'Here to stay:' Davenport staple Von Maur is rooted in retail and community

While many department stores are closing their doors, Von Maur is opening more. 

The 154-year-old Davenport-based company has been led by generations of the von Maur family, with current CEO, Jim von Maur, representing the fourth generation of leadership in his family's company.

“I grew up with it," Jim von Maur said of the family business. "It was just a part of my life and when it was time to graduate, I needed a job and I could see that there was a lot of opportunity at the company.”

That was in 1993, he said, and the department store was on the verge of branching out in a more aggressive way. Excited about the potential and the future coming its way, he joined the executive training program.

That branching out was not necessarily a new concept for the store, however. During its history, the store went through multiple expansions in the Quad-Cities, including in downtown Davenport, Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf and the SouthPark Mall in Moline.

"They slowly started to branch out, but it wasn't in a real aggressive way until the early '80s, when they bought a few chains," von Maur said.

Existing stores were going out of business and Von Maur was able to capitalize. One of the biggest was in West Des Moines, he said.

"Initially, it did not do well and almost put the company out of business but after (nursing) it along for a few years, it started to perform," he said. "People started to move out near there and to this day it's still a very good store for us. 

"I would say expansion was always in our DNA, before and after I arrived.”

Early origins in the Quad-Cities

The store started in 1872 with the Petersen family, when JHC Petersen opened a store with his three sons called JHC Petersen's Sons Co.

Von Maur's story started a few years later with CJ von Maur, a retail clerk from Pennsylvania.

"From a very young age, he felt like had the aptitude to run his own store, so he moved west and went to Peoria," Jim von Maur said.

CJ von Maur had two partners there before eventually leaving the business and moving to the Quad-Cities, where he opened the Boston Store in 1887 with partners Rolland Harned and Edward Pursel.

The dry goods store slowly expanded over time, von Maur said, until it was a full department store. At the time, Petersen's store was the major competition in town.

"Legend has it that Petersen's was tired of competing with CJ and said, 'Do you want to buy my store?'" von Maur said.

The transaction took place in 1916, and by 1928, operations moved to the Petersen building, the larger of the two, and the store was renamed Petersen Harned Von Maur

“From there it ran as just one store for a number of years," von Maur said, noting CJ's children took over the store shortly after and attempted to start a furniture branch in Moline. But with the Great Depression raging, it closed quickly.

Adapting to the times

By 1970, the von Maurs were ready to expand their downtown Davenport footprint to another building, the former Parker's Department store on the corner of Brady and Second streets. It was most recently a downtown branch for Wells Fargo.

The store closed just four years later as a new concept for retail came to town: the shopping center.

"Every family had a car and they could live further and further away from the center of town," von Maur said. "My dad and uncle saw that they had to be a part of that."

Clinton, Iowa, became the first site of expansion, with Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf and SouthPark Mall in Moline following.

“From there, when a new mall came along, they tried to get a footprint within the shopping center. They could see that was going to be the future of shopping," he said.

It turned out, they were spot on. Von Maur is still expanding, with its 40th store expected to open next year. For the most part, von Maur said, the company has stuck to the original plan: pay attention to demographics and to the customers.

The company is looking for highly populated areas that are easily accessible. Being on a major interstate is crucial, and being in a strong shopping center where retail is already thriving is also high on the list.

“When I was just getting started with expansion, it was all about new malls developing, so you really had to be careful you were part of a project that was on the up,” he said. "We used to do projects that were on the edge of town, but through a best guess. You were hoping that town was going to move out to where you were."

The department store of today

But times have changed, von Maur said, and opportunities are now mostly about taking over former retail locations to expand the Von Maur reach. That requires research of its own to understand how the store at the location previously performed financially, as well as finer details like the terms of the lease.

Brand recognition is also high on the list of priorities, he said. But instead of trying to go into an unknown market, Von Maur goes where their customers are, in hopes of bringing them into a store near them.

"What we found is if we can go into a market where we are relatively known, initially it has better results," von Maur said. "We have found that if we go to the southern part of the country, there are a lot of transplants."

And for those who are not familiar with Von Maur, he said, there is a learning curve to getting people in the store. But the store's staples, like an interest-free charge card and free gift wrapping, help drive home that Von Maur isn't a standard department store.

"The reason people keep coming back to us is because we offer an experience," von Maur said. "A lot of what we sell is a commodity that you can get anywhere but we're going to create an environment that's enjoyable to be in."

The stores are designed to be bright and inviting, while creating an experience where the guest feels pampered, he said. A staple of Von Maur stores is live piano music that can be heard throughout, elevating the experience for guests.

"It's more than just going out to buy a new shirt or a new pair of shoes," he said. "You're coming to us to feel good."

Part of that includes having the latest fashions and new products, he said. Creating a rotation of brands, and new products from the brands the store already carries, he said, helps drive customers back in after visiting. The customer service, too, drives that point home.

"Certainly part of our philosophy is to always have new, fresh goods in the store. When you're in the fashion business, you can't get stale," he said. "(But) the values have always been that if you take care of the customer, they will take care of you."

In 2010, Von Maur set out to find a new way to take care of customers with a smaller store concept called Dry Goods. Inspired by the company's origins as a dry good store, the smaller, boutique-style store offers an ever-changing selection of women's fashions, including jewelry and accessories.

The first one opened in Naperville, Illinois, and has since grown to nearly 90 locations. The idea behind the smaller store, von Maur said, was about speed and access.

Finding room for another department store is difficult, and takes a lot of time. A smaller store allowed Von Maur to branch into other markets faster and propel company growth.

With 2026 marking the company's 154th year in business, it's safe to say the philosophy of customer care has worked, and continues to as Von Maur continues to grow. Leading the company to success while operating in an industry in flux emits a sense of pride, von Maur said, but also a sense of responsibility.

"There's a certain amount of pride that we're still thriving and still growing, but at the same time, there's a lot of pressure, too," he said. "It's every day. You can never rest and you can never rest on your laurels.

"It's fun. There's a lot of pride, but it's also a lot of pressure to make sure we continue to run a great store."

Part of that pride is the company's roots in Davenport. Not only is the area a great place to live and raise a family, the people bring heart and hard work, cementing Von Maur's legacy in the Quad-Cities.

"You cannot beat a good Midwest work ethic," von Maur said. "We are able to attract and keep a great workforce; we would see no need to have to go anywhere else. The philosophy is bloom where you are planted, and we have been very successful out of the Quad-Cities and in Davenport. We're here to stay."