000 s.f.


Sea-Tac Mall (1977)
Federal Way, WA
141,000 sq. ft.

Everett Mall (1977)
Everett, WA
113,000 sq. ft.

Olympia (1978)
Capital Mall
81,000 sq. ft.
Lewiston, ID
Lewiston Center
July 24, 1978
44,000 sq. ft.

Great Falls, MT

(Acquired The Paris Dry Goods Co.1978)
321 Central Avenue
85,000 sq. ft.
The Parisian Room

Missoula, MT
110 N. Higgins Avenue
(Acquired Missoula Mercantile Co. 1978)
113,000 s.f.
Moscow, ID
Palouse Empire Mall
October 3, 1979
37,400 sq. ft.

Lynwood, WA
Alderwood Mall
October 4, 1979

221,000 s.f.

Logan, ID
36,000 sq. ft.

Bozeman, MT
32,000 sq. ft.

33 comments:

  1. my favorite store in seattle, so incredibly beautiful-wonderful sales people

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  2. Kyle says:

    Why no interior pictures to preserve history?

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  3. I miss the Bon with is was still around.

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  4. Rob in Vancouver, BC01 November, 2011 02:02

    I love the Bon! When Macy's took over...I felt like crying. My fondest memories of the Bon were at Soutcenter Mall in Tukwila, WA. Now when I walk in there....I feel so empty. But the layout is still the same....so the memories just keep flooding back.

    If Macy's had to take over the store..can't they just leave the name? When they change the name, they are essentially wiping out many peoples history and generations of memories.

    Couldn't they just call it The Bon Marche (a division of Macys) ???

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  5. Hello Again,
    Hello,

    I hope the website remodeling is going well. I was checking on mine (The MALL HALL OF FAME) and found some The Bon Marche info you might want to add to this article.

    THE BON MARCHE BRANCH STORES:

    -Washington State-

    Seattle, Washington
    Northgate Center (April 21, 1950)
    303,000 sq. ft.
    Legend Room

    Tacoma, Washington
    Tacoma Mall (August 1964)
    257,000 sq. ft.
    Legend Room_Men's Grill-Corner House

    Tukwila, Washington
    SouthCenter Mall (July 31, 1968)
    260,000 sq. ft.
    Legend Room-Men's Grill-Corner House

    Lynwood, Washington
    Alderwood Mall (October 4, 1979)
    221,000 sq. ft.

    Bellevue, Washington
    Bellevue Square (1984)
    180,000 sq. ft.

    Spokane, Washington
    NorthTown Mall (July 28, 1993)
    101,200 sq. ft.
    -Opened in 1962 as The Crescent, rebranded by Frederick and Nelson in 1988-

    -Oregon-

    Eugene, Oregon
    Valley River Center (August 1, 1990)
    124,000 sq. ft.

    -Idaho-

    Nampa, Idaho
    Karcher Mall (August 3, 1973)
    60,000 sq. ft.

    Lewiston, Idaho
    Lewiston Center (July 24, 1978)
    44,000 sq.ft.
    -Opened in 1965 as a Tempo variety store, Rebranded as Rasco-Tempo in 1969--

    Moscow, Idaho
    Palouse Empire Mall (October 3, 1979)
    37,400 sq. ft.

    Keep up the GREAT work!

    The Curator

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  6. Your missing the Beautiful Bon Marche at Boise Town Square in Idaho opened in 1988 and the very last Bon Marche was opened in Redmond WA in the mid 2000's

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  7. Looks so luxurious and amazing property building.

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  8. Looking for a book, promotional I think. 1960's.It is called Sandy the Sandman. From Bon Marche? Anyone know? It was stop action figures I think...

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  9. More great department store images and I see you've even been to my photo album of https://picasaweb.google.com/112207903936882100089/DowntownSeattle1978# with the two mature women at the jewelry counter of the Seattle Bon Marche.

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  10. these pictures bring back many memories of shopping with my grandmother-thx

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  11. There was a beautiful downtown store in Great Falls, Montana. The building has been turned into offices for some kind of call center.

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  12. The store in Federal Way is still there, but of course it's now just Macy's. Very sad to have the name wiped out.

    It was Bon-Macy's for awhile, but when they changed the name we knew it would eventually be just Macy's.

    Everyone I know still calls it the Bon, though.

