Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Discount retail |
Founded | 1977 |
Founder | Marc Perlman, Alan Perlman, Roy Dubs |
Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 153 [1] |
Area served | New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania |
Key people | Marc Perlman, Alan Perlman, Steve Aronow |
Products | Gifts, Housewares, Food, Flooring, Books, Toys, Hardware, Electronics, Clothing, Lawn and Garden, Health and Beauty, Sporting Goods, Pet Supplies, Automotive, Seasonal |
Brands | Various |
Revenue | $700M |
Owner | Ocean State Jobbers, Inc. [2] |
Number of employees | 5,600 [3] [4] |
Subsidiaries | Unknown restaurants |
Website | oceanstatejoblot |
Ocean State Job Lot (abbreviation: OSJL or simply Job Lot) is a northeastern American chain of discount closeout retailers founded in Rhode Island in 1977. In addition to its origin state, it operates stores throughout the Northeastern United States, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York, and New Jersey. The company is headquartered in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
The name of the company derives from Rhode Island's nickname, "The Ocean State", and from "Job Lot", which means a miscellaneous group of articles.
Founded by Marc Perlman, Alan Perlman, and Roy Dubs in 1977 as a single store, it currently operates 145 stores in the US and has more than 5,600 associates. Its selection of merchandise comprises a variety of discounted household goods, apparel, pet supplies, kitchen pantry staples, and seasonal products (holiday, gardening, patio, pool and beach supplies); a majority of these items are unsold and/or excess merchandise purchased in bulk from other retailers such as Walmart, Publix, or Target that are then sold at deeply discounted prices. [5]
Ocean State Job Lot was founded in 1977 in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, by Marc Perlman, Alan Perlman, and Roy Dubs. After Ames went bankrupt in 2002, Ocean State Job Lot expanded by buying many of its former locations in New England. [6] [7] [8] In 2017, 2018, and 2020, the company was on the Forbes 's list of “America's Best Midsize Employers”. [9] [10] [11] In 2017, the company completed a 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m2) expansion of its warehouse in North Kingstown, making it the building with the largest footprint in Rhode Island with a total of 1,250,000 square feet (116,000 m2). [12] [3] [13] As of 2018, the company generated nearly $700 million in annual sales. Most recently in 2019, the company expanded into Pennsylvania by acquiring former Toys "R" Us locations. [14] [15] [16]
Ocean State Job Lot is a family-run privately-held business with its corporate headquarters and distribution center in North Kingstown, RI at Quonset Point. [3] During its expansion, the company has revitalized numerous commercial spaces and shopping plazas throughout the Northeast by acquiring vacant properties once occupied by other retailers. [17] [18] [19] OSJL's business model involves purchasing merchandise directly from manufacturers and other retailers such Walmart/Sam's Club, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Kroger, Costco, Whole Foods Market, TJX-owned stores, and Target in bulk and selling in smaller quantities to customers with the minimum operational and distribution costs. The merchandise selection consists of a variety of manufacturer's overruns, overstocks and packaging changes, as well as selected other products. The company is especially focused on buying and selling closeouts. [12] [20] It is also affiliated with the import and distribution company Yankee Trader, LLC.
The Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation was founded in 2004. [21] Through the charity, the company claims to support a number of philanthropic causes including Israel, [22] feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, assisting veterans and military families, [23] aiding animal rescue, caring for children, advancing healthcare, supporting the arts, and promoting learning and sport activity in the local communities. [24] [25] [26] [27]
Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, toys, and housewares. Many of the company's stores were opened in shopping malls; however, some locations were operated independently. Based on 2005 revenue, Mervyn's was the 83rd largest retailer in the United States.
Dollarama Inc. is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Mount Royal, Quebec. Since 2009, it has been Canada's biggest retailer of items for five dollars or less. Dollarama has over 1400 stores and is active in all of Canada; Ontario has the most stores.
Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd. is an American discount supermarket chain store headquartered in St. Ann, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It has about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.
Publix Super Markets, Inc., doing business as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and past employees and members of the Jenkins family. Publix operates throughout the Southeastern United States, with locations in Florida (867), Georgia (212), Alabama (90), South Carolina (69), Tennessee (58), North Carolina (54), Virginia (20), and Kentucky (1). Kentucky is the most recent addition to the Publix footprint, with the company's first store in that state having opened on January 10, 2024, in Louisville.
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more items or products.
Big Lots Stores, Inc. is an American discount retail chain headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1967 as Consolidated Stores, it has over 1,000 locations across the United States. Big Lots stores typically sell closeout and overstock merchandise from other stores, although some stores also sell furniture.
Caldor, Inc. was a discount department store chain founded in 1951 by husband and wife Carl and Dorothy Bennett. Referred to by many as "the Bloomingdale's of discounting," Caldor grew from a second story "Walk-Up-&-Save" operation in Port Chester, New York, into a regional retailing giant. Its stores were earning over $1 billion in sales by the time Carl Bennett retired in 1985, by which time Caldor was a subsidiary of Associated Dry Goods.
Building #19 was a New England chain of discount closeout retailers that operated from 1964 until it declared bankruptcy in 2013. At the time of its bankruptcy, it had thirteen stores. The family that owned the chain later reopened two of the former locations as a part of a new business, The Rug Department, that was limited to rugs and related merchandise. However, these locations in Norwood and Burlington closed in 2014.
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; these included stores in every province in Canada and in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California and Nevada.
Revco Discount Drug Stores, once based in Twinsburg, Ohio, was a major drug store chain operating through the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Southeastern United States. The chain's stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RXR. Revco was sold to CVS Pharmacy for $2.8 billion in February 1997. When it was sold, the chain had over 2,500 stores.
Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002.
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 emphasize its toy products. Retail sales began during the 1970s, using the name Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby.
A closeout or clearance sale is a discount sale of inventory either by retail or wholesale. It may be that a product is not selling well, or that the retailer is closing because of relocation, a fire, over-ordering, or especially because of bankruptcy. In the latter case, it is usually known as a going-out-of-business sale or liquidation sale, and is part of the process of liquidation. A hail sale is a closeout at a car dealership after hail damage.
Famous Footwear is a nationwide chain of retail stores in the United States dealing in branded footwear, generally at prices discounted from manufacturer's suggested prices. The chain is a division of the St. Louis–based Caleres and had more than 1,125 stores in 2010.
Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc., commonly referred to as Ollie's Bargain Outlet is an American chain of discount closeout retailers. It was founded in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1982 by Morton Bernstein and Mark L. Butler with backing from Harry Coverman and Oliver E. "Ollie" Rosenberg; the latter of whom is the namesake of the company. As of May 2024, the chain has 525 locations in 31 states. Its selection of merchandise comprises a variety of discounted household goods, apparel, pet supplies, kitchen pantry staples, and seasonal products ; a majority of these items are unsold or overstocked merchandise that is purchased in bulk from other retailers and sold at discounted prices.
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Benny's was a New England–based discount retail chain founded in 1924 in Providence, Rhode Island, and having operated in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The main company offices were located in Esmond, Smithfield, Rhode Island. On September 8, 2017, the company announced that it would be closing all 31 of its operating locations, and its last location in Greenville, Rhode Island, closed permanently on December 11, 2017.
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