page_title: Emporium (department store chain)
section_title: Expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Emporium (department store chain) / History / Expansion
caption_attribution_description: The Emporium store at the Gresham Town Fair shopping center, in Gresham, Oregon, in 1989. The shopping center, located on Eastman Parkway at Division Street, opened in 1987.
context_page_description: Emporium, more formally known as Troutman's Emporium, was a chain of department stores founded in 1955 by Dallas Troutman in North Bend, Oregon. After 1977, Emporium's headquarters was located in Eugene, Oregon. At its peak, Emporium operated at least 34 stores, in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California and Washington. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 and liquidated. The last stores closed in 2003.
context_section_description: In 1973, Troutman's Emporium acquired two Alexander's stores in Springfield and Florence, Oregon. Years earlier, Dallas Troutman had worked at the Springfield Alexander's store while in high school, working stock and sweeping floors.  The company's headquarters was moved to the Springfield store after its acquisition, but when it was damaged by fire in 1977, the headquarters was relocated to Eugene, where Emporium also opened a new distribution center.
  The next several years were a period of major expansion, and by 1983, Emporium was a 13-store chain. The company's gross sales in 1984 exceeded $50 million, and as of 1985 the company had about 1,000 employees.  Founder Dallas Troutman was still company president.  Around 325,000 customers held Emporium charge accounts at that time. By this time, at least, the stores were all identified simply as Emporium, and the company name was alternatively given as Emporium Inc. or Troutman's Emporium. The average store size was 30,000–40,000 square feet (2,800–3,700 m²) at that time, following early 1980s remodeling of some stores.
  In 1986, Emporium acquired the then-40-year-old, eight-store Quisenberry's chain, which had five stores in Eastern Oregon and three in Idaho. Over the next two years Troutman's Emporium opened 5 stores, including a store in Chico, California. In 1988, Emporium acquired a J.C. Penney store in Nampa, Idaho, at the Karcher Mall. The Chico store opened at Chico Mall in 1988, and was the only Emporium in California.  That store was called "Troutman's", due to a trademark dispute with Emporium in California (Emporium-Capwell at the time of the Troutman's store's opening). In 1999, Emporium was in merger talks with Lamonts, but it fell through. In 2000, Ron Schiff was hired as the new president and CEO of Troutman's Emporium. Ron Schiff added six new stores in fall 2000 including stores in Aberdeen, Washington; Brookings, The Dalles and Cottage Grove, in Oregon; and Elko and Winnemucca, in Nevada.
caption: An Emporium store in Gresham, Oregon, in 1989
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