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  13. I would like to make the walnut bread they used in one of the restaurants to make a walnut-chicken sandwich.

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  14. The Great Falls store was originally The Paris. In the early 20th Century, Eugene, Oregon had The Bon Marche, but was not likely to be affiliated with the Seattle Bon Marche. There was also one in Sacramento which I know was definitely not affiliated. In 1980, they opened four stores in the following Oregon cities and malls: Bend - Bend River Mall, Coos Bay/North Bend - Pony Village Mall, Roseburg - Roseburg Valley Mall, and Salem - Lancaster Mall.

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    Replies
    1. how about up until 2003?

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    2. maybe until 2005 for branch stores

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    3. The Department Store Museum concerns itself mainly with the history of stores up until the late 1970s. After that, the slide to where the industry is now became very apparent. Stores during these later periods may be mentioned in the overall histories I am slowly adding.

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  15. The Bon Marche in downtown Eugene, Oregon was originally Russell's Dept store in the 1950's until purchased by Bon Marche. It was known as Bon Marche Russell's and finally as just The Bon Marche. That was the last store in Oregon due to a gentlemen's agreement between Meier & Frank and Bon Marche not to build in the other's trade region. The Bon stayed in Washington and M & F stayed in Oregon.

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  16. My grandfather was a finish carpenter did woodwork in original Bon March Seattle. Does anyone know if it's still there?

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  17. Bought my first pair of jeans there.

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  18. The Bon Marche in downtown Eugene, Oregon always put up a beautiful Christmas display on the outside of their building. All white lights draping the sides leading up to a giant 3 dimensional star at the top of the corner of the building. As a young boy I was so taken by that star that I would climb up on a kitchen cabinet when we got home and I could just see that star!

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  19. I do remember the beautiful White Christmas Star, beautiful. I also remember eating at the restaurant in the basement so many times. I always had their chocolate icebox cake. I have looked for that recipe for so long and can't find anything like it. I was hoping to find a menu that might describe it. Anyone?

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  20. Does anyone remember the plain cheesecake sold in the bakery? Dense and heavy, yet creamy. I have never had another that compares and I crave it. Does anyone have the recipe????

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    Replies
    1. I don't know about the cheesecake sadly. I did post in hopes of finding the recipe for their Chocolate Icebox Cake rolled in graham cracker crumbs served at the Eugene location. Memories of riding the escalator down to that restaurant. Yumm

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  21. Best memory of the down town Bon was getting my hair done by Mr. Larry in the design room
    , incredibly handsome and so talented and so very nice .
    Wish it was still yesterday .

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  22. I live in a victorian farmhouse that features hardwood floors throughout that was originally the flooring from the Bon Marche in Moscow, ID. If anyone has any historical pictures, stories, etc I would be interested in hearing from you.

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  23. Does anyone know which Bon store housed an art gallery called The Chinook Room Gallery? Time period is early 1960s. Thank you!

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  24. End of an era. The Bon Marché (aka Macy's) flagship store in downtown Seattle will close forever this coming February. It is already a shell of its former self, with only the grand first floor, the second floor, and the basement still being used for retail. The upper floors are now part of the Amazon mega-empire. The building will be sold. At least the original Bon Marché signage and ornate grill work around the perimeter of the building over the first floor windows will remain. I'm not sure of the fate of the monumental sculptured panels which extend from the first floor to the basement (near the escalators). With the great, ever-lamented Frederick & Nelson (which was everything a department store should be) also history, only Nordstrom (housed in the terra cotta F&N building) remains in the retail core of Seattle.

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  25. Are there any photos of the Bon Marche store that was in Winston Salem, N. C.? I used to go in there when growing up in that town. It was so beautiful. That was in the 60's.

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  26. Bellevue, WA
    Bellevue Square
    150,000 sq. ft.
    August 18, 1984

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  27. I've got vintage gift boxes from The Bon Marche that I found in my mother's attic. They were likely my grandmother's. They only reference Seattle, Everett & Northgate on the boxes. So I'm guessing circa 1950! My mother was 18 that year. She recalls my grandmother taking her via ferry to shop at The Bon Marche downtown Seattle, as a child. Later in the 60's when I came along, my grandmother, mother and I continued the ritual.

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  28. Does anyone have a good picture of the old gray or beige, hump-backed, Charge-a-plate imprinters?

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