Variety Wholesalers

Last updated
Variety Wholesalers, Inc.
Company type Private
IndustryRetail
Founded1930(95 years ago) (1930) in Henderson, North Carolina, U.S.
FounderJohn William Pope
Headquarters,
Number of locations
380 stores in the southeastern US
Key people
Art Pope, CEO
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$1.5 billion (2021)
Number of employees
~ 7,000 (2021)
Divisions
Subsidiaries Variety Stores, Inc.

Variety Wholesalers, Inc., is a privately held company based in Henderson, North Carolina, which owns more than 380 retail stores in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic United States under the banners Roses and Maxway. The company employs more than 7,000 workers.

Contents

History

It originated in 1930 as a small group of retail stores owned by the Pope family. In 1949, John William Pope took over the family business, and starting in 1970, the company expanded by purchasing a number of other retail chains, including the Roses and Maxway stores, to become one of the largest in the US.

In December 2024, Variety Wholesalers reached a deal to buy at least 200 stores and two distribution centers from the bankrupt Ohio-based discount store Big Lots and continue to operate them under the Big Lots name. [1]

The company is still privately owned by the Pope family, and its current CEO is Art Pope. [2] [3] [4]

Organization

The Company has three main divisions:

Maxway stores, which consists of 135 stores in the "junior department store" competitive market. The size of these stores range from 10,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet, and operate under the Maxway and Roses Express banners.

Super 10 consists of 85 stores. Their size ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. These stores operate under the names "Super Dollar," "Bill's Dollar Stores," "Super 10", and "Bargain Town".

Roses stores have 160 locations and are competitive with "discount" and "off-price" stores. These range in size from 30,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet. [5]


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References

  1. Big Lots reaches deal to keep hundreds of U.S. stores open., Dec 28, 2024, retrieved 2024-12-29
  2. Real Estate
  3. About Variety Wholesalers, archived from the original on 2013-12-24, retrieved 2013-12-23
  4. "N.C. budget director briefly debates a top critic". December 2, 2013. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  5. "About Variety Wholesalers". www.vwstores.com. Archived from the original on 2015-08-15.