Gary Hoover | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 19, 1951 |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, author, entrepreneur, public speaker |
Gary Hoover (born March 19, 1951) is an American businessperson who founded Bookstop, an American bookstore chain, and The Reference Press, which became Hoover's business information company. He is the entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin School of Information. [1]
Hoover was born in Lafayette, Indiana, the third of the three children of grocer and later Indiana Glass Company executive Wilbur C. and substitute school teacher Judith. He grew up in Anderson, Indiana, a General Motors factory town, graduating from Madison Heights High School in 1969. [2]
As a child, Hoover displayed an interest in business. He invented business games to play with friends. At the age of 12 in a quest to better understand General Motors he discovered and subscribed to Fortune Magazine. [3]
In 1969, Hoover entered the University of Chicago. There, he earned a bachelor's degree in economics. Four of his teachers, including Milton Friedman, later won Nobel Prizes. [4] [5]
After graduating from college, Hoover spent two years as a security analyst at Citibank, New York, covering the retailing industry, followed by two years as a buyer for Sanger-Harris, the Dallas division of Federated Department Stores. In 1977 he joined the May Department Stores Company in St. Louis, where he spent five years in tasks ranging from financial analysis and planning to shopping center development and marketing. [6]
In 1982, Hoover moved to Austin, Texas, where he launched Bookstop, a book superstore. Over seven years he and his colleagues developed the first chain of book superstores. In 1989 Bookstop was the United States's fourth-largest bookstore chain, with a total of 22 stores in four U.S. states. [7] Laura Elder of the Houston Business Journal wrote that the chain "pioneered the superstore concept". [8] Hoover himself states that "While the execution of the idea was difficult and complex, the core idea was not. We simply took the retail business model of Toys R Us — giant single-category stores with large product selections and low prices — and applied it to books." [9] Bookstop sold to Barnes & Noble for $41.5 million in 1989. [10]
In 1990, Hoover, Patrick Spain, and the same friends who helped start Bookstop started The Reference Press to publish Hoover's Handbook, an annual guide to big companies and other enterprises. The Reference Press would become Hoover's under the leadership of Hoover's friend Patrick Spain. Hoover stepped down as chief executive officer in December, 1992 to return to retailing, but remained on as chairman of the board of directors. In 1999 Hoover's, Inc. began trading on the NASDAQ until it was purchased in 2003 by Dun & Bradstreet for $117 million. [11] [12]
In 1994, using capital he had raised in a private placement and from small investors in Texas, Hoover opened two TravelFest stores in Austin and one in Houston. The superstore concept lost a major source of revenue when major airlines cut back the commissions they paid to travel agents. The stores were subsequently closed. [13]
In 2005 Hoover founded StoryStores, to build a chain of for-profit museums. The first, RoadStoryUSA, was planned to be a museum and entertainment center dedicated to the American road and all things connected with it. During the 2008 recession the project was aborted. [14]
In 2012 he started Bigwig Games, to produce business and social science strategic simulation games for the iPad and other tablet devices. [6] Hoover is the CEO and chief game designer of Bigwig Games. In August, 2014 the company launched its first game, Restaurant Bigwig, for the iPad. [15] [16]
In 2019 Hoover started the American Business History Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, devoted to the study, popularization, and celebration of business and entrepreneurial history. The center's purpose is to create and sponsor outreach programs including social media, speeches, video and audio presentations, tours, and books and other printed and digital articles and publications. [17]
From 1988 to 1993 Hoover served on the Board of Directors of Whole Foods Market. [18]
Hoover is the executive director and a board member of the American Business History Center. [19] Hoover is a fellow of the IC2 Institute and serves on the University of Texas School of Information Advisory Council, [20] the XADS Advisory Board, [21] and the advisory board of the Archbridge Institute. [22] Hoover is a former member of the University of Chicago Alumni Board of Governors. [23]
Hoover lives in Flatonia, Texas, where he has a library of more than 57,000 books. [24]
In 2008, Hoover received a distinguished alumni award from the University of Chicago. [4] In 2011, he was named one of the 30 most influential people in Austin, Texas by the Austin Business Journal. [25] In 2013, he was inducted into the Anderson Indiana Schools Hall of Fame. [2]
In 2009, Hoover became the first entrepreneur-in-residence at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. [1] In 2012, he became the entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin School of Information. He teaches classes through his independent Hoover Academy, and speaks worldwide. [26] Hoover has mentored hundreds of young entrepreneurs. [1]
In 2001, the University of Chicago opened the Hoover House dormitory, named in honor of Hoover for the gifts of stock in his companies made to the university over the last 20 years. [27]
In 2001, Hoover's book Hoover’s Vision: Original Thinking for Business Success was published by Texere, New York. [28] An updated version of the book re-titled The Art of Enterprise is available on dpdcart in pdf form. [29]
In 2016, Hoover published Gary Hoover's Retail Handbook 2016: Principles, Trends, and Giants of Retailing - a book of the history of retail innovations, mindsets of merchants, and business models of retailing. [30]
In July 2017, Hoover's book The Lifetime Learner's Guide to Reading and Learning was published by Assiduity Publishing House, Philadelphia. [31]
Hoover maintains a blog, Hooversworld, and a YouTube channel - hooverbits. [32]
Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., was an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered the electronics superstore format in the 1970s. After multiple purchases and a successful run on the NYSE, it changed its name to Circuit City Stores Inc.
Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a children's educational toy chain under Walden Kids. In 2011, the chain was liquidated in bankruptcy.
Ben Franklin is a chain of five and dime and arts and crafts stores found primarily in small towns throughout the United States, currently owned by Promotions Unlimited of Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. They are organized using a franchise system, with individual stores owned by independent proprietors. It was perhaps the first retail franchise, starting in 1927. They are named after Benjamin Franklin, taking a cue in their merchandise offerings from Franklin's saying, "A penny saved is a penny earned."
D&B Hoovers was founded by Gary Hoover and Patrick Spain in 1990 as an American business research company that provided information on companies and industries through their primary product platform named "Hoover's". In 2003, it was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet and operated for a time as a wholly owned subsidiary. In 2017, the Hoover's product was re-branded D&B Hoovers. Dun & Bradstreet is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, US. D&B Hoovers has sales, marketing and development resources in Austin, Texas, US.
Leonard S. Riggio is a retired American businessman and entrepreneur. He served as executive chairman of book store chain Barnes & Noble and was its largest shareholder from 1971 until the sale of the company to the hedge fund Elliott Advisors in 2019. Under his leadership the company expanded significantly from a single retail location on 105 Fifth Avenue, New York to a nationwide chain with 600+ stores, which it did with acquisitions and mergers of competing chain stores.
Nathan Polk Morton is best known as a pioneer of the "big-box" retail method.
Albert Diamond Cohen, LLD was a Canadian entrepreneur, community builder, philanthropist, and Officer of the Order of Canada. He was Chairman, Co-President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Gendis Inc., a Toronto Stock Exchange listed Canadian real estate and investment company headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At one time, Gendis held a 51% stake in Sony of Canada and owned the SAAN Stores retail chain.
Dominick's was a Chicago-area grocery store chain and subsidiary of Safeway Inc. Dominick's distribution center was located in Northlake, Illinois, while its management offices were located in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Roy Furr was the president of the Furr's chain of supermarkets and restaurants after his older brother Key Furr.
The Bootstrap Network is an organization of entrepreneurs founded in Austin, Texas in 2003 by Bijoy Goswami. The members, who are all founders of companies, give each other advice on building companies, the name referring to starting a company without outside financing, or 'bootstrapping'.
The Range is a multi-channel retailer selling products in the home, garden, and leisure categories, with over 210 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
James John Liautaud is an American restaurateur, who is widely known as the founder and former chairman of Jimmy John's sandwich chain.
Academy Sports + Outdoors is an American sporting-goods store chain with corporate offices in the Katy Distribution Center in unincorporated western Harris County, Texas, United States, near Katy and west of Houston. For 74 years, it was a privately held company owned by the Gochman family, until its May 2011 acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. In October 2020, it was listed on NASDAQ.
Patrick J. Spain is a serial entrepreneur. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of First Stop Health, LLC., a Chicago-based provider of telemedicine services. He is also the Executive Chairman and co-founder of the news curation site Newser. Spain is the former Chairman and CEO Hoover's, which he co-founded; and the founder and former CEO of HighBeam Research. Hoover's was sold to Dun & Bradstreet in 2003, and HighBeam Research was purchased by Cengage Learning in 2008.
Dick Clark + Associates, formerly known as Dick Clark Architecture, LLC is an Austin, Texas-based architectural firm.
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.
William Austin Ligon is the co-founder and retired CEO of CarMax. He retired in June 2006, and is now a private angel-stage investor. Among his recent investments are Gazelle, Redfin, Rev.com, Car Trade (India), Eneza Education (Kenya) and Tazza Kitchen.
Kendra Scott is an American fashion designer. She is the executive chairwoman, designer, and former chief executive officer of Kendra Scott, LLC. In 2017, she was named Ernst & Young's National Entrepreneur of the Year.
Bookstop Inc. was a Texas-based chain of bookstores that was at one time the fourth-largest bookselling chain in the United States. In 1989 Barnes & Noble acquired the company, at which point it became a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble. The chain also did business under the name Bookstar due to trademark conflicts in other states.
Federated Group was an American chain of consumer electronics retail stores with 67 stores in California, Texas, Arizona, and Kansas. The company was founded by Wilfred Schwartz in 1970 and opened the first deep discount consumer electronics "superstore" in the United States. In 1987, Federated Group was the fourth-largest discounter of consumer electronics in the U.S. Its company headquarters were in City of Commerce, California and later in Sunnyvale, California. Federated Group was sold in 1987 to Atari and sold again in 1989 to Silo.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
