C. R. Anthony Co.

Last updated

| defunct = 1997 | location = Cushing, Oklahoma, US | industry = Retail | products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. Also, material, patterns and other sewing products. }}

Contents

C.R. Anthony Co., stores branded as Anthony's, was a chain of family-owned and - operated upscale department stores founded in 1922 in Cushing, Oklahoma by C.R with Martin until 1922, when he left the company and sold all of his shares to start his own retail business. [1]

Anthony company history

On September 1, 1922, he opened his own store, named the Dixie Store, in a 25-foot storefront in Cushing, Oklahoma. By the following year, Anthony owned six stores: four Dixie Stores at Cushing, Pawhuska, Hominy and Barnsdall; and two C. R. Anthony Stores, at Anadarko and Chickasha, Oklahoma. [1]

As the company grew, it financed expansion by using the profits of one store to finance another. Each manager trained the next one, and each held a one-third partnership in his store. Anthony considered his core market to be rural and small-town people, and he paid close attentions to meeting their desires in merchandise. He also believed that the owners of a business cared the most about its well being. In 1926, he converted the company to a public corporation, but offered shares only to employees of the corporation. [lower-alpha 1]

Anthony chose as his slogan, "The friendliest store in town." The first large city in which Anthony opened a store was Oklahoma City, in 1939. [1] One source said that Anthony's marketing philosophy was, ""When we come to making a decision on the selling price of an article, it should not be how much, but how little we can sell it for, and still make a profit." [3] "C. R. Anthony's Philosophy of 1922 Remains Up-to-Date." Oklahoman. April 13, 1986. Accessed November 8, 2016."

In 1985 Anthony's introduced its own credit card. [4]

In March 1986, the Oklahoma City station KOCO-TV, as a part of the Five Who Care Awards, gave its 1986 Corporate Humanitarian Award to C.R. Anthony Co. in recognition of contributions to Oklahoma City in areas of community service, monetary donations, employee voluntarism and the overall quality of life. The same article said that Anthonys had 88 department stores in Oklahoma in 1985, and reported sales of more than $427.5 million. [3]


Anthony Stores milestones

Founder's retirement and death

C.R. Anthony retired from the company in 1972 and his son Guy Anthony became president of the company. In 1980, Guy Anthony retired and his son, Bob Anthony, became president of the company. [6] Bob Anthony remained president of Anthony's until 1987 when the company's shareholders voted to sell it to an investor group sponsored by Citicorp Venture Capital. [6]

C. R. died June 16, 1976.

Bankruptcy

Anthonys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991 after bank lenders refused to fund seasonal line of credit after technical default on a loan [5] At the time it operated 182 stores in the United States. It emerged from bankruptcy in 1992. [5] Continental Bank, N. A. of Illinois cut the $32 million line of credit that Anthonys normally used seasonally to pay for new merchandise. Anthony's executives said that the bank's action was because the store chain had fallen below a ratio of fixed charges to operating income specified in the $40 million financing agreement that had allowed the corporate buyout in 1987, and that Anthony's had not fallen behind in any payments on its loans. The company had already repaid $24 million of the $40 million debt, was current on all lease and tax payments, [7]

Sale to Stage Stores Inc.

In 1997 Stage Stores Incorporated acquired C. R. Anthony's. [6] It rebranded most of the stores with the Stage name and closed the remaining. At the time of the merger Anthony's operated 226 stores in 14 states [2] and opened 13 more before the buyout was complete. [5] Stage Stores operated 316 department stores in 19 states under the names Stage, Bealls and Palais Royal. [8] The purchase price was reportedly $92 million. [1] Stage Stores itself filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of 2020 after failing to find a buyer for the chain. [9] [10]

Further reading

Notes

  1. ↑ The C. R. Anthony Company stock was listed on the Nasdaq using the symbol CRAU [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toys "R" Us</span> American international toy, clothing and baby product retailer

Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winn-Dixie</span> American supermarket chain

Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., styled as Winn✓Dixie, is an American supermarket chain headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Winn-Dixie operates more than 546 stores in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The company has had its present name since 1955 and can trace its roots back to 1925.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McCrory Stores</span> American store chain

McCrory Stores or J.G. McCrory's was a chain of five and dime stores in the United States based in York, Pennsylvania. The stores typically sold shoes, clothing, housewares, fabrics, penny candy, toys, cosmetics, and often included a lunch counter or snack bar. They also exclusively sold Oriole Records, one of the most popular 'dime store labels' from 1921 to 1938.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn Traffic</span> Defunct retail chain

