Mammoth Mart
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| File:MammothMart.jpg | |
| Company type | Discount store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Headquarters | Framingham, Massachusetts |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, toys and housewares. |
| Website | None |
Mammoth Mart was a discount department store chain, located in the northeastern United States, primarily in the New England area. The chain was founded by Max Coffman in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1956[1], and was something of a prototype for the large, downscale department store, selling housewares, hardware and clothing in stark, unfussy buildings, usually in suburban shopping center locations. Other discount department store retailers like K-Mart, Zayre, and Bradlees would subsequently expand on this concept.
Their advertising mascot was Marty the elephant, a smiling, blazer-wearing mammoth.
By 1969 the chain had 35 stores, though they filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898--one of the precursors (along with Chapter X of the 1898 Bankruptcy Act) of today's Chapter 11--in 1974. The chain was acquired by now-defunct King's Department Stores in 1978.
Locations(partial list):
- North Haven, Connecticut (Middletown Avenue/Quinnipiac Avenue (later Mars Dept. Stores)Now Covideon Factory, Statesville, NC- Turned into Kmart now Fred's
- Guilford, Connecticut (Route 1)Now Wal-Mart
- Salisbury, Massachusetts (Rte. 110, Crossroads Plaza),
- Lexington Park, Maryland (St. Mary's Square) now a Rose's,
- Dover, New Hampshire (Tri-City Plaza) now home to a craft store,
- Newport, VT (later an AMES Store)
- Raynham, MA rt. 44? Later a King's
- Brunswick, ME (Old Bath Road)Now home to BIW-related Administrative Offices
- Presque Isle, Maine
- New Bedford, MA (Kings Highway Plaza, later a King's, THB Home Center, Ames and presently AJ Wright)
References
- ^ Drew-Bear, Robert (1970). Mass Merchandising; Revolution & Evolution. Fairchild Publications. p. 86. Retrieved 2009-02-02.