Harris Company - History

History

The Harris Company first opened in 1905. The flagship store was rebuilt at the corner of Third Street and E Street in 1927. The company made its first big expansion when it built a large anchor store at the new Riverside Plaza shopping center in 1957, the first large non-downtown shopping destination in the region. Expansion continued during the 1960s and '70s, and the company was able to hold its own against competitors, such as the Los Angeles-based Broadway and Robinson's chain stores, by concentrating on the tastes and needs of local customers, and by building a reputation for offering high quality merchandise.

In 1981, Spanish retailer El Corte Inglés, S.A. acquired the Harris Company and its nine stores which included Bakersfield, Hemet, Indio, Moreno Valley, Palmdale, Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino and Victorville. In 1997, the Harris Company invested $27 million to update its nine-store chain.

The Harris Company was acquired by Gottschalks in 1998, and the stores were initially renamed Harris-Gottschalks. Most of the original Harris stores eventually dropped the name Harris, except the Indio and Bakersfield locations, which continued to operate under the Harris-Gottschalks name. The original store in downtown San Bernardino was closed on January 31, 1999.

On January 14, 2009, Gottschalks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In March 2009, Gottschalks announced that it had lined up a group of bidders to liquidate the chain, if a buyer was not found by March 30. On March 31, Gottschalks announced it would liquidate its remaining stores, and on July 12, 2009 all of the Gottschalks stores were closed.