Aldens was an American catalog merchant company.
Aldens was founded by Benjamin J. Rosenthal [1] in 1889 in Chicago under the name Chicago Mail Order and Millinery Company and was incorporated on December 15, 1902. [2] The company primarily sold fashion apparel and accessories for women and men via its catalog. [2]
In 1906, the name was changed to Chicago Mail Order Company. [2]
In the 1930s, the company expanded through acquisitions: in 1935, it purchased the mailing lists of M.W. Savage Company of Minneapolis; and in 1936, those of Hamilton Garment of New York and D.T. Bohon of Kentucky. [2] Soon after, Chicago Mail Order Company began offering a monthly payment plan to its customers, essentially granting credit; and expanded their line to include books, toys, and linens. [2]
In 1938, they expanded to include home furnishings and housewares; and sales increased to $24 million. [2]
In 1943, they built a large distribution warehouse in Chicago with 690,000 square feet of floor space. [2]
In 1944, they began to develop a retail network primarily in the Midwest (which eventually expanded to 16 stores by 1959). [2]
In 1947, the company was the fourth-largest mail-order distributor in the United States with $79.2 million in sales and changed its name to Aldens, Inc. [2] In 1957, sales were $102.4 million, they had 4,795 employees, and operated catalog telephone stores in 68 cities. [2]
In 1961, they began selling life insurance via their subsidiary, the John Alden Life Insurance Company. [2] In 1964, Gamble-Skogmo (which had previously purchased a 46% interest in Aldens), purchased the remaining stock in the company including the life insurance unit. [3] The catalog operation was liquidated in 1985 as part of bankruptcy proceedings for Wickes Companies, which had purchased Gamble-Skogmo in 1980.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began as a mail ordering catalog company migrating to opening retail locations in 1925, the first in Chicago. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box discount chain Kmart, which upon completion of the merger, formed Sears Holdings. Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. In 2018, it was the 31st-largest. After several years of declining sales, Sears's parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. It announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction, and that a reduced number of 425 stores would remain open, including 223 Sears stores.
Former American computer hardware company" />
Gateway, Inc., previously Gateway 2000, Inc., was an American computer company originally based in Iowa and South Dakota. Founded by Ted Waitt and Mike Hammond in 1985, the company developed, manufactured, supported, and marketed a wide range of personal computers, computer monitors, servers, and computer accessories. At its peak in the year 2000, the company employed nearly 25,000 worldwide. Following a seven-year-long slump, punctuated by the acquisition of rival computer manufacturer eMachines in 2004 and massive consolidation of the company's various divisions in an attempt to curb losses and regain market share, Gateway was acquired by Taiwanese hardware and electronics corporation Acer, in October 2007 for US$710 million.
Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The current Montgomery Ward Inc. is a national online shopping and mail-order catalog retailer that started several years after the original Montgomery Ward shut down.
Lane Bryant Inc. is an American women's apparel and intimates specialty retailer focusing on plus-size clothing. The company began in 1904 with maternity designs created by Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin. Lane Bryant, Inc., is the largest plus-size retailer in the United States. As of 2022, the chain consists of 448 stores in 46 U.S. states. Lane Bryant, Inc. is not affiliated with Lane Bryant catalog, which was spun off as a separate business in 1993.
Lands' End is an American clothing and home decor retailer founded in 1963 and based in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, that specializes in casual clothing, luggage, and home furnishings. The majority of the company's business is conducted through mail order and Internet sales, but the company also has 28 retail stores, primarily in the Upper Midwest and Hawaii. From 2002 to 2014, Lands' End was a subsidiary of Sears Holdings.
Steak company in the United States" />
Omaha Steaks International, Inc., known as Omaha Steaks, is a food retailer. The company is named after the city it was founded in, and its headquarters location, Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha Steaks manufactures, markets, and distributes a variety of steaks, meat, seafood, and some prepared foods. The company was an early pioneer in direct mail sales and online marketing.
Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:
Burpee Seeds and Plants, officially W. Atlee Burpee & Co., is an American seed and plant company that was founded by Washington Atlee Burpee in Pennsylvania in 1876.
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.
Brookstone is a chain of retail stores in the United States and China. It was founded as a mail-order business in 1965, when it started selling items, such as dental clamps and other specialty tools. Its first physical location opened in 1973 in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The company's headquarters are currently located in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
Spiegel was an American direct marketing retailer founded in 1865 by Joseph Spiegel. Spiegel published a catalog, like its competitors Sears and Montgomery Ward, which advertised various brands of apparel, accessories, and footwear, as well as housewares, toys, tools, firearms, and electronics. Their company brands included Newport News, Shape FX, and Old Kraftsman, among others. They also operated brick-and-mortar stores.
A catalog merchant is a form of retailing. The typical merchant sells a wide variety of household and personal products, with many emphasizing jewelry. Unlike a self-serve retail store, most of the items are not displayed; customers select the products from printed catalogs in the store and fill out an order form. The order is brought to the sales counter, where a clerk retrieves the items from the warehouse area to a payment and checkout station.
W. W. Grainger, Inc., is an American Fortune 500 industrial supply company founded in 1927 in Chicago by William W. (Bill) Grainger. He founded the company to provide consumers with access to a consistent supply of motors. The company now serves more than three million customers worldwide with offerings such as motors, lighting, material handling, fasteners, plumbing, tools, and safety supplies, along with inventory management services and technical support. Revenue is generally from business-to-business sales rather than retail sales. Grainger serves its customers through a network of approximately 598 branches, online channels, and 33 distribution centers.
Gamble-Skogmo Inc. was a conglomerate of retail chains and other businesses that was headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Business operated or franchised by Gamble-Skogmo included Gambles hardware and auto supply stores, Woman's World and Mode O'Day clothing stores, J.M. McDonald department stores, Leath Furniture stores, Tempo and Buckeye Mart Discount Stores, Howard's Brandiscount Department Stores, Rasco Variety Stores, Sarco Outlet Stores, Toy World, Rasco-Tempo, Red Owl Grocery, Snyder Drug and the Aldens mail-order company. In Canada, retail operations consisted of Macleods Hardware, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Stedmans Department Stores, based in Toronto, Ontario. Gamble-Skogmo carried a line of home appliances, including radios, televisions, refrigerators, and freezers, under the Coronado brand name.
Disney Consumer Products, Inc. is the retailing and licensing subsidiary of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Consumer Products was a segment of Disney until 2016, then a unit of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (2016–2018).
Red Owl was a grocery store chain in the United States, headquartered in Hopkins, Minnesota. Founded in 1922, it was initially owned and operated by a private investment firm affiliated with General Mills, and purchased in 1968 by Gamble-Skogmo.
FuncoLand was an American video game retailer based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, that specialized in selling new and used video game software. It is considered the first major video game retailer to allow consumers to sell and trade used video games. The chain's parent company Funco Inc. was established in the home of David R. Pomije in 1988, initially as a leaser of video games to video stores, and then as a mail-order business specializing in used video games. Upon the success of this venture, Pomije moved Funco to a Minneapolis warehouse, and began opening FuncoLand retail outlets nationwide.
Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc. was a Washington, D.C.-based national retail conglomerate that existed from 1967 to 1981.
Foster & Smith, Inc. was an American mail order and e-commerce pet supply corporation based in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The company funds PetEducation.com, a "resource for any pet owner who is seeking information."
Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. is an American specialty retailer and wholesale distributor of leather and leatherwork related products. It operates more than 100 stores worldwide. Originally part of the Tandy Corporation, Tandy Leather has gone through a series of acquisitions and mergers, eventually being sold to The Leather Factory in 2000. The Tandy Leather flagship store next to their corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas also houses the Al and Ann Stohlman Leathercraft Museum.
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.
