The History of St. Cloud Department Stores; Part 2

The Macy's Department Store in Crossroads shopping center will close this year.  To examine the long history of department stores I was joined by St. Cloud historian Jim Grabinski, former Herberger's employees Lisa Voulk, Ann Thelen and Gail Cruikshank and former Dayton's employee Vicki Davis.  The definition of a department store is a large retail store for the sale of many goods arranged in departments.

In the first edition we featured, Barthelem's, Montgomery Ward, Gambles, Welles, Zayres, and Fandels.

Herbergers

Herberger's started out in downtown St. Cloud as a hardware store in 1887.  In 1927 G.H. Herberger Incorporated began in downtown St. Cloud.  In 1972 Grabinski says Bob Herberger sold the company to "key" employees.  In 1975 Herbergers opened a store in the Crossroads Center but closed it in 1986 to focus their attention on the downtown location.  Gail Cruikshank says the Crossroads store was more of a specialty store.

In 1985 Herberger's purchased the St. Cloud Fandels Department Store property and opened their Centre Square location downtown.  In 1992 the Herbergers chain distribution center opened in Sartell.  Herbergers had also opened numerous stores throughout the Midwest with the headquarters in St. Cloud.  In 1997 Herbergers sold to Profits.  In 2000 the headquarters moved from St. Cloud to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the distribution center moved from Sartell to Rockford, Illinois.  In 2018 Monton and Yonkers, who owned Herbergers, filed for bankruptcy which closed the store in St. Cloud.  The building is still unoccupied as of April of 2026.

Voulke and Thelen

Lisa Voulke was a buyer for the juniors division at Herberger's starting in 1990 after graduating from college in Montana.   Ann Thelen started at Herbergers as a part-time employee before joining their management team.  She was known for selling shoes at Herberger's for many years.  Voulke recalls the attention to deal from the Herberger's management and the family environment that they created.  Both Voulke and Thelen felt Herberger's was an anchor in the communities they were in.  Herberger's stores were once located in 42 cities in 12 states.  Voulke says they knew their market and the customers and had a sense of giving back to the communities they were in.

Dayton's

Dayton's Department Store opened in Crossroads Center as part of their 1976, 200,000 square foot expansion.  Vicki Davis recalls being one of the first hires in 1976 and working there for 7 years.  She was in various departments like shoes, cosmetics, juniors, and accessories.  Davis recalls working there being exciting and focused on helping customers.  Dayton's became Marshall Fields in 2001 before becoming Macy's in 2006.  It is due to close this year.

JC Penney

JC Penney opened in Crossroads Center in St. Cloud in 1966. The store moved to the mall from its previous downtown location on St. Germain Street. JC Penney has remained a long-time anchor in Crossroads and is still open today.  The St. Cloud store has remained open despite of series of cuts nationally in 2017.

Sears

Sears first opened in downtown St. Cloud in 1928 at 1418 Sixth Avenue North.  Sears later moved to 105 Seventh Avenue South following a fire.  The retailer relocated in Crossroads Mall in 1965 and closed in 2018.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Jim, Vicki, Ann, Lisa, and Gail, click below.