Les Jones

I worked for proffitt's for 7 years in NC before they were bought by belk's. It was a sad time for everyone there. proffit's was a good company to work for. they took care of there employees. when a hurrucane floyd came through they sent 3 or 4 tractor trailer trucks to the area to give food and water for there employees who were without. I hate what happened and doubt that belks will stand up to the reputation that proffit's had set.

Pardon the length of this, but this just interests me too much to keep it pithy :-D

I can only say this is just another casualty of the end of the department store era overall...at least the regional ones. I did my own photo documentary of the once incredible Rich's chain in Atlanta prior to the removal of the logo I grew up with, but have always been puzzled at how a local Maryville chain seemed to expand so greatly. Proffitt's, after all, took the place of Hess's (former Miller's) and Chattanooga-based Loveman's (not to be confused with the better known Loveman's of Alabama) in the fever to bring what was a very local chain all over east Tennessee and northwest Georgia in the late 1980's. Nevertheless, they were a familiar site every time I traveled in northwest Georgia or eastern Tennessee for about the past 10-15 years, and the nationalization of retail is a troubling trend IMO.

Stand me if I'm corrected, but the Proffitt's store for Men, Kids and Home at Foothills Mall was originally either a Loveman's or Miller's? (and Hess's inbetween). I definitely was curious on what the previous fourth anchor originally was before it became a split store. In all, I have been snapping pics of Proffitt's stores as I've run across them, because I feel it is worthwhile to take pictures of the last of the regionals. The nearest one to me is in Dalton.

The green sign on the newer Proffitt's makes me really sentimental of the old green sign Rich's stores that represented the classic era of the store before Federated ruined it. Just wait for Belk to be divided up with Macy's taking the bigger stores...and for the Proffitt's "flagship" Foothills Mall to face redevelopment when Sears splits there.

On dead major department stores in the overall region. Let's see...Castner-Knott (Dillard's), Miller's (Hess's/Proffitt's), Loveman's Chattanooga (Hess's/Proffitt's), Rich's, Davison's (long-time Macy's division), McRae's, Pizitz, Parks-Belk, Leggett, Belk Rhodes (Rome, GA), Ivey's (NC), Loveman's of Alabama. This is not counting the dizzying amount further south and into Florida.

BTW, Rich's had a little-known downtown store in Knoxville that pretty quickly became a Miller's. I have never seen documentation on that, but it was their only attempt at Tennessee expansion (they successfully expanded into Alabama and SC). This was discovered from a postcard found here: http://www.swankpad.org/places/knoxvilletan/richs/richs.htm. Do you know anything about Miller's or what happened to it?

"Stand me if I'm corrected, but the Proffitt's store for Men, Kids and Home at Foothills Mall was originally either a Loveman's or Miller's? (and Hess's inbetween)."

This is a years-late reply, but yes, that space was originally Miller's when Maryville's Foothills Mall was built, then briefly Hess's, then Proffitt's, and is now Belks. I still shop there.