Powers Dry Goods

Powers Department Store

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1873
Founder	Seaver E. Olson (original business), later Powers Brothers (Alonzo J. "A.J." and E.F. Powers)
Defunct	1985 (acquired by L.S. Donaldson Company)
Fate	Acquired by L.S. Donaldson Company; stores rebranded or sold
Headquarters	Minneapolis , United States
Area served	Minnesota
Key people	Seaver E. Olson, Alonzo J. "A.J." Powers, Fred Powers, Theron Atwater, George E. Merrifield
Products	Department store retail goods

The Powers Department Store was a retail chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with origins tracing back to 1873. At its height, the chain operated seven stores across Minnesota.

S. E. Olson & Co.

Seaver E. Olson, a Norwegian immigrant, partnered with John C. Smith and John Paul in 1873 in La Crosse, Wisconsin to establish a business specializing in retail, wholesale, and dry goods. After the partnership ended in 1875, Olson launched his own enterprise which he managed until 1878. Subsequently, he moved from La Crosse to Minneapolis to collaborate with N.B. Harwood, a successful dry goods merchant.

By May 1884, Olson and Harwood were involved in a legal dispute, prompting Olson to form a new firm with former colleague M.D. Ingram, and P.A. Larson. This new venture, Ingram, Olson & Co., acquired inventory and the property at 325 Nicollet Avenue from Eugene Lehmaier’s estate in July 1885. By October 1886, Ingram, Olson & Co. had become Minneapolis’s leading dry goods retailer, boasting a remodeled store and expanded departments. Due to M.D. Ingram’s declining health, the partnership dissolved in July 1887, after which advertisements appeared solely under S.E. Olson & Co. The company continued its expansion and by January 1889 occupied a five-story building at 213-215 Nicollet Avenue.

In April 1893, it was announced that S.E. Olson & Co. would move to the corner of First Avenue South (later Marquette Avenue) and Fifth Street in Minneapolis. The new facility was projected to cost approximately $200,000 (~$Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year), and officially opened with great fanfare in March 1894.

In December 1901, S.E. Olson retired, and ownership transitioned as S.E. Olson & Co. was purchased and rebranded as Powers Mercantile Company.

Powers Mercantile

Initially founded as Powers Brothers by siblings Alonzo J. "A.J." and E.F. Powers in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the enterprise began as a combined wholesale and retail operation. Eventually, the company discontinued its wholesale activities and rebranded as Powers Dry Goods. In 1900, A.J.'s son Fred relocated to Minneapolis to assume leadership of S.E. Olson & Co. Two years later, A.J. divested his stake in Powers Brothers and joined Fred in Minneapolis, where together they purchased S.E. Olson & Co., subsequently renaming it Powers Mercantile Company.

In December 1904, a significant fire devastated Minneapolis’s retail district, causing Powers Mercantile to incur approximately $60,000 in structural damages and $165,000 in lost inventory. During the restoration process, the decision was made to enhance the store’s facade and expand its premises, aiming to establish it as the largest retail venue in Minneapolis. To support further growth, Powers Mercantile secured a lease on Yerxa Corner in September 1906, facilitating additional downtown expansion. This development included erecting a new five-story building that extended the store’s frontage from First Avenue to Nicollet Avenue at an investment approaching $1 million. The new structure featured the region’s largest pane glass windows west of Chicago.

By 1909, Powers Mercantile was among two Minneapolis retailers—alongside Donaldson's—to reduce operating hours in order to alleviate employee workloads. That same year, Powers Mercantile merged into United Dry Goods of Delaware, a newly formed corporation that also acquired Associated Merchants Company and three other major stores. Despite the merger, A.J. Powers assured that day-to-day operations would remain unaffected and confirmed his continued leadership for as long as he remained capable.

A.J. Powers retired in April 1915 and passed away later that year while traveling by train from Pittsburgh to Chicago. He fell ill during a visit with his son Fred in Pittsburgh and died en route to a hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Fred Powers died in 1935 in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was interred in Minneapolis.

In December 1915, United Dry Goods and Associated Merchants united to form Associated Dry Goods, marking a significant consolidation within the industry.

Following these changes, Theron Atwater—then treasurer of Powers’ parent company—assumed the presidency of Powers Mercantile, with George E. Merrifield appointed as general manager in 1916. The store maintained strong performance during this period, with Minneapolis regarded as a robust market for dry goods sales.

By 1924, all advertising materials ceased referencing "Powers Mercantile," instead promoting simply "Powers."

In 1929, Powers distinguished itself as the first Minneapolis retailer to introduce an escalator within its premises.

Powers Dry Goods

In 1937, Powers Mercantile changed its corporate identity and was registered as a Virginia corporation under the name Powers Dry Goods.

