Y-O-U-N-K-E-R-S

The name of a department store chain in Iowa. At the age of 12 I believed the recently released play Lost in Yonkers was probably about a kid who was separated from his parents while shopping at the store. In my head, the kid lived in the store and learned to take care of himself. Hiding from the staff during the day, and talking to mannequins at night. The whole thing was very Today's Special.

I found out in High School that Yonkers was a neighborhood in New York, so that sorta crushed my original theory.

Back in those naive days, Younkers was nothing more than a small, independent, privately traded company. Now, as is the case with all regional department stores, it is part of a much bigger chain of stores that have been mish mashed together by industry consolidation. Younkers however, is not part of the Federated/May mega-chain. So it will not become a Macy's anytime in the near future. As of March of this year, Younkers is owned by Bon-Ton stores. They also own the Carson Piere Scott and Herberger's names as well. The company says it plans to leave the old nameplates in tact.

At least for a few more years.