Nordstrom Inc. is an American chain of luxury department stores, also operating in Canada and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1901 by Swedish American John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin, the company began as a shoe retailer and expanded its inventory to include clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, and fragrances. Select Nordstrom stores also include wedding and home furnishings departments. The company also has in-house cafes, restaurants and espresso bars. Nordstrom, Inc.'s common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN.
Sears, Roebuck and Company, colloquially known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1893, reincorporated by Richard Sears and new partner Julius Rosenwald in 1906. Formerly based at the Sears Tower in Chicago and currently headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, the operation began as a mail ordering catalog company and began opening retail locations in 1925. The first location was in Evansville, Indiana. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box chain Kmart, which formed Sears Holdings upon completion of the merger.
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is an American department store chain with 864 locations in 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. In addition to selling conventional merchandise, J. C. Penney stores often house several leased departments such as Sephora, Seattle's Best Coffee, salons, auto centers, optical centers, portrait studios, and jewelry repair.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., now known as simply American Eagle, is an American lifestyle clothing and accessories retailer, headquartered in the Southside Works Neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their ownership interests in 1991 to Jacob Price of Knoxville, Tennessee. American Eagle Outfitters is also the parent company of Aerie.
Payless ShoeSource Inc. is an American discount footwear retailer headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, whose U.S. and Canadian locations are soon to be defunct. Established in 1956 by cousins Louis and Shaol Pozez, Payless is a privately held company owned by Blum Capital, and Golden Gate Capital. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation which merged with The May Department Stores Company in 1979. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the U.S. for its Pro Wings line of discount sneakers, which often had Velcro straps instead of laces. In 1996, Payless ShoeSource became an independent publicly held company. In 2004, Payless ShoeSource announced it would exit the Parade chain and would close 100 Payless Shoe outlets. On August 17, 2007, the company acquired the Stride Rite Corporation and changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc. The company had a total revenue for 2011 of US$ 3.4 billion. The company also has a stunt premium banner, Palessi Shoes.
Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries worldwide.
Rainbow Shops, commonly referred to as just Rainbow is a privately held, moderately priced American retail apparel chain comprising several lifestyle brands primarily targeting teens and young women. The company is headquartered in East New York, NY, United States.
An outlet store, factory outlet or factory shop is a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowing customers to watch the production process such as in the original L.L. Bean store. In modern usage, outlet stores are typically manufacturer-branded stores such as Gap or Bon Worth grouped together in outlet malls. The invention of the factory outlet store is often credited to Harold Alfond, founder of the Dexter Shoe Company.
Henri Bendel, established in 1895, was a women's accessories store based in New York City that sold the Henri Bendel brand of handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its flagship New York store was located at 712 Fifth Avenue.
Anthropologie is an American clothing retailer that currently operates over 200 stores worldwide featuring a curated assortment of clothing, jewelry, intimates, home furniture and décor, beauty, and gifts.
Wet Seal is an American teen clothing online retailer headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California. It carries low, budget or economy-priced brand name and company-designed apparel and accessories. The company was founded in Newport Beach, California, by Lorne Huycke in 1962 as "Lorne's". The "Wet Seal" name comes from a comment Huycke made during a fashion show commenting that a model wearing a bathing suit looked like a "wet seal". The company was incorporated as Wet Seal in 1990.
Charming Shoppes was a specialty and plus size clothing retail holding company based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania; a suburb of Philadelphia. Its subsidiaries included Lane Bryant, Cacique, Fashion Bug and Catherines Plus. Clothes were sold from over 2300 retail stores in the United States, as well as numerous catalogs and online sites. In 2012, the company and assets were acquired by Ascena Retail Group.
The Aldo Group is a Canadian retailer that owns and operates a worldwide chain of shoe and accessories stores. The company was founded by Aldo Bensadoun in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Quebec, in 1972, where its corporate headquarters remain today. It has grown to become a worldwide corporation, with nearly 3,000 stores under three retail banners: ALDO, Call It Spring/Spring and GLOBO. Stores in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland are owned by the Group, while international stores are franchised. The company once operated the now closed or rebranded banners. Little Burgundy, Simard & Voyer, Christian Shoes, Access, Pegabo, Transit, Stoneridge, Locale, Feetfirst and FIRST.
Call It Spring is a retailer of men's and women's shoes, with locations primarily found in shopping malls.
Chico's is a retail women's clothing chain founded in 1983 by a three-person operation on Sanibel Island, Florida. Chico's FAS, Inc. is an American women’s clothing and accessories retailer. The company was founded by Marvin and Helene Gralnick and is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida. Chico's FAS operates three brands: its namesake Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma. As of November 1, 2014, Chico's FAS operated 1,557 women's clothing stores in the US and Canada and sold merchandise through franchise locations in Mexico.
Deb Shops is a catalog and online retailer, formerly a specialty retail chain store in the United States that sold women's clothing and accessories under its own private labels as well as other labels. The company was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and principally served junior and plus-sized women in their early teens through their late twenties. At its peak, Deb Shops operated 337 stores across 42 states. They have moved to become exclusively a plus-size store.
Easyday is an Indian retail brand that runs chains of consumer retail supermarkets and convenience stores. The brand is wholly owned by Future Retail Ltd. Bharti Enterprises announced its foray into retail in February 2007 and the first store was opened in Punjab in April 2008. Easyday presently has 523 stores across 12 states.
The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap, is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer.
Edison Brothers Stores, Inc., was a retail conglomerate based in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated numerous retail chains mainly located in shopping malls, mostly in the fields of shoes, clothing and entertainment, with Bakers Shoes as its flagship chain. The company was liquidated in 1999, though some of the chains it operated continued under different owners.
The retail apocalypse is the closing of a large number of North American brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains, starting in 2010 and continuing onward. Over 12,000 physical stores have been closed, due to factors such as over-expansion of malls, rising rents, bankruptcies of leveraged buyouts, low quarterly profits outside holiday binge spending, delayed effects of the Great Recession, and changes in spending habits. North American consumers have shifted their purchasing habits due to various factors, including experience-spending versus material goods and homes, casual fashion in relaxed dress codes, as well as the rise of e-commerce, mostly in the form of competition from juggernaut companies such as Amazon.com and Walmart.
