Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. The chain was founded in 1919 by David W. Proffitt and James Ellis. In 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk after Belk had acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks, Inc. At the time of their demise they operated 47 Proffitts & McRae's stores.
History
Beginnings
Jeweler David W. Proffitt and James Ellis founded the Ellis-Proffitt Co. on Main Street in downtown Maryville, Tennessee, in 1919. The first store had seven departments: ladies ready-to-wear, ladies accessories, millinery, men's shoes, dry goods, and bargain basement. Ellis sold his share of the company to Proffitt in 1921 due to illness. The company expanded by opening its second store in Athens, Tennessee, in 1936. In the 1960s, the Maryville store moved from downtown to Midland Plaza in Alcoa.
In 1982 the store relocated again to Foothills Mall in Maryville, eventually expanding to occupy two stores in the mall, following the departure of Hess's from the market. Both stores remained throughout the Belk acquisition, one for Women and the other for Men, Kids, and Home. A warehouse and distribution center opened in Maryville in 1970. A location in Knoxville opened in 1972 in West Town Mall with an Oak Ridge store following in 1974. A second Knoxville store was added in 1984 at East Towne Mall (now Knoxville Center). In 1984, the company had four stores and annual sales of $40 million (~$ in ).
For the first 65 years of its existence, the company was a family-owned business, but in 1984 it was acquired by RBM Acquisition Co., led by R. Brad Martin. Proffitt's purchased the Chattanooga based Loveman's Department Store in 1986, adding four Chattanooga stores and one in Dalton, Georgia, its first location outside of Tennessee.
In 1989, a new store opened in Biltmore Square Mall in Asheville, North Carolina, bringing the total stores to eleven. The years 1992 and 1993 saw a number of acquisitions, making Proffitt's one of the fastest growing retailers in the US. During that time, the company purchased 18 Hess's locations in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia. Some of these locations were formerly Miller's of Tennessee stores. This added new stores in Rome, Georgia; Elizabethtown and Ashland, Kentucky; Bristol, Virginia; and Kingsport and Johnson City, Tennessee. In fall 1992, shortly before the Hess's purchase was completed, a new Proffitt's store opened in The Mall at Johnson City in the company's entry into the Tri-Cities market. The Hess's purchase led to a dual-store format in the mall, similar to the one in the Foothills Mall in Maryville. In Johnson City, once the Hess's store was vacated and renovated, the Men's and Home Stores were moved to that building, leaving Women's and Children's in the newly constructed Proffitt's building. The West Town Mall location in Knoxville was expanded to in 1995 making it the largest store in the chain.
Acquisitions of McRae's and Parks-Belk
Proffitt's purchased the Jackson, Mississippi–based McRae's chain in 1993.