Consumers Distributing
Consumers Distributing (known in Quebec as Distribution aux Consommateurs in French) was a catalogue store in Canada and the United States that operated from 1957 to 1997. At its peak, it operated 217 outlets, including almost 90 stores in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and California. Its US corporate headquarters was 205 Campus Plaza in Edison, New Jersey.
Consumers Distributing aimed to reduce costs for customers by storing goods in a stockroom, instead of displaying them in a costly showroom. Customers made their selections from a catalogue, filled out a slip with product identification, and waited for staff to retrieve the items from the warehouse.
History
The first Consumers Distributing store was opened in 1957 by Jack Stubb in Toronto. The company was taken public in 1969, but later sold to Provigo, a Quebec-based grocery retailer.
Hudson's Bay Company, which operates Canadian department stores under the Bay and Zellers names, opened the "Shop-Rite" catalogue chain in competition. It was closed in 1982. US competition was mainly from the shuttered chains Best Products (also known simply as Best) and Service Merchandise, both which operated chains of catalogue showroom retail stores in the United States.
Consumers Distributing sought bankruptcy protection in 1996 after an aggressive expansion strategy failed to make the company sustainable. Sales had dropped from $1.8 billion in 1988 to $580 million in 1995. Consumers Distributing was plagued by products being frequently out of stock, and by new warehouse format stores that allowed customers to retrieve products themselves.
Consumers Distributing was plagued more by the perception of things "always being out of stock" due to the catalogue shopping nature of the store. In a store like Wal-Mart, customers seeking a particular product go to the store to shop. With the catalogue concept, the customer selects the item either at home while looking through the company's catalogue, or by a group of catalogues in the front of every store. Once the customer picks out the merchandise that he or she wants, the customer then goes to the counter where the clerk then goes to retrieve it off the warehouse shelves. It was not uncommon for a customer to wait on line only to be told by a clerk that the merchandise was not in stock. Consumers Distributing did not have a computerized inventory until the late 1980s, which meant that the company was not able to track what merchandise was in the stores or what merchandise was wanted by customers.
Consumers Distributing initiated several initiatives to dispel this "out of stock" perception including "super stores" that had all of the available, in-stock products on display; and free home delivery or store to store transfer for items that were not in stock. They also implemented a state-of-the-art inventory system that could check the availability of other stores in real time, and also would suggest alternate products at the store which were in stock. Consumers Distributing was one of the first to initiate this "real time" stock check and prepayment of products available at other branches and the main warehouse. These initiatives, including the superstore expansion, costly free delivery, and costly new inventory management software, overextended the company. This, and increasing competition from American retailers such as Wal-Mart and Sears, led to the company's bankruptcy in 1996.
Former locations
United States
California
- Antioch, California
- Berkeley, California
- Clayton, California
- Dublin, California
- El Cajon, California
- Fremont, California
- Greenbrae, California
- Monrovia, California
- Mountain View, California - Mayfield Mall
- Pleasant Hill, California
- San Pablo, California
- San Rafael, California - Northgate 1 - Now Big 5 Sporting Goods
- Walnut Creek, California
- Whittier, California
Connecticut
- Hamden, Connecticut
- Norwalk, Connecticut
- Stamford, Connecticut
