Fingerhut Direct Marketing Inc., its identity interwoven in the public's mind with former owner and future federal prisoner Tom Petters, has a new name.
Fingerhut changes corporate name to Bluestem
February 20, 2010 at 2:07AM
The Eden Prairie-based company is now Bluestem Brands Inc.
In announcing the switch in a news release Thursday, the company said the move signifies its "progression from a catalog company to a multibrand, multichannel retailer."
Bluestem Brands will operate under its two retail brands: Fingerhut and Gettington.com, the announcement added. The company will continue its practice of offering various purchase-on-credit options to families with modest incomes.
The company explains that the Bluestem name originates from a Midwest prairie grass.
Petters will be sentenced next month to a lengthy prison term for orchestrating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme.
In 2002, Fingerhut's owner, Federated Department Stores Inc., laid off more than 2,500 Fingerhut workers and shuttered the business. Petters helped buy Fingerhut's assets from Federated that same year and resumed catalog distribution.
PAUL WALSH
Steve Young, managing partner at Manna Tree, explains what is driving the fierce M&A activity in the food industry right now and how Minnesota is part of it.
![Surface parking at 1022 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN ] JOELKOYAMA•jkoyama@startribune Minneapolis, MN on March 28, 2014. One of the most common and blighting elements of Minneapolis' urban core, surface parking lots, are about to face some extra scrutiny from City Hall. Council Member Jacob Frey, who represents half of downtown, is pushing for more enforcement of the city's landscaping ordinances for surface parking lots. Surface parking lots are the enemy of many a city plan](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/67ORS66YQ7UOEAXEUHUB3H5RN4.jpg?&w=252&ar=3:2&fit=crop)
