Dahlkemper's

Dahlkemper's or Dahlkemper's Catalog Showroom was a catalog merchant chain founded in Erie, Pennsylvania. Dahlkemper's was founded in 1956 by Joesph B. Dahlkemper and his wife Lois H. Dahlkemper. It operated 14 stores in 3 states. Those states were Northeast Ohio, Western New York and Western Pennsylvania. Their headquarters was also located in Erie, Pennsylvania at 5100 Peach Street.
The first Dahlkemper's store opened in 1956 on Buffalo Road in Erie, Pennsylvania. Dahlkemper’s would then relocate to Downtown Erie in a converted warehouse on West 5th Street between Peach and State. Dahlkemper's was very succesful throughout the 1970's-1980's having many locations in the Pittsburgh and Buffalo areas, but decline to the company quickly started to happen in the 1990's. In January 1993, the company filed for reorganization under the federal bankruptcy laws and closed 10 of their stores, leaving only one store in Erie open. The Erie and Meadville locations both reopened as gift and jewelry stores as an attempt to save money. However in November 1994, Edward H. Dahlkemper, who was president of the Dahlkemper's company at the time, decided to sell all of the companies assets due to the bank wanting a payoff of credit due to violation of financial covenants in its loan agreement which the company had been struggling in attempts to find money. Dahlkemper's would soon after close all of their locations as well as their company headquarters in 1994 and the company would go extinct. Dahlkemper's now only runs a small jewelry shop in Erie, Pennsylvania under the name of Dahlkemper's Jewelry Connection which opened in 1995 by the Dahlkemper family after the main company closed in 1994.