As has been predicted in local retail circles for half a decade now, there’s going to be no more Bon Marché after January; not even the kludgy name “Bon-Macy’s.” All the stores in the once-proud regional chain will become just “Macy’s,” along with the equally formerly proud Rich’s, Goldsmith’s, Lazarus, and Burdine’s names in other regions.

And it’s not even being ordered from New York, but from Cincinnati, where parent company Federated Department Stores has ordered all its holdings to be consolidated under either the Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s names.

The Bon’s buying, merchandising, advertising, and other Seattle back-office operations won’t be shut down, at least not yet. (A few years ago there were published rumors that all these duties would be taken over by Macy’s California.)

It’s a sad end, and it is an end, to a selling tradition that goes back to 1890, to a little notions shop at First and Cedar (which had become an art studio by the mid ’80s, when it was razed for condos). Early in the 20th century it moved to a string of buildings at Second and Pike. (That became J.C. Penney’s largest-anywhere store, later razed for the Newmark complex.)

It’s been at its current Fourth and Pine site since 1928. The following year it merged with several other regional operators (including Boston’s Jordan Marsh) into Hahn Department Stores, which soon became Allied Stores.

In 1950, Allied built, and the Bon anchored, Northgate, the nation’s first modern shopping mall. The Bon’s arch rival Frederick & Nelson declined to open at Northgate, starting its four-decade decline and fall from market dominance.

Shortly after Northgate opened, the Bon added five stories to its downtown flagship, later appended by the Third Avenue parking garage and skybridge.

In 1965, Allied and the Bon built Tacoma Mall, instantly decimating downtown Tacoma as a retail destination. Southcenter was added to the empire three years later, and soon attained the highest retail traffic in the state.

While Frederick & Nelson was an institution with a mystique of being “more than a store,” the Bon was content to be “Where All Seattle Shops” (as per an old ad slogan). It was the everyday department store, with appliances, TVs, restaurants, a pharmacy, a bookstore, and a bargain basement. All these peripheral departments would be pared down or shut down over the years.

Now, the whole Bon Marché tradition’s going away. Seattle’s taken one more involuntary step toward becoming just another Anywhere USA.

Call or write the Federated home office. Let ‘em know you want a Bon Marché, our own “Northwest Department Store” (as per a recent ad slogan).

It probably won’t change anything, but it’ll be noticed.