Following an unsuccessful expansion effort into Edina, Minnesota in 1950, Powers established its inaugural suburban outlet in 1955 at Knollwood Plaza, located in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. This move marked Powers as the first retailer originating from downtown Minneapolis to open a suburban branch. By June 1967, plans were announced to enlarge the Knollwood Plaza location by adding an extra 40,000 square feet.

In August 1958, Powers revealed intentions to broaden their presence within the Twin Cities by constructing a new standalone three-story store in the Highland Village neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. This store commenced operations on March 17, 1960, offering 92,000 square feet of retail area and parking accommodations for 500 vehicles.

The flagship Minneapolis store underwent modernization in 1966, which included removing external fire escapes, applying textured glass to the façade, and installing new awnings and entrances. Concurrently, Minneapolis’s downtown shopping district was being revitalized through the Nicollet Mall initiative aimed at converting Nicollet Avenue into a pedestrian-only zone. Powers expressed support for this project but raised concerns over the funding mechanism based on property land value assessments.

In May 1971, Powers partnered with Sears to acquire a 114-acre parcel intended for a future mall development in Burnsville, Minnesota. Powers planned to anchor this mall with a 130,000 square foot store. Additionally, it was reported that Powers intended to open a new outlet in Blaine, Minnesota. Later that year, Powers announced participation as an anchor tenant in a forthcoming mall project in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, developed by the Homart Development Company.

By 1972, Powers acknowledged holding third place among Minneapolis department stores behind Donaldson's and Dayton's. Their expansion strategy aimed to double their retail footprint across the Twin Cities. The company credited growth to eliminating obsolete departments and focusing on attracting younger customers. They projected significant sales increases by expanding retail space with mid-sized stores and pursuing further development plans.

The fourth location in the Powers chain debuted in October 1972 at Northtown Mall in Blaine, Minnesota. This two-level store embodied Powers’ updated branding with contemporary color schemes and lighting, boutique-style sections, and a luncheonette. Notably, this suburban branch introduced a budget store concept for the first time within the chain.

Construction of Maplewood Mall in Maplewood, Minnesota began in May 1972 with Powers named as one of three anchor tenants. The Maplewood store opened its doors in July 1974 as the chain’s fifth location, featuring two stories and encompassing 135,000 square feet.

The newest suburban mall at the time was Eden Prairie Center. Powers inaugurated their sixth area store there on March 3, 1976. Retiring president Alden Berman acknowledged that each suburban mall opening reduced profits at the downtown store. At this point, Powers ranked seventh among major Minneapolis retailers behind Dayton's, Target, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Donaldson's, and JCPenney.

The seventh Powers store launched at Burnsville Center in Burnsville, Minnesota on August 3, 1977.

Closure

In 1985, The L.S. Donaldson Company, a Minneapolis-based division of Allied Stores Corp., acquired Powers from Associated Dry Goods. Following this acquisition, all suburban Powers outlets were rebranded as Donaldson's; however, the downtown Minneapolis location was sold to a real estate developer instead.

Two years later, in 1987, after Campeau Corporation's takeover of Allied Stores Corp., Carson Pirie Scott & Co., headquartered in Chicago, acquired Donaldson's. Subsequently, all stores formerly operating under Donaldson's and Powers names were renamed under the Carson Pirie Scott brand.

By 1995, Carson's divested all its Twin Cities locations—originally Powers and Donaldson's stores—to Dayton Hudson Corporation, Dayton's parent company. Most of these stores were reopened under the Mervyn's banner, a mid-tier chain, primarily to limit competitive threats within the Twin Cities market. Later in 2004, when May Department Stores acquired Marshall Field's (Dayton's successor), it also took ownership of the former Donaldson/Powers sites operated by Mervyn's. These locations were soon closed and the properties sold off individually.

Stores

Several former Powers outlets continue to function as retail establishments today, while others have been demolished. For instance, the Highland Park store in Saint Paul was transformed into a Carson Pirie Scott and eventually demolished in 1994. The Knollwood Plaza location in St. Louis Park was torn down and replaced by a Kohl’s store. The Northtown Mall site in Blaine has undergone multiple rebrandings and was operating as Becker Furniture Outlet as of 2020. Similarly, the Maplewood Mall location has experienced various ownership changes and currently operates as Macy’s. The Eden Prairie Center Powers store has also seen numerous name changes and was listed as a JCPenney on the 2020 store closure list. The Burnsville location has been rebranded multiple times and is now divided between Dick’s Sporting Goods and Gordman’s (which closed in 2020). The original downtown Minneapolis flagship store was demolished and replaced by luxury residential apartments that opened in 2014.

References

• 'In Memory: Powers Department Store of Highland Park' by Tom Webb, Pioneer Press, Updated July 18, 2009