This is the story of a small department store that grew and grew – where did it start and how did it end?
Missouri-born entrepreneur Dallas Troutman began his retail career as a teenager in Tennessee, employed by clothing shops. He and his then-wife Joyce moved to Springfield, Oregon and by 1950 and soon relocated to North Bend. In 1955, he opened his first family department store, The Emporium, located in a building formerly occupied by Safeway.
Eight years later, it would become an anchor store managed by his brother in the new Pony Village Shopping Center. This was the beginning of a 34-store, 1,600- employee chain stretching across Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, and California, where it is known as Troutman’s due to legal restrictions with the Emporium-Capwell name…