The Bombay Company is an American furniture and home accessories retailer owned (since 2021) by an undisclosed LLC. At one time a chain of over 500 stores headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Bombay Company was relaunched in 2012 as an online store. After its owners arranged a new licensing deal, a second online re-launch was planned for the High Point Market in April 2018. [1] However, by March 2019, the online sales function of their website was still not active.
The Bombay Company was founded in 1978 by Brad Harper in New Orleans as a mail-order company and Canadian operations were allocated to his good friend Greg McGroarty. Harper later opened two retail stores in New Orleans. In 1980, Harper sold the U.S. operating rights and established overseas supply channels to the Fort Worth, Texas-based holding company Tandy Brands, Inc., which is publicly traded on NASDAQ.
In 1981, Tandy Brands purchased the Canadian rights from Robert Nourse, though Nourse continued to manage the Canadian operations. In 1983, Nourse moved to the United States and assumed responsibility for retail operations.
The Bombay Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 20, 2007. [2] The company was sold to Gordon Brothers and Hilco, two liquidation companies that sold off the remaining inventory. [3] As of January 21, 2008, all U.S. retail stores were liquidated and closed. In February 2008, Hilco, and Gordon Brothers purchased all intellectual capital of the Bombay Company, including the Bombay Company website, and created Bombay Brands, a company that will sell Bombay merchandise through other retail outfits. Some Bombay Original merchandise can be seen at Value City Furniture. In September 2010, approximately a dozen pieces of Bombay merchandise have also been made available for purchase in the U.S. through QVC and QVC.COM.
Bombay's Canadian operations were purchased by the B&C Group, which operates the Benix and Bowring retail banners in Canada. Bombay Canada is now owned by Fluid Brands Inc. Toronto based retail mogul Fred Benitah owner of Fluid Brands Inc. also owns Bowring Brothers, Canadian home decor retail chain.
In December 2009, William S. Hollands was named chief merchant overseeing the Bombay Company operating unit, which manages the U.S. licensing agreement with Bombay Brands LLC, during its re-emergence as a retail brand in the United States. [4]
In 2011, Bombay was purchased by Hermes-Otto International, a subsidiary of Otto. [5]
In November 2018, the Canadian operations of Bombay & Co., owned by Fluid Brands, Inc., were seeking creditor protection with more than $50 million in debt.
In 2021, Bombay Company was sold to an undisclosed recipient.
Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather-goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tandy, the company expanded into the hobby market, making leather moccasins and coin purses, making huge sales among Scouts, leading to a fast growth in sales.
Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sears—a joint venture between the Canadian Simpsons department store chain and the American Sears chain—which operated a national mail order business and co-branded Simpsons-Sears stores modelled after those of Sears in the U.S. After the Hudson's Bay Company purchased Simpsons in 1978, the joint venture was dismantled and Hudson's Bay sold its shares in the joint venture to Sears; with Sears now fully owning the company, it was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the remaining assets and locations of the historic Canadian chain Eaton's. From 2014, Sears Holdings owned a 10% share in the company. ESL Investments was the largest shareholder of Sears Canada.
HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.
Pier 1 Imports, Inc., is an online retailer and former Fort Worth, Texas-based retail chain specializing in imported home furnishings and decor, particularly furniture, table-top items, decorative accessories, and seasonal decor. It was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker PIR. In January 2020, Pier 1 had over 1,000 physical stores throughout the United States and Canada. Pier 1 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 17, 2020, and on May 19, 2020, announced it was asking the bankruptcy court to close all stores, due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV, is a British based music and entertainment retailer, currently operating in the European countries of Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom
Consumers Distributing was a catalogue store in Canada and the United States that operated from 1957 to 1996. At its peak, the company operated 243 outlets in Canada and 217 in the United States, including stores in every province in Canada and in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California and Nevada.
