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.
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States.
Pathmark is a supermarket brand owned by Allegiance Retail Services, a retailers’ cooperative based in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. Pathmark currently has one location in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, which it has operated since 2019.
Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is 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.
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.
Bradlees Department Store, more commonly known as Bradlees, was a discount department store chain based in 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 1990s, 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.
Zayre was a chain of discount stores that operated in the eastern half of the United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in Framingham, Massachusetts. In October 1988, Zayre's parent company, Zayre Corp., sold the stores to the competing Ames Department Stores, Inc. chain, and in June 1989, Zayre Corp. merged with one of its subsidiaries, The TJX Companies, parent company of T.J. Maxx, which still exists today. A number of stores retained the Zayre name until 1990, by which time all stores were either closed or converted into Ames stores.
H. C. Prange Co., sometimes shortened to Prange's, was an American department store chain begun by H. C. Prange in 1887 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. At its peak, it operated stores in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. It also operated discount stores under the Prange Way name in the former two states, although this division was sold off in the 1990s. Prange's was dissolved and most of the stores converted to the rival Younkers chain after sale in 1992.
The Penn Traffic Company was founded in 1854 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as a food service company for stagecoaches. It eventually became a general-merchandise department store but by the early 1960s had also returned to the food business through the acquisition of Super Value Corporation, operator of the 10-store Riverside supermarket chain. In 1982, the company sold its department stores and concentrated solely on the food and supermarket business. A series of financial troubles led to Penn Traffic's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in November 2009 and sale of assets to Tops Markets in early 2010.
Ernst Home Centers, Inc. was a chain of home improvement retail stores founded in Seattle, Washington, United States. Ernst was started in 1893 by Seattle brothers Charles and Fred Ernst and in 1960 became a division of Pay 'n Save, one of the largest retail companies in the Northwest. After a 1984 takeover of Pay 'n Save, Ernst was sold off and went public in 1994. Following several highly publicized lawsuits and a failed attempt to open larger stores, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996 and liquidated in early 1997. At the company's peak, it operated 95 stores in 12 western U.S. states.
Bon-Ton Holdings Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded in 1898. After rapid expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s, the original company had financial troubles, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2018 before being sold and liquidated. In September 2018, CSC Generation began operating as an online retailer headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, with plans to open brick and mortar locations. In early 2021, CSC Generation sold all the acquired assets of Bon-Ton to New York-based BrandX.com, Inc in a private sale and included other brands such as Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's, and Younkers.
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.
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.
Child World was an American toy retailer founded in 1962. It grew to 182 sites and revenues of $830 million before failing in 1992. It was known for the distinctive stylized castle store exterior adopted after its 1977 purchase of the Children's Palace store chain.
Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, was a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms.
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.
Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-largest retailing company in the United States in 2015. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, and sold its assets to ESL Investments in 2019. The new owner moved Sears assets to its newly formed subsidiary Transform Holdco LLC and after that, Sears Holdings Corporation was closed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a sharp economic toll on the retail industry worldwide as many retailers and shopping centers were forced to shut down for months due to mandated stay-at-home orders. As a result of these closures, online retailers received a major boost in sales as customers looked for alternative ways to shop and the effects of the retail apocalypse were exacerbated. A number of notable retailers filed for bankruptcy including Ascena Retail Group, Debenhams, Arcadia Group, Brooks Brothers, GNC, J. C. Penney, Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus.
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.
