Caldor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Fate | Bankruptcy |
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| Founded | 1951 (Port Chester, New York) |
| Defunct | May 15, 1999 |
| Headquarters | Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Clothing, photography, garden/seasonal, sporting goods, appliances, hardware, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, housewares |
Caldor was a chain of American discount department stores based in Norwalk, Connecticut, operating locations throughout the northeastern United States. At one time the company was a subsidiary of May Department Stores, and was also one of the largest discount retailers in the country.
Despite being a popular destination for shoppers, Caldor faced mounting losses during its last years in business. The chain declared bankruptcy in 1995 and never fully emerged from it, eventually resorting to liquidation and closed all its stores on May 15, 1999.
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[edit] History
[edit] Beginning
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The first store was opened by Carl and Dorothy Bennett in Port Chester, New York, in 1951; the name was taken from parts of the couple's first names. Caldor had expanded to several locations by the mid-1960s, and by the 1980s, had locations across the East Coast, stretching from New Hampshire to Virginia. As of late 1998, Caldor had 145 stores in 10 states. Caldor was also the site of many former J.M. Fields locations. Although as of May 2008, Carl Bennett is still alive, Dorothy Bennett died of a lengthy illness on May 2, 2008. She was 82 years old.
The Bennetts sold the company to Associated Dry Goods Corporation (ADG) in 1981. ADG would merge with May Department Stores in 1986. May sold the chain in November 1990 in a leveraged buyout. In 1991, Caldor went public and earned over $2.5 billion in revenue that year, becoming the fourth largest retailer in the United States behind Kmart, Target, and Wal-Mart. That same year Caldor came out with a new red logo and in 1992 introduced a new format for their stores. Throughout the early 1990s, Caldor expanded and renovated many of their older stores. By 1994, Caldor had 166 stores in 10 states.
[edit] Slogan
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The company used many different slogans. The first slogan was "Where shopping is always a pleasure," which was used up until the mid-1980s. The next slogan was "You'll Never Not Find It at Caldor," which was used from 1985 to 1988. The next slogan was "Caldor, your everyday discount store," which was used from 1988 to 1992. The final slogan used was "Bring home the difference," which was used from 1993 until the company closed. In the later part of the 1990s, nearing Caldor's closure, they also sometimes used the alternative slogan "Check out the change." Caldor also used a special holiday slogan, "Caldor for the holidays," which was used on all the chain's commercials for holiday specials and sales. Throughout the 1990s, the chain also used the holiday slogan "Share the Joy."
[edit] Stern disagreement
In the book section of Caldor, a blowup of the New York Times Best Seller list would commonly be posted. In 1993, upon release of Howard Stern's autobiography Private Parts, Caldor edited the bestseller list to remove Stern, due to the fact that Caldor quite publicly refused to carry the bestselling book. The book was #1 on the list, but Caldor moved each subsequent entry up one space, completely removing the Stern book. (The number 2 book was listed by Caldor as number 1, etc.) The New York Times contacted Caldor and ordered them not to edit the list, to which Caldor responded by not posting the list at all the next week. [1]
[edit] First bankruptcy
In 1995, Caldor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[2] The chain found itself unable to compete with the lower prices and wider selection of such stores as Wal-Mart (which had acquired several former Caldor stores), causing a dramatic loss in sales.
Caldor also had trouble meeting its financial goals and losses mounted. Shortly before filing for bankruptcy, Caldor had $1.2 billion in assets and $883 million in liabilities, the lowest amount of assets and the highest amount of liabilities the company had since it was sold by May Department Stores in 1990. After the bankruptcy, Caldor closed 10 underperforming stores in 1996.
[edit] Printing error
Caldor relied heavily on a weekly multi-color sales flier to generate business. Fliers were distributed weekly to advertise sales that ran from Sunday through Saturday. In November 1998, the company suffered a huge public relations blow when its sales flier featured a prominent photograph of two grinning boys playing the board game "Scrabble" with the word "RAPE" spelled out in the center of the board. Eleven million copies of the flier were distributed to the public via an 85-newspaper distribution chain. Caldor released a statement pressing its mystification over how the image was created and got past proofreaders.[3][4] While it may or may not have had anything to do with Caldor's eventual demise mere months later, for a company that was already in trouble financially it was a problem they could ill afford to have.
[edit] Second bankruptcy and liquidation
In January 1998, Caldor had $1.2 billion in liabilities and $949 million in assets, one of the worst deficits the company ever had. A few months later, Caldor closed 12 underperfoming stores located mostly around Washington, D.C.. This along with the slow financial progress of the chain caused its secured creditors to force the chain into Chapter 7 liquidation, feeling that their shareholders would benefit more from the liquidation of the company than if they allowed it to remain in business. In an attempt to prevent the creditors from liquidating the chain, Caldor executives brought in a mediator in an attempt to come up with an agreement that would keep the chain open, but no agreement could be reached, and Caldor was out of options. On January 22, 1999, Caldor announced it was liquidating its remaining merchandise and closing all of its 145 stores.[5]
The last Caldor store closed on Saturday, May 15, 1999. At the time the chain closed, it had 22,000 employees and 145 stores in nine East Coast states.
The chain made $2.5 billion in sales in its last full year in business.
Many of Caldor's former locations were purchased by other retailers, including competitors Wal-Mart, Bradlees, and Ames. Many New York metro area Caldor locations were bought by Kohl's after the company's closure as part of Kohl's entry into the New York retail market.
[edit] References
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) |