The Penn Traffic Company was a food service company founded in 1854 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweetbay Supermarket</span> Defunct American supermarket chain (2004-2013)

Sweetbay Supermarket was a chain of American supermarkets located in Florida. The first Sweetbay Supermarket to open was in Seminole, Florida, in November 2004. The company's headquarters was located near Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida. It was a part of the Belgian Delhaize Group. In May 2013, the chain was purchased by BI-LO. On October 8, 2013, BI-LO announced it was retiring the Sweetbay name and all remaining locations would be re-branded as Winn-Dixie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goody's (department store)</span>

Goody's Family Clothing Inc. was an American chain of department stores, owned and operated by Stage Stores and headquartered in Houston, TX. It specialized in retailing on-trend apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stage Stores</span> American retail company

Stage Stores was a department store company specializing in retailing off-price brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares throughout the United States. Stores were usually located in shopping malls and centers or in standalone locations. The corporate office was located in Houston, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BI-LO (United States)</span> American supermarket chain owned by Southeastern Grocers

BI-LO was an American supermarket chain owned by Southeastern Grocers, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. At the time of the banner’s elimination, supermarkets under the BI-LO brand were operated in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Robert Anthony is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Anthony is serving his sixth consecutive six-year term on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, where he has served since 1989. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 2004, and unsuccessful candidate for United States Congress running against Glenn English in 1990. Anthony is term-limited in 2024.

Pergament Home Centers was a home improvement store chain with stores in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It specialized in the sale of flooring, paint, and wallpaper and was one of the first in the area to sell acrylic paint. At its zenith, the chain had 42 stores and sales of $375 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bealls (Texas-based department store)</span> American department store chain

3 Bealls Holding Corp. was a Texan chain of department stores, owned by Stage Stores Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas. The store specialized in retailing desirable brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares.

Otasco was a retail chain specializing in auto parts and appliances based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Linens 'n Things was a big-box retailer specializing in home textiles, housewares, and decorative home accessories. Based in Clifton, New Jersey, the chain operated 571 stores in 47 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and had 7,300 employees as of December 2006. The company's business strategy was "to offer a broad selection of high quality, brand name home furnishings merchandise at exceptional everyday values, provide superior guest service, and maintain low operating costs."

Harold's Stores, Inc. was a Norman, Oklahoma- and later Dallas-based chain of traditional, high-end classic styled ladies and men's specialty apparel stores. The chain operated 43 stores in 19 southern, western, and mid-western states in the United States. Prior to its bankruptcy filing, the company employed 624 people. The company was granted bankruptcy liquidation on November 10, 2008.

John A. Brown was an Oklahoma department store chain. It operated under that name from 1932, when its founder bought out its predecessor and renamed the chain for himself. After Mr. Brown died in 1940, his widow took over management until her own death in 1967, forcing a change in ownership. Dayton-Hudson, another retail company, continued operating the chain under the Brown name, until 1984, when Dayton-Hudson sold the Brown chain to Dillard's, another national chain, which combined all of the Brown stores under its own name. The flagship store on West Main Street was closed in 1974 and was subsequently razed as part of an urban renewal project. The project was supposed to result in a new shopping center known as the Galleria. However, the project was never completed, so the Brown chain never returned to downtown.

Payless Cashways was a building materials retailer based in Kansas City, United States. The company primarily operated during the 1980s and 1990s, and is considered among the first national chains to implement the DIY strategy. The company experienced financial difficulties during the late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeastern Grocers</span> American supermarket company

Southeastern Grocers is an American supermarket portfolio headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The portfolio was created by Lone Star Funds in September 2013 as the new parent company for Harveys, Winn-Dixie, and Fresco y Más. Southeastern Grocers was rated #31 in the Forbes 2015 ranking of America's Largest Private Companies. In February 2017, Anthony Hucker was appointed as president and CEO of Southeastern Grocers. On August 16, 2023, the company announced its intention to sell all Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores to German supermarket chain Aldi, and all locations will either remain open under their respective brands or convert into the ALDI brand. SEG has also agreed to divest its Fresco y Más operations, via a sale of the banner that the company expects to close in the first quarter of 2024. The Fresco y Más banner, including all 28 stores and four pharmacies, will be sold to Fresco Retail Group LLC, an investment group focused on food and grocery. Fresco Retail Group, LLC plans for all stores and pharmacies in the Fresco y Más banner to continue operating as they are presently.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.