Rices Nachmans

Rices Nachmans was an upscale department-store chain based in Norfolk, Virginia, and focused on the Hampton Roads market. At its peak, the chain operated eight locations in and around Norfolk, making it a notable regional retailer rather than a nationwide department-store brand. Its stores served customers through a conventional department-store model, with locations positioned in established commercial districts and shopping areas. One of the chain's documented locations was in downtown Norfolk on Granby Street, a central commercial corridor. Another important store opened at Wards Corner in 1952. The Wards Corner site occupied a building shared with a Hofheimer's shoe store, illustrating the type of multi-retailer commercial setting in which the chain operated. The building was later demolished in 2000; by 2018, the site was occupied by a Walgreens pharmacy. Rices Nachmans was owned by PVH Corp. before a significant change in its corporate history. In 1985, PVH sold the stores to Hess's, an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based department-store chain. The transaction transferred the Rices Nachmans locations to another regional department-store operator. The available reference material does not document the chain's founding year, founder, detailed merchandise divisions, later operating history, or the precise circumstances under which the brand ceased operating. It is therefore best understood as a historically important local department-store name associated with Norfolk and Hampton Roads, rather than as an active contemporary retail brand.

Rices Nachmans developed as a regional upscale department-store chain in Norfolk, Virginia, and the surrounding Hampton Roads area. The available historical record identifies it primarily through its store network and local commercial presence. At its peak, the chain had eight locations, giving it a substantial position in the regional retail landscape while remaining geographically concentrated in southeastern Virginia. The chain's locations included a downtown Norfolk store on Granby Street. Granby Street was a central retail corridor, and the presence of Rices Nachmans there placed the company within the principal commercial area of the city. Another documented location was the Wards Corner store, which opened in 1952. That site operated in a building shared with a Hofheimer's shoe store, reflecting a retail environment in which department stores and specialty merchants occupied the same commercial properties. Ownership changed in 1985, when PVH Corp. sold the Rices Nachmans stores to Hess's, an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based department-store chain. This was the clearest recorded corporate turning point in the brand's history. The sale moved the stores from PVH's ownership to another regional department-store group, but the available material does not specify whether the Rices Nachmans name was retained at every location, how the stores were integrated, or how long operations continued afterward. The physical history of the Wards Corner location provides a later trace of the chain's former retail footprint. The building containing the Rices Nachmans store and Hofheimer's was demolished in 2000. By 2018, the property had become the site of a Walgreens pharmacy. This redevelopment illustrates the disappearance of at least one prominent store site, although it does not by itself establish the exact closure date of the chain or each individual branch. The documented evidence supports describing Rices Nachmans as a former Norfolk-area department-store chain. Information about its founding, founders, detailed product departments, advertising, executives, financial performance, and final closure is not established in the supplied reference material. Those fields remain limited rather than being filled with unsupported claims.

• 2018

  Former Wards Corner site used by Walgreens

  [1]Rices Nachmansen.wikipedia.org

  By 2018, the former Wards Corner site was occupied by a Walgreens pharmacy.

• 2000

  Wards Corner building demolished

  [1]Rices Nachmansen.wikipedia.org

  The building that housed the Wards Corner Rices Nachmans store and a Hofheimer's shoe store was demolished.

• 1985

  Stores sold to Hess's

  [1]Rices Nachmansen.wikipedia.org

  PVH Corp. sold the Rices Nachmans stores to Hess's, an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based department-store chain.

• 1952

  Wards Corner location opens

  [1]Rices Nachmansen.wikipedia.org

  Rices Nachmans opened a store at Wards Corner in Norfolk. The location shared its building with a Hofheimer's shoe store.

Regional upscale department-store retailer serving Norfolk and the broader Hampton Roads market.

• Department-store retail

  Upscale department-store merchandise

  Rices Nachmans operated as an upscale department-store chain, offering the broad assortment normally associated with department-store retail. The supplied historical material does not provide a verified breakdown of specific brands, departments, or private-label lines, so the offering is described at the general retail-category level.

• 1985

  Sale of the chain to Hess'sM&A

  Background

  Rices Nachmans was owned by PVH Corp. when the company decided to sell its stores to Hess's, another regional department-store chain.

  Action taken

  PVH Corp. transferred the Rices Nachmans stores to Hess's, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

  Aftermath

  The transaction changed the chain's ownership. The available source does not establish the subsequent branding, integration process, or exact closure date of the stores.

  Source

1. 1Rices Nachmansen.wikipedia.org