MM Cohn

[memphian]

I was in LR a couple of months ago for a weekend. A friend and I specifically went to scout out the MM Cohn Stores there. now I know that they used to be a nice place but man were they in bad shape. Memphis used to have a couple of stores here as well. Anyone care to post some local history about this chain?

[Aporkalypse]

I was in LR a couple of months ago for a weekend. A friend and I specifically went to scout out the MM Cohn Stores there. now I know that they used to be a nice place but man were they in bad shape. Memphis used to have a couple of stores here as well. Anyone care to post some local history about this chain?

In Little Rock I don't think it has as much to do with the store as much as the mall it's located in. University Mall is across the street from Park Plaza Mall and though both were renovated about the same time 15 years ago, the latter really did the better job and has remained the most upscale mall in the state. Meanwhile, University has really declined eventually leading to closing of several of its anchors. MM Cohn is still around but an upscale store in that mall is really out of place. Meanwhile, Park Plaza is undergoing a major renovation and a new upscale shopping center is being built adjacent to it.

University Mall as a whole is a matter of big controversy in LR as you'll see on a couple of threads in the LR forum, note the "Midtowne Center" as one such thread. The land is leased to Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall owner, which owns the mall but not the land it sits on. The landowners are perturbed and are suing Simon to get them off their property. Simon is spending a paltry $1.5 million in an attempt to make the mall more servicable. The city of LR actually has send a delegation to Indianapolis to confront them on the matter as this is prime land suitable for development in a corridor the city doesn't want to see blighted.

Dillard's is based in LR and really dominated the market but I have no doubt MM Cohn's is suffering some nationally as Saks and its Parisian subsidiary, Nordstrom, and Dillard's have grown to take most of their market share away.

[skirby]

I was in LR a couple of months ago for a weekend. A friend and I specifically went to scout out the MM Cohn Stores there. now I know that they used to be a nice place but man were they in bad shape. Memphis used to have a couple of stores here as well. Anyone care to post some local history about this chain?

MM Cohn was bought out by the Dunlap Company which is headquartered in Fort Worth. They have forty stores in eight states under different names. At on time Cohn's in downtown Little Rock was the upscale department store in town. It now looks as though they have no direction.

Old downtown LR store.

[StevenRocks]

Dunlap bought the Heironimus chain where I live and ran it, a formerly upscale department store, right into the ground.

[memphian]

well that sounds just like MM Cohn's problem. I am pretty sure MM Cohn could be saved though. LR and a few other locations are not on the radar of stores like Nordstrom and Bloomies. There's room to do something right.

[Aporkalypse]

well that sounds just like MM Cohn's problem. I am pretty sure MM Cohn could be saved though. LR and a few other locations are not on the radar of stores like Nordstrom and Bloomies. There's room to do something right.

I agree. Saks Parisian is about to build a store in LR, though, and a third Dillard's in the market is supposed to go out in West LR and that could be the last blow to MM Cohn. Strange how some chains are thriving and some really starving in the current market. Dillard's was really hurting for a while but has substantially rebounded over the last few years.

LR won't be in line for a Nordstroms' for many years and probably never will get a Bloomingdale's.

[StevenRocks]

Dillard's was really hurting for a while but has substantially rebounded over the last few years.

Dillard's had picked up a lot of outmoded stores through aquisition over the years. It's taken nearly a decade to clear out of the worst locations to focus on the profitable ones.

[Aporkalypse]

Echoing some news we'd heard earlier from a poster here, Dunlop's is closing 40 of its stores including the handful of remaining MM Cohn's stores. Dunlop's is in poor financial shape and having problems with creditors, so I have no doubt they will not be opening a new store in Shackleford Crossing.

[LRU1967]

well that sounds just like MM Cohn's problem. I am pretty sure MM Cohn could be saved though. LR and a few other locations are not on the radar of stores like Nordstrom and Bloomies. There's room to do something right.

[StevenRocks]

Labelscar.com has some great MM Cohn exterior pictures:

http://www.labelscar.com/arkansas/university-mall-2

[Architect]

Labelscar.com has some great MM Cohn exterior pictures:

http://www.labelscar.com/arkansas/university-mall-2

[Aporkalypse]

I bought some stuff at the University store this weekend. Everything is 40-60% off and they are using this as a clearance store for the other MM Cohn's and multiple other Dunlap's stores. It will keep getting in new clearance merchandise for deep discounts until it closes this fall.

It was really sad to see the store like that.