Mervin G. Morris founded the first Mervyn's store in San Lorenzo, California on July 29, 1949.

In his first deal, Smith helped the firm sign Mervyn's, a California-based department store chain, to anchor a $ 45 million, project in Phoenix.

Mervyn's older brother George was passed over by virtue of being a Benedictine monk.

Mervyn's was an American middle scale department store chain based in Hayward, California.

Based on 2005 revenue, Mervyn's was the eighty-third largest retailer in the United States.

In December 2006, Mervyn's had 189 stores in 10 states.

Mervyn's closed all of their locations in Oregon and Washington by February 2007, reducing its store count to 177 stores in 7 states.

In July 2008, Mervyn's announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

On October 31, 2008, Mervyn's began the process of liquidating its entire inventory in an effort to repay its creditors, and by December 31, 2008, all remaining locations were closed.

Mervyn's was located in the midst of San Lorenzo Village, a planned residential community nestled between the cities of Hayward and San Leandro, composed of two-and three-bedroom tract homes built between 1944 and the 1950s.

Mervyn's carved a niche for itself by having a relatively no-frills shopping environment that reduced overhead, enabling the store to price merchandise lower than competing department stores in the area.

Mervyn's also offered basics, such as jeans, t-shirts, underwear and similar garments, as well as household linens, that were deemed " seconds " by the manufacturers, with their flaws minor and undetectable by most, at significantly reduced prices.

During the 1950s and 1960s, this made Mervyn's popular with the young families comprising the majority of San Lorenzo's population.

This marketing strategy was later abandoned before Mervyn's expanded beyond its original single location, but Mervyn's remained popular as a lower-priced alternative to national department store chains.

The second Mervyn's store opened about south as an anchor tenant of the Fremont Hub Shopping Center, one of two regional malls in Fremont, California in 1962.

In mid-1975, Mervyn's operated stores in the following locations, all in California: Alameda, Antioch, Campbell, Citrus Heights, Cupertino, Daly City, Dublin, Fremont, Merced, Millbrae, Modesto, Mountain View, Napa, Oakland, Petaluma, Sacramento-Point West and Florin, Salinas, East San Jose and South San Jose, San Lorenzo, San Pablo, Vallejo and Visalia.

Mervyn's kept its separate identity as a Dayton Hudson subsidiary.

In 1986, Mervyn's made major expansions into the southeastern United States, with Atlanta being the site of a particularly strong expansion campaign.

Mervyn's, which had not previously had a retail presence in Georgia, competed for mall space with J. C. Penney and received top anchor spots at several area malls, such as the Town Center Mall, Shannon Mall, North DeKalb Mall, Gwinnett Place Mall and North Point Mall.

In 1978, by which time the company had grown to a chain of more than 50 stores in three states, Mervyn's was acquired by the Dayton Hudson Corporation ( now Target Corporation ).

The foray into Atlanta was a failure, and Mervyn's withdrew from Atlanta by 1997.

Mervyn's California logo that was used from 1996 until early 2001. Remains of a Mervyn's California logo in Capitola, California.

All employees had credit goals ( selling the Mervyn's credit card ) part time employees were expected 1 per every 8 hours, and the leadership team was expected 1 per every 40 hours.

In July 2004, Target Corporation announced that Mervyn's had been sold to a group of investors that included private investment firm and turnaround specialist Sun Capital Partners, Inc, Cerberus Capital Management, and real estate investment company Lubert-Adler Management Inc. Rick Leto was named the new president and chief merchandising officer in January 2005.

JDA was successful in converting all current " Target " systems " to Mervyn's systems in under 12 months.

Of the stores closed, 17 were in Oregon and Washington, and one in Grand Junction, Colorado, which was the last remaining Mervyn's store in that state.

The closures also marked a complete retreat by Mervyn's from the Idaho market, whose sole store in Boise was one of the ones marked for closure.

After these closures, Mervyn's was left with about 150 stores: 16 in Arizona, 121 in California, three each in Nevada and New Mexico, seven in Texas and six in Utah .< ref name =" store count ">

In 2008, the mall was slated for new urbanist redevelopment and to be renamed Marketplace @ Factoria, likely a result of being labeled a dead mall as anchors such as Mervyn's moved out.

Most of the mall was demolished and partially reconfigured circa 1995 ( except for the Sears wing and Mervyn's ) to make way for Wal-Mart and the area which now features Trader Joe's.

Mervyn's closed in November 2005 and their location, which they owned, was sold to the mall.

In 1979 Frederick & Nelson acquired and renamed the Lipman's chain, and in 1980 Mervyn's took over the space originally occupied by Liberty House.

* Liberty House ( opened 1974, replaced by Mervyn's 1980 )

The size and layout lives on in many Kohl's stores with the exception of having cash registers within each department ( Kohl's purchased many of the former Mervyn's locations ) The average store had 80-130 employees.

Further store closures were announced in September 2005, as Mervyn's announced that it would begin to focus exclusively on its Western and Southwestern U. S. markets, and that 62 stores in the Midwest and South would be closed.

In essence, the Mervyn's real estate arm charged retailer Mervyn's huge rents for its department store space.

Dayton Hudson had grown to encompass several store chains, including Dayton's, Hudson's, Mervyn's, and Marshall Field's, in addition to Target.

Ulrich sold the other store groups, including Mervyn's and Marshall Field's, and focused on promoting the Target brand.

In September 2008, Mervyn's sued the private equity firms involved in the leveraged buyout of the chain, alleging that the deal had stripped the retailer of its real estate assets, forcing it into bankruptcy.

This also ended in failure, with Mervyn's closing all of its Florida stores in 1998.

From 1996 to 2001, the stores were rebranded as Mervyn's California, in an effort to identify with its West Coast roots.

There were also issues with owners of Mervyn's stores outside California with the branding.

All bullseye logos got covered with Mervyn's stickers.