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KB Toys was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store.Kaufman Brothers opened a wholesale toy store in 1946. The toy business was an acquisition from a candy client who could not pay its outstanding debts. The retailer ended its candy wholesale business two years later to
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Now an online only retailer, hhgregg was founded in Indianapolis in 1955 by Henry Harold (the "hh") and Fansy Gregg (you get the drift). In 2009, despite pressures on margins on electronic and high-tech devices, hhgregg plotted aggressive expansion (this was also the flat screen tv boom
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I have personal interest in this one as I grew up with my family in the catalog showroom business in Georgia and the Carolinas, founded by my grandfather, Harold Ellman. The business was sold to Service Merchandise during my senior year in high school. (Ellman's) Service Merchandise'
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Founded in 1977 by Richard Thalheimer, the retailer started as a watch catalog business. Sharper Image expanded to close to 200 stores in 38 states at its peak. Litigation and turmoil with their Ionic Breeze air purifiers started the descent (and reputation) with the stock price reaching "penny stock&
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Sports Authority opened its first store in late 1987 in Southern Florida. In 1990 Kmart (yes...the Kmart) acquired the company and they converted their two Sports Giant stores to Sports Authority locations. In 1995, having grown to over 135 stores, Kmart spun off the sporting goods chain. In 2003,
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"In November 1958, Eugene Wallace Kalkin established a leased-linen department in the New Jersey discount retailer Great Eastern Mills. In August 1970, Great Eastern Mills opened the first Linens 'n Things store in East Brunswick, New Jersey. After a succession of corporate ownership changes and the bankruptcy
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CompUSA was the epitome of a big box retail electronics chain. Founded in 1986 as Soft Warehouse by Errol Jacobson and Mike Henochowicz, its first megastore opened in Atlanta, Georgia in 1988. Changing its name to CompUSA in 1991, it operated almost 230 locations with over $2B in revenues at
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Teavana was an American tea company created in 1997 in Atlanta, Georgia by Andrew T. Mack, and his wife. After making a splash (grew to 650 stores), especially in the mall world, Teavana was acquired by Starbucks in 2012 for an estimated $620 million. A short five years later, based
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Founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton (a member of the Dayton department store family), the name B. Dalton was chosen because it "connoted quality, dependability and authority." Although the chain was originally intended to operate in downtowns and suburban areas, the majority of the stores were opened inside
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Tower was founded in 1960 by Russell Solomon in Sacramento, California. The store was named after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theater. In addition to CDs and cassette tapes, stores also sold DVDs, video games, accessories, toys and electronic gadgets like
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David Schlessinger, who had earlier started the defunct Encore Books chain of bookstores, founded Zany Brainy in 1991. The chain sold puzzles, books, games, and electronics, along with holding workshops for kids and teachers. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 15, 2001, having faced financial difficulties
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RadioShack was founded in Boston in 1921 by the Deutschmann brothers to provide equipment for ham radio operators. The company became "the place" for electronics, selling everything from eight-track players to portable CD players to cell phones. The chain grew fast in the 1970s, in part because