Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
The 11-story maurices building had its official dedication in June 2016. The $80 million, three-year project is the largest commercial development in downtown Duluth and includes a $20 million city and state investment in a skywalk and public parking lot.
December 1931 recorded a big event for the nascent clothing store, Maurices.
It wasn’t the month Emanuel Morris “Maurice” Labovitz opened the store in downtown Duluth. That was nine months earlier.
No, December 1931 was the first month the new store turned a profit – a whopping $4.12.
Fast forward to 2016 on June 22, when Maurices (now officially “maurices”) had another big event.
The billion-dollar-a-year business with 1,000 locations across the United States and Canada opened a new $80 million headquarters complex – about two blocks over and two blocks down from that original store.
The little store to which Maurice gave his name 85 years ago certainly has come a long way … all the while staying grounded in the city where he grew up and later raised his family. “The fashion business is a dynamic one, and we have to keep in step with it,” Maurice announced during one of several dozen remodels of his store over the years.
“Dynamic” certainly describes the company’s rise. Loyalty to region and commitment to associates also rank high for the biggest and oldest Lake-grown retail business.
Today the company’s president and CEO, also a Duluth native, sings high praises for his city and for maurices. “Duluth is a good home for our business because it’s a great reflection of the communities we serve in the U.S. and Canada,” George Goldfarb believes. “In addition, Duluth is a great place to live, work and play, and we have excellent education systems and partnership programs that help feed our talent pool. We’ve been so fortunate to retain and recruit such a fantastic workforce in Duluth!”
Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
The new structure features wonderful views of the city and Lake Superior, especially from the rooftop terrace that connects to the associate family room.
The Labovitz family has a long history with the city of Duluth. Froike and Ruhla Laib, Maurice’s parents who like many immigrants changed names to Frank and Rachel Labovitz, came to the United States in 1900 from Romania on a ship when Ruhla was eight months pregnant. Maurice was born soon after the family settled in Minneapolis. When Maurice was 6, they moved to Duluth.
An entrepreneur, Frank opened a series of stores, first at 516½ West First Street, the city’s bowery. When he lost his lease to a competitor, Frank opened the People’s Bargain Store at 221 West First Street.
Maurice was “Morris” until he decided in his teen years to adopt a more French-sounding name. By 15, he already had worked years in his father’s business and was doing advertising copy for the store, which later became the Fair Store. A 1926 fire, followed by a 1927 bankruptcy, devastated the family. 1927 was also the year Maurice married Ella Lavine, who emigrated as a child from Lithuania to Superior, Wisconsin.
The Labovitzes paid off creditors (at a rate higher than they had suggested), and the family business officially came out of bankruptcy on June 3, 1928, the day Joel Labovitz, Maurice’s and Ella’s eldest son, was born. “Dad told me I had always been lucky for him,” Joel wrote in his book Living Life Forward, Memories of a Lucky Life. “‘Well, you were damn lucky for me,’ I replied.”
That, of course, was years after Joel’s birth. Back in the early 1930s, young Maurice, still shy of 30, was about to open an apparel shop, mainly for women.
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
At maurices’ new headquarters space, the associate family room is adjacent by design to an outdoor terrace. It’s one space of which CEO George Goldfarb is most proud: “We wanted to create a place where our associates could gather, collaborate and socialize. Our multipurpose family room or ‘energy area’ as we like to call it, exceeded our expectations. It’s so fun for me to be able to walk out into our family room and see the spectacular views of Lake Superior and associates enjoying a cup of coffee and meeting with a co-worker or a large group gathered to brainstorm. Also, right off our family room is the outdoor terrace. The ability to enjoy fresh air and sunshine makes such a difference in morale and energy levels!”
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
Inside the new maurices headquarters.
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
A sample of the new fall fashions for maurices. The retail operation is working to create more of its own clothing designs and recently opened a design office in New York.
March 28, 1931, Maurices opened to sell the “finest fashions.” From the get-go, Maurice intended to live up to his slogan: “First with more of everything new in fashion.”
The store opened at 230 West Superior Street and remained there for three years, moving to 120 West Superior Street in 1933. Maurice hired a Chicago architect to design the marble-sided structure. “It was remarkable,” Joel remembers. In 1941, Maurice had air conditioning installed, the first commercial building so outfitted in Duluth, Joel says, adding, “Dad was ahead of his time.”
The store stayed there until 1958, when it moved to 105 West Superior Street.
The major movement for this company, though, was expansion beyond Duluth. By 1950, it opened stores in Superior and Virginia, Minnesota, where Joel became a manager. By 1967, when Joel became CEO, stores had been added in Hibbing, Minnesota, and in Wausau, Appleton and Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Then, Joel writes for the book, The Will and The Way, a lucky thing happened: “A shopping center developer in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, dragged us kicking and screaming and resisting” into this early mall. The store immediately turned a profit, which usually took at least two years.
Smaller city malls and shopping centers, then fresh for shoppers, turned out to be a successful business model. That started an expansion process that brings the business up to today, with its hundreds of stores in 46 U.S. states and several Canadian provinces.
It was in 1978 that the company, still under Joel, was purchased by Dutch firm American Retail Group (ARG), owned by the Brenninkmeyers, who had retail stores, including C & A, in Europe. In the years that followed, dressbarn bought maurices from ARG and, as ascena retail group, it has added Justice, Lane Bryant, Catherines, Ann Taylor and Loft.
The company’s success comes from its location in small to mid-size markets, serving a population neglected by some fashion stores. In the Lake Superior neighborhood, 14 towns, at least one on each of our four shores – Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario – feature a maurices.
