Fisher's Big Wheel

Last updated
Fisher's Big Wheel
Type Discount department store
Industry Retail
Founded1939
Defunct1994
Headquarters,
United States
Number of locations
100+
Area served
Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia
Key people
Peter H. Hollis
ProductsClothing, photography, garden/seasonal, sporting goods, large appliances, records, hardware, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares.
Divisions Buy Smart

Fisher's Big Wheel was a discount department store chain based in New Castle, Pennsylvania, United States. [1] The company operated stores under the Fisher's Big Wheel and Buy Smart names. At its peak, the chain comprised more than 100 stores in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. The chain declared bankruptcy in 1993, selling some stores to Pamida and closing others. The chain closed in 1994.

History

Fisher's Big Wheel consolidated in 1939 following the consolidation of the Fisher Dry Goods company of New Castle, Pennsylvania and a hardware store called Big Wheel. [2]

While based in the New Castle area, its headquarters were actually in Neshannock Township just north of the city. The company's flagship store was located next door, and was used as a prototype store. After the company's liquidation, the headquarters became various medical offices, while supermarket chain Giant Eagle consolidated two nearby locations and moved into the former flagship store.

Fisher's Big Wheel primarily located in smaller towns which were not already served by other discount retailers, while in other markets, it competed directly with such discounters as Zayre, Kmart, Wal-Mart and Hills Department Store. [1]

Several locations of Tempo and Buckeye Mart, two discount chains operated by Gamble-Skogmo, were also acquired by Fisher's in 1978. The stores were operated under the Fisher's Buckeye-Tempo nameplate. [3]

In 1986, the company's president, Peter H. Hollis, left the chain and became the CEO of Ames Department Stores, where he served for four years before becoming executive vice president of Jamesway. [4]

Big Wheel acquired ten former locations in 1989 from two discount chains in the Midwestern United States: eight from Danner's and two from Heck's Department Store. [5]

Fisher's Big Wheel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993, closing ten of its stores. [6] Fifty-five more stores were later closed in 1994 as a means of liquidation. [7] Several locations were also sold to Pamida, a discount chain based in Omaha, Nebraska. [8] On January 6, 1994 it began layoffs and liquidation under bankruptcy and closed the last of its operations by the end of the year.

Related Research Articles

Kmart U.S. big box retailer and subsidiary of Transform Holdco LLC

Kmart Corporation is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corporation and renamed Kmart Corporation in 1977. The first store with the Kmart name opened in 1962. At its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,486 stores globally, including 2,323 discount stores and Super Kmart Center locations in the United States. From 2005 through 2019, Kmart was a subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation and is now a subsidiary of Transform SR Brands LLC.

Pamida Defunct American department store chain

Pamida was a chain of department stores with more than 175 locations in 16 Midwestern and West Central U.S. states. Pamida stores were generally located in smaller communities that range from 3,000 to 8,000 in population. The Pamida name represents the first two letters of the first names of co-founder D.J. (Jim) Witherspoon's three sons: Pat, Mike, and David.

Woolco American discount department store

Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in the city of Columbus, Ohio, by the F. W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At its peak, Woolco had hundreds of stores in the US, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom. While the American stores were closed in 1983, the chain remained active in Canada until it was sold in 1994 to rival Walmart, which was looking to enter the Canadian market. All of the former UK Woolco stores were sold by Kingfisher, who had bought the UK Woolworth business, to Gateway who subsequently sold them to Asda.

A discount store or discount shop is a term that has been used over time and across different countries for a number of different retail formats, all of which sell products at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price".

Big Lots

Big Lots, Inc. is an American retail company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with over 1,400 stores in 47 states.

Venture Stores, Inc. was a chain of retail stores aimed at the discount department-store market. John Geisse, formerly of Target Stores, and May Department Stores' executive vice president, Dave Babcock, founded the chain in 1968. Venture Stores expanded to operate over 70 stores with major market share in St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City, and expanded across various areas in the United States over a period of nearly 30 years, becoming the largest discount chain in Chicago. In January 1998, Venture Stores entered a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed within six months.

Bradlees Department Store, more commonly known as Bradlees, was a discount department store chain based out of Braintree, Massachusetts, which operated primarily in the northeastern United States. Bradlees sold various retail items in its stores, including clothing, jewelry, health care, beauty products, footwear, furniture, electronics, housewares, and bedding. At its peak in the year 2000, Bradlees operated over 105 stores in seven states across the Northeast, with close to 10,000 employees. Along with being a part of Stop & Shop from 1961 until 1992, the chain went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000, with all of its stores eventually closed by March 15, 2001.

