Company type | Public |
---|---|
NYSE: MES | |
Industry | Retail holding company |
Predecessor | Melville Shoe Corporation |
Founded | 1922 |
Founder | Ward Melville |
Defunct | 1996 |
Fate | Business reorganization |
Successor | CVS Health |
Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 7,282 (at its peak) |
Subsidiaries | See Divisions |
Melville Corporation was a large retail holding company incorporated by Ward Melville in 1922 from Melville Shoe Company. Formerly based in Rye, New York, it became CVS Corporation in 1996 under a massive reorganization plan. The company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker MES, before changing its ticker to CVS.
During the period from 1925 to 1928, the number of Melville stores increased by 184% and net income expanded 360%. In the first three months of 1929 the chain store realized a 34% increase in sales over 1928. [1] In February 1930 the Melville Shoe Corporation controlled 460 Thom McAn, Rival, and John Ward stores in thirty-nine of the United States. [2] At its peak, Melville operated over 7,282 retail stores in approximately 3,500 unique locations, providing a wide range of products.
In April 1976, the Melville Corporation acquired Marshalls, a chain of thirty-two specialty stores, based in New England. The purchase price was $40 million. [3]
Melville was one of the first companies in the world to develop a shared-services satellite communications network, consolidating the infrastructure of all of its discrete divisions, resulting in significant cost savings for the corporation.[ citation needed ]
Beginning in the early 1990s, Melville was under pressure to reorganize and shed its diverse portfolio. Many of the chains the company operated were underperforming. [4]
The chain shed all of its retail chains, except for CVS, which accounted for 40% of Melville's revenue. Its Peoples, Revco, Standard Drug, and Austin Drug pharmacies were converted to the CVS identity. Most of the company's units that were unrelated to its pharmacy business were shed in 1996.[ citation needed ]
Many of the retail divisions that Melville once owned still operate either as independent companies or as subsidiaries of other companies.
During the height of Melville's success, the company operated the following retailing divisions.
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The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from 1894 until September 16, 1998. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March 1923, with the symbol KNN. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a general store in rural Candor, New York. The father became indebted and George vowed to repay his debts. In 1894, at the age of 28, he had saved enough to purchase a Lester retail outlet in Waverly, New York. Lester Shoe of Binghamton, New York was the predecessor to the Endicott Johnson Corporation. Kinney succeeded by selling affordably priced shoes to working Americans.
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