“We’re known for our hometown style, excellent customer service and having fashions that are on trend and flatter all women,” George Goldfarb says. “We’re unique in offering sizes 1-24. … We’re inclusive and our core purpose is to ‘inspire women to look and feel great just as they are.’ … The thing we really want people to know is that we offer today’s trends, at a great value, where women of all ages and sizes can shop together and find something they love.”
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Courtesy Labovitz School of Business
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
Joel Labovitz is speaking here at the Labo Awards, annual honors given to local businesses from the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Labovitz School of Business. The awards are named for the Labovitz family; “Laib,” the original family name, means “lion” in Romanian.
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
The early maurices was fashionable and eye-catching in 1937.
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
As is the newest freestanding, easy-to-access design.
All of this gets us to that new 11-story building that occupies the 400 block of West Superior Street. While maurices no longer has a downtown Duluth retail store (one is located up in the Miller Mall and in Cloquet), its commitment to downtown might be measured in its large investment in the building there.
The building, airy and open with walls of windows facing Lake Superior, features many amenities that also reflect the business’ commitment to its workers.
Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
Founder Maurice Labovitz
Nurturing of associates has been a hallmark of maurices since the start. In announcing addition of eight more states for the maurices brand in 1974, Joel also pointed out the importance of good, satisfied employees: “We’re a people-oriented business. We expend a lot of effort in careful selection of personnel and thorough and frequent training and instructive motivation so that our people have a feeling of pride in their work and the product.”
Joel turned over the reins of the company in 1981.
Asked today what had made maurices so special, without an instant’s hesitation, he concludes: “People. We had terrific people, and still do. … I honestly don’t remember losing a person in my 31 years over issues such as enough pay or because we didn’t have enough opportunity.”
To emphasize the importance of the right people, Joel further jokes that as CEO, “I never knew how to do anything. I just knew who could.”
Maurices still shows a willingness to invest in happy – and healthy – staff. Its new building offers “a fitness center, a multipurpose family room for dining, working or socializing, an outdoor deck to enjoy fresh air and breathtaking views, adjustable height desks so associates can sit or stand throughout the day and a mock store that is a replica of a real store to provide visual direction to stores across the country.”
“One of our core values is ‘People First,’” emphasizes George. “We were recognized by Forbes this past year as being one of America’s Best Employers, and we’ve been recognized as a Minnesota Top Work Place.”
That maurices is a great place to work is just one thing he hopes local folks know about their hometown business with worldwide ties. “I think we’ve been a best-kept secret. What started as a small retail store in 1931, in downtown Duluth, is now 1,000 stores across North America. We’re a growing, profitable company that’s doubled its store count and sales over the past 10 years. We do over $1 billion in annual sales and have 9,000 associates across North America.
“Even after several ownership changes, we’re a thriving business that is headquartered just a few blocks down from where it all started.”
The Elevator Pitch
Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
George Goldfarb
We asked maurices CEO and President George Goldfarb to give us his best “elevator pitch” to another corporation thinking about locating around the Big Lake.
OK, George, go …
“The Lake Superior region is a great place to do business because it offers a quality of life that cannot be found elsewhere. From abundant outdoor opportunities to a thriving arts and culture scene, there is something for everyone. That quality of life, combined with a strong education system, makes it easy to attract and retain top talent, and people really are the heart of any business.”
Giving Back: Best Day Ever
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
During past Best Days Ever, maurices associates put on a special “Italian Dinner” with decorations for the free noon meal at the Damiano Center.
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
At Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, they brought a $2,000 check from the company.
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Courtesy maurices
Maurices: Small Town Roots, Big Time Success
Then they pitched in to stuff bags with food.
At maurices, they call it “The Best Day Ever” because all 450 associates in the Duluth headquarters – plus the New York design staff and store leaders flown in from around the country – get to socialize, listen to motivational speakers and do a fashion show on a paid work day.
“Then we go out into the community, volunteering,” says Laura Sieger, associate vice president for communications and engagement.
And the giving doesn’t stop at Duluth’s city limits; it extends to all communities in which maurices has its 1,000 stores. “We give about $8.5 million annually across the country,” Laura says. “We’ve always had a strong interest in giving back and being involved in our community.”
Last year, the associates volunteered with about 30 organizations. This year, as chosen by a group of associates, the focus will be organizations that align with maurices’ vision to empower women and children “to be their best.”
Throughout the year, maurices encourages associates to be on committees and boards. Terra Stenberg and Bri Waldoch are part of the group that helps to decide – and then organize – the volunteering.
“We’ve always had a good charitable program,” says Terra, a Superior native and 17-year employee. “It’s really becoming more robust.”
The idea for the big day came about when the company hit $1 billion in sales two years ago. Wanting to share the excitement, Laura describes the thinking, “We don’t want this to be all about us. How can we take our success and share it with the community?”
The volunteer day is part of the whole package of associate development promoted by maurices, especially in its new headquarters, where one of the features is a workout room for exercise and classes, such as yoga.
The company’s commitment to community was one of the things that lured Bri from a job in the Twin Cities.
“For me, volunteering is an important part of my life. The company connects to the community,” she says, adding cheerfully, “You feel a lot more fulfilled when you put in a little sweat (to help others).”
One additional benefit to the day, Terra says, is that you meet people who work in other departments through the volunteering. “I’m motivated by helping others.”
“One of the values we have is people,” Bri says of maurices. “It’s so evident.”