it was the happiest day of my life. >> she says prop eight lacks fairness, compassion and equality. up until now that ad has been running only on her website. but now ellen is putting up the extra cash to air it on tv. >>> speaking of television ads, here's one that ran during our midday newscast. >> so what's the deal? >> it's mervyns' best deal. >> deals might be an understatement. just moments before that spot aired, the company issued a press release confirming news we broke last night. mervyns will liquidate its stores under chapter is 1 bankruptcy. simon perez tells us what went wrong for bay area institutions. >> reporter: this mervyns typifies the mervyns philosophy, small shopping center, low prices focus on families, but that doesn't cut it in today's economy. the winning ticket focuses on style. >> we're liquidating. that's it. it's been a great company. i have been here 30 years. >> reporter: that was the news mervyns dropped on employees this morning headquarters in hayward. for some employees, today was moving out day, a time to say good-bye. this person worked there for 30 years until he left two years ago. >> when i first started it was more family oriented, you know? and you were treated more like a family. now when target took over, it was more business. >> reporter: target sold mervyns in 2005. it was downhill from there. over the summer, mervyns filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy to buy time to ge feet. even that didn't work. so now mervyns is he giving up. >> this is store was for many year here's because i'm resident in burlingame for 36 areas now. and was kind of handy for us and it's to be. >> reporter: mervyns lost the battle with other competitors focusedon the same mid-level markets, higher than wal-mart, lower than macy's. >> mervyns called itself family- friendly. target became family-hip. >> reporter: usf management professor eugene muscat says hip is now marketplace. style trumps value. >> the successful retailers are currently target and macy's because they are selling style and that style is very youth oriented and hip. >> reporter: mervyns should stay open during the holiday season trying to sell everything. muscat says another area where mervyns just missed the boat was the net. while other companies have embraced internet sales, mervyns missed out e also pointed to the fact that even the backward looking as opposed to target. so muscat says those are some of the reasons they just didn't make it. >> simon, can't help but point out that "now hiring" sign before you, is that just a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing or is that holiday hiring? >> reporter: that's it. holiday hiring. if you think about it, lots of sales, what are people going to do? they want to go in there. in fact i was just in there. i didn't get anything. but i was just in there and there are huge lines already. so they will need extra help over the holidays, perfect for the high school students, college students who term work because probably january, muscat says there will be no more mervyns. >> a lot of people out of jobs right now that could use. that simon perez, thank you very much. >>> mervyns' demise could hurt other businesses, as well. n ramirez with the retail domino effect. >> this store we fine everything here. >> reporter: appliance parts east isn't the kind of store most us visit every day. but you're glad it's there if your fridge ever die. >> the bottom? it's not cooling? but the top is still freezing. >> oka >> reporter: for 20 years, stan edwards has been supplying his customers with parts to keep their appliances running. his store is just a couple of doors down from the east san jose mervyns on capital avenue.