Wilson's | |
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1947 |
Founder | Huey John Wilson |
Defunct | 1985 |
Fate | Acquisition by Service Merchandise |
Successor | Service Merchandise |
Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 80 |
Area served | Southern United States |
Products | Jewelry |
H. J. Wilson Co., also known as Wilson's, was an American catalog showroom chain based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Founded in 1947 as a jewelry store, it was acquired in 1985 by Service Merchandise.
The store was begun by Huey John Wilson in 1947 as a jewelry vendor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ten years later, Wilson opened his first catalog showroom. By 1982, Wilson's was the third-largest catalog showroom chain in the United States. [1] At its peak, it had 80 stores in 12 states. In 1985, rival chain Service Merchandise purchased all 80 of the Wilson's stores. [2]
Wilson died on February 8, 2008 at age 80. [3]
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. On the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, the most-populous parish in Louisiana. Since 2020, it has been the 99th-most-populous city in the United States, and second-largest city in Louisiana after New Orleans. It is the 18th-most-populous state capital. At the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 tabulation, it had a population of 227,470; its consolidated population was 456,781 in 2020. It is the center of the Greater Baton Rouge area, the second-largest metropolitan area in Louisiana, with a population of 870,569 as of 2020, up from 802,484 in 2010.
Huey Pierce Long Jr., nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States Senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. He was a left-wing populist member of the Democratic Party and rose to national prominence during the Great Depression for his vocal criticism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, which Long deemed insufficiently radical. As the political leader of Louisiana, he commanded wide networks of supporters and often took forceful action. A controversial figure, Long is celebrated as a populist champion of the poor or, conversely, denounced as a demagogue.
Spencer Gifts LLC, doing business as Spencer's, is a North American mall retailer with over 600 stores in the United States and Canada. Their stores specialize in novelty and gag gifts, and also sell clothing, band merchandise, sex toys, room decor, collectible figures, fashion and body jewelry, fantasy and horror items. The company also owns and operates a pop-up seasonal retailer, Spirit Halloween.
Best Products Company, Inc., or Best, was a chain of American catalog showroom retail stores founded by Sydney and Frances Lewis, formerly headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded in 1957 and went out of business in 1997. At the time of the second bankruptcy filing, it had 169 Best stores and 11 Best Jewelry stores in 23 states, and a nationwide mail-order service. When in operation Best Products was traded on the NASDAQ exchange as "BESTQ".
The Louisiana State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Louisiana and is located in downtown Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the chambers for the Louisiana State Legislature, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the office of the Governor of Louisiana. At 450 feet (137 m) tall and with 34 stories, it is the tallest skyscraper in Baton Rouge, the seventh tallest building in Louisiana, and tallest capitol in the United States. It is located on a 27-acre (110,000 m2) tract, which includes the capitol gardens. The Louisiana State Capitol is often thought of as "Huey Long's monument" due to the influence of the former Governor and U.S. Senator in getting the capitol built. The building's construction was completed in 1931. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.
Service Merchandise was a retailer chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics that existed for 68 years.
The Huey P. Long - O.K. Allen Bridge is a truss cantilever bridge over the Mississippi River carrying US 190 and one rail line between East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana and West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
A catalog merchant is a form of retailing. The typical merchant sells a wide variety of household and personal products, with many emphasizing jewelry. Unlike a self-serve retail store, most of the items are not displayed; customers select the products from printed catalogs in the store and fill out an order form. The order is brought to the sales counter, where a clerk retrieves the items from the warehouse area to a payment and checkout station.
Brendle's was a chain of catalog showrooms based in Elkin, North Carolina, USA. Its showrooms carried jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics. At its peak in 1990, Brendle's operated 58 showrooms in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee.
Maison Blanche was a department store in New Orleans, Louisiana, and later also a chain of department stores. It was founded in 1897 by Isidore Newman, an immigrant from Germany.
The Mall of Louisiana is a mid-scale shopping mall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, between I-10 and Bluebonnet Blvd. It is the largest mall in Louisiana and contains the third largest indoor carousel in the world. It is the only regional mall in Baton Rouge. The anchor stores are 2 Dillard's stores, Main Event Entertainment, JCPenney, And Macy's,
H. H. Gregg, Inc. is an American online retailer and former retail chain of consumer electronics and home appliances in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast United States, that operated stores in 20 states including Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Valor Group LLC purchased the brand from the company's bankruptcy trustee for $400,000 in 2017. H.H. Gregg closed all stores in liquidation and had been operating as an online-only retailer since August that year, but it has since opened a new store in Somerset, New Jersey in 2019.
Cortana Place Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was at the intersection of Airline Highway and Florida Blvd. It was last owned by Moonbeam Equities of Las Vegas, Nevada. It opened in 1976 and was demolished in 2021.
K's Merchandise Mart, Inc. was a catalog showroom department store based in Decatur, Illinois. It offered furniture, jewelry, and general merchandise, including electronics, at 17 locations in 5 Midwestern states at the time of its closing.
Rouses Markets are a chain of grocery supermarkets in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi with more than 6,500 employees.
The Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center is a historic hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, originally built in 1927 as the Heidelberg Hotel. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Heidelberg Hotel was a favorite dwelling of Louisiana Governor Huey Long, who had a fourth-floor suite. For a time it was known as the Capitol House Hotel, when under the management of former State Representative Chris Faser, Jr. Huey P. Long, John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Jimmy Carter, Will Rogers, and Fidel Castro were all guests of the hotel.
Harold Roitenberg was an American businessman who founded the catalog merchandiser and showroom Modern Merchandising Inc.
Luria's was a chain of catalog showroom stores in Florida, from 1961 to 1997.