Bluestem, parent company of Fingerhut, cutting half its Eden Prairie workforce

BLST Operating Co. — the legacy company of one of Minnesota’s former retail greats, Fingerhut — is cutting its workforce again, this time slashing its headquarters staff in half.

The Eden Prairie operation known as Bluestem notified the state of Minnesota Tuesday of a reorganization that will be across departments and result in layoffs of 117 of its 228 employees by April 12.

There were no other details in the notice to the Department of Employment and Economic Development and no one at the company returned requests for comment.

Fingerhut was once a giant in the mail order catalog business. Founded in 1948, it initially sold automobile seat covers but eventually was a conglomeration of goods from closet organizers to gadgets.

The Minnesota-based retailer differentiated itself from other businesses by implementing a technique known as “hire purchase,” making monthly payments, basically the equivalent of today’s “buy now, pay later.”

The retailer went through several owners, including Federated Department Stores, owner of Bloomingdale’s, which bought it in 1999 for $1.7 billion.

In 2002, it was bought for less than $500 million by Tom Petters, who was convicted of running one of the nation’s largest and most complex Ponzi schemes. He owned 18% of Fingerhut at the time of his downfall.

Now Bluestem Group Inc., the company also owns other catalog brands such as Blair and Appleseed’s. In 2020, Bluestem filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.