InterTAN was created by Tandy Corporation in 1986 to operate Radio Shack stores in Canada, Europe and Australia. After the UK locations, which were branded 'Tandy', were sold to Carphone Warehouse in 1999 and the Australian locations to Woolworths Limited in 2001, the company's primary asset was the RadioShack franchise for Canada. InterTAN's relationship with RadioShack was terminated in 2005, after InterTAN became a wholly owned subsidiary of Circuit City on May 19, 2004.
Habitat is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom and the main homewares brand within the Sainsbury's group.
Euromarket Designs Inc., doing business as Crate & Barrel, is an international furniture and home décor retail store headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. They employ 8200 employees across over 100 stores in the United States and Canada, with franchises in Central America, South America, Asia and United Arab Emirates.
Bowring Brothers Ltd. was a Canadian operator of retail stores, mostly focused on gifts and home decor, throughout Canada.
Bonton Holdings Inc. operating as Bonton was an American department store chain and group founded in 1898. The former York, Pennsylvania-based company BonTon filed for bankruptcy in February 2018 and sold the name to CSC Generation, which sold it to BrandX.com in 2021, operating an e-commerce site under the brand name. Along with Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's, and Younkers, the names of most of the defunct retail group's department store chains are owned by BrandX.
Spiegel was an American direct marketing retailer founded in 1865 by Joseph Spiegel. Spiegel published a catalog, like its competitors Sears and Montgomery Ward, which advertised various brands of apparel, accessories, and footwear, as well as housewares, toys, tools, firearms, and electronics. Their company brands included Newport News, Shape FX, and Old Kraftsman, among others. They also operated brick-and-mortar stores.
Crabtree & Evelyn was a retailer of body, fragrance and home care products. Beginning with one store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1971, the brand grew to an international presence, with hundreds of locations globally.
Hastings Entertainment was an American retail chain that sold books, movies, music, and video games and functioned as a video rental shop. As of 2016 it had 126 superstores, which were mainly located in the South Central United States, Rocky Mountain States, and in parts of the Great Plains and Midwestern states. Hastings Entertainment stores were also located in many college towns in the U.S. Hastings Entertainment was headquartered in Amarillo, Texas.
Linens 'n Things was a big-box retailer specializing in home textiles, housewares, and decorative home accessories. Based in Clifton, New Jersey, the chain operated 571 stores in 47 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and had 7,300 employees as of December 2006. The company's business strategy was "to offer a broad selection of high quality, brand name home furnishings merchandise at exceptional everyday values, provide superior guest service, and maintain low operating costs."
Scene7 is an American on-demand rich media software company that provides document hosting and interactive publishing services such as online catalogs, targeted email, video, and image management. Retailers use the company's services to showcase products on their websites and to allow customers to interact with the products. Scene7's technology allows users to manipulate product images by zooming in and rotating products, simulating the inspection of merchandise in retail stores.
Golfsmith International Holdings Inc. was an American golf specialty retailer based in Austin, Texas. Each store, along with golfsmith.com, housed a wide selection of golf clubs, shoes, apparel, gadgets and gear from all the major brands as well as proprietary offerings. They also offered custom club fitting, lessons and services for golfers.
Hilco Global is a multinational financial services holding company. It operates over twenty businesses in five continents and specializes in asset valuation, advisory, monetization capital, and disposition services. Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, it has offices throughout the world and provides services to companies, their lenders and professional services advisers across a broad spectrum of business categories including retail, commercial, industrial and financial. Hilco Global delivers services focused on maximizing the value of under-performing and excess retail, consumer products and industrial inventory, real estate, intellectual property, including consumer brands, patents, and accounts receivable. Hilco Global is also considered one of the largest distressed investment and advisory companies in the world.
Sunrise Records and Entertainment Ltd., operating as Sunrise Records, is a Canadian record store chain based in Ancaster, Ontario. Currently owned by Douglas Putman, it currently operates in nine Canadian provinces. Originally operating with only 9 locations in Ontario, the chain announced a major expansion in February 2017, under which it purchased leases for 70 locations formerly occupied by HMV Canada. The chain runs approximately 85 locations across Canada.