The Jamesway Corporation, more commonly known as Jamesway, was a chain of discount department stores based in Secaucus, New Jersey. It was founded in 1961 with a store in Jamestown, New York, and at its peak operated 138 stores in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions.

Richs (discount store)

Rich's was a family-owned business that was established in 1962, grew out of Jerry's Army Navy Surplus in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. The Rich family once operated 29 stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, which offered discounted merchandise.

K·B Toys was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy wholesales two years later to focus entirely on the toy industry. Retail sales began in the 1970s, under the name Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby.

ALCO Stores

ALCO Stores, Inc. was a retail chain operating 198 stores in 23 states, primarily in the United States Midwest. The company was founded in 1901 in Kansas by Alva Lease Duckwall.

Phar-Mor was a United States chain of discount drug stores, based in Youngstown, Ohio, and founded by Michael "Mickey" Monus and David Shapira in 1982. Some of its stores used the names Pharmhouse and Rx Place. Low prices were advertised to bring in a large volume of sales with the slogans "Phar-Mor power buying gives you Phar-Mor buying power" and "Phar-Mor For Less." Another common slogan in their TV commercials was "Power buying saves: Save at Phar-Mor."

Stage Stores American retail company

Stage Stores was a department store company specializing in retailing off-price brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares throughout the United States. Stores were usually located in shopping malls and centers or in standalone locations. The corporate office was located in Houston, Texas.

Loehmann's was an American retail company which started as a single store in Brooklyn, New York and grew to a chain of off-price department stores in the United States. The chain was best known for its "Back Room", where women interested in fashion could find designer clothes at prices lower than in department stores. While the largest portion of its client base was historically women, the chain also offered shoes, accessories, and men's clothing.

Gamble-Skogmo

Gamble-Skogmo Inc. was a conglomerate of retail chains and other businesses that was headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Business operated or franchised by Gamble-Skogmo included Gambles hardware and auto supply stores, Woman's World and Mode O'Day clothing stores, J.M. McDonald department stores, Leath Furniture stores, Tempo and Buckeye Mart Discount Stores, Howard's Brandiscount Department Stores, Rasco Variety Stores, Sarco Outlet Stores, Toy World, Rasco-Tempo, Red Owl Grocery, Snyder Drug and the Aldens mail-order company. In Canada, retail operations consisted of Macleods Hardware, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Stedmans Department Stores, based in Toronto, Ontario. Gamble-Skogmo carried a line of home appliances, including radios, televisions, refrigerators, and freezers, under the Coronado brand name.

Ames (department store) American discount store chain

Ames Department Stores Inc. was an American chain of discount stores based in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, United States. The company was founded in 1958 with a store in Southbridge, Massachusetts, and at its peak operated 700 stores in 20 states, including the Northeast, Upper South, Midwest, and the District of Columbia, making it the fourth-largest discount retailer in the country.

Hecks

Heck's Department Store, a chain of West Virginia based discount department stores, was founded by Boone County natives and businessmen Fred Haddad, Tom Ellis, and Lester Ellis and wholesale distributor Douglas Cook. The Heck's name was a combination of the names Haddad, Ellis and Cook. Haddad served as President, Lester Ellis was Vice-President, and Tom Ellis was Secretary-Treasurer.

South Mall Shopping mall in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.

The South Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is located on Lehigh Street, just south of Interstate 78 exit 57, near Allentown's southern border with Salisbury Township and Emmaus.

References

  1. 1 2 Hisey, Peter (1988-11-21). "Big Wheel rolls domestics into forefront - discount store chain". Discount Store News. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  2. Rouvalis, Cristina. "Fisher's Big Wheel to shut down 11 more stores by March 1". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  3. "Gamble-Skogmo To Dissolve Division By Sale, Transfer". The Wall Street Journal . 8 November 1978. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  4. "Jamesway hires ex-Ames chief - Peter H. Hollis". Discount Store News. 1988-11-18. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  5. Hisey, Peter (1989-02-20). "Big Wheel speeds growth with new stores, takeovers - Fishers Big Wheel, discount store chain". Discount Store News. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  6. "Fishers Big Wheel to close 10 units; chain files Ch. 11 petition; revamps executive staff". Discount Store News. July 1993. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  7. "Fishers Big Wheel to close 55 stores in liquidation". The New York Times . 1994-01-07. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  8. Arlen, Jeffrey (1994-09-05). "Positioning Pamida - Apparel Merchandising Supplement - Company Profile - Cover Story". Discount Store News. Retrieved 2007-08-11.