When it comes to department stores there were some that are successful and some that are virtually unknown to shoppers. One such department store chain is Emporium/Capwell. Based in Northern California Emporium/Capwell was similar to Macy's and Weinstock's and had tons of commercials advertising their many different sales. In the late 90's the stores became known as simply Emporium before filing for bankruptcy. Emporium/Capwell was also owned by the same company who owns Macy's The Broadway May Co. and Robinson's and the surviving Emporiums were later converted to Macy's. Believe it or not my mom and I were fans of Emporium/Capwell and we would shop there for awesome bargains and when our Emporium closed it too converted itself into Macy's which is still in my mall today. Take a look at the commercials for Emporium/Capwell and you'll see why department stores were great places to shop for great stuff back in the day
Bestie

I think out of all the department stores that no longer exist Emporium/Capwell is one department store chain in Northern California that should've stayed open longer. Because by looking at the commercials I think they were trying to make Emporium/Capwell more like the Texas based department store chain Foley's and when my mom and I would go shopping at the mall we went to Emporium/Capwell twice and we liked it especially since there was only two Macy's stores near us. But I think if you watch the later commercials for the new christened Emporium I think the name change hurt them and that's why they went bankrupt and in the later commercials you could tell they had gained a new audience of shoppers