- Waterbury, Connecticut - Now Joey'z Shopping Spree
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Maryland
New Jersey
- Montclair, New Jersey - Now Whole Foods Market
- Ramsey, New Jersey
- Florham Park, New Jersey
- South Orange, New Jersey
- Tenafly, New Jersey
- Roselle Park, New Jersey
- North Plainfield, New Jersey
- South Plainfield, New Jersey
- East Brunswick, New Jersey
- Totowa, New Jersey
- Eatontown, New Jersey
- Hazlet, New Jersey
- Toms River, New Jersey
- Westwood, New Jersey
- Kearny, New Jersey
- Wayne, New Jersey
- Kinnelon, New Jersey
- Woodbridge, New Jersey
New York
- Bayside, New York
- Flushing, New York
- Rego Park, New York- now Platinum Health Club
- Long Island City, New York
- East Meadow, New York
- Brooklyn, New York - 5 Locations
- Bronx, New York - 2 Locations
- Oceanside, New York - Now a Walgreen's
- Centereach, New York
- Coram, New York
- Shirley, New York
- West Islip, New York
- Great Neck, New York
- Valley Stream, New York
- Hicksville, New York
- Smithtown, New York
- Babylon, New York
- Commack, New York
- Carle Place, New York
- Merrick, New York
- Massapequa, New York
- New Hyde Park, New York
- Poughkeepsie, New York
- Peekskill, New York
- Kingston, New York
- Clifton Park, New York
- Niskayuna, New York
- Eastchester, New York
- Port Chester, New York
- Pearl River, New York
- Middletown, New York
- Pelham Manor, New York - now a CVS
- Yonkers, New York
- Staten Island, New York
Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 3 Locations
- Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
Virginia
Canada
Alberta
- Calgary - Brentwood Mall - Center Street North - Marlborough Mall
- Edmonton - Meadowlark Mall - West Edmonton Mall Phase 2 - Kingsway Garden Mall - Bonnie Doon Mall - Calgary Trail South - Eastgate Industrial Park 50th Street
- Lethbridge - Park Place Mall
- Medicine Hat - Dunmore Road and Southview Drive
British Columbia
- Abbotsford - South Fraser Way
- Burnaby - Station Square Mall (Ground Level)
- Courtenay - Washington Park Centre
- Prince George - Spruceland Mall
- Prince Rupert
- Richmond
- Surrey - Guildford Town Centre
- Victoria
Manitoba
New Brunswick
- Edmunston - Madawaska Mall
- Fredericton - Prospect Street
- Moncton - Mountain Road
- Saint John - McAllister Place
- Bathurst - Place Bathurst Mall
Newfoundland
- St. John's - Kenmount Road, now a Dooley's - Village Mall
Nova Scotia
Ontario
- Barrie - 353 Bayfield Street, Across from Bayfield Mall
- Belleville - North Front Street
- Brampton - Bramalea City Centre
- Burlington - Fairview Street, west of the Burlington Mall
- Burlington - Appleby Mall, 5111 New Street
- Brantford - King George Road, Across From Brantford Mall
- Brockville - Stewart Blvd, Across from McDonald's. Now Blockbuster Video
- Cambridge
- Chatham - North Maple Mall
- Cornwall - 1400 Vincent Massey Dr and Seaway Shopping Centre
- Guelph
- Hamilton - Centre Mall, Eastgate Square and Limeridge Mall. There were also standalone stores on Upper James St and Main Street West.
- Kingston - Bath Road east of Portsmouth Avenue, Cataraqui Town Centre
- Kitchener - Weber Street E., across from the Hiway Centre
- London - White Oaks Mall and Oakridge Mall
- Markham - Highway 7 and McCowan Road
- Mississauga - Square One Shopping Centre, Sheridan Centre & north side of Dundas St. East, east of Hurontario
- Newmarket - Newmarket Plaza
- North Bay
- Orangeville - Zehrs Plaza
- Orillia - Memorial Ave.
- Oshawa - Oshawa Shopping Centre near Le Sabre Restaurant
- Ottawa - Bells Corners, Place d'Orleans, Montreal Road ,Herongate Mall and Westgate Shopping Centre
- Owen Sound
- Pembroke - West End Mall
- Pickering
- Sault Ste. Marie
- St. Catharines - 210 Glendale Avenue (Pendale Plaza, converted to multiple smaller stores) and 350 Scott Street (was initially converted to a Biway, now a Giant Tiger)
- Scarborough - Markham & Lawrence; converted into a Maxi Drug (now Shoppers Drug Mart)
- St. Thomas
- Stratford
- Sudbury - A stand-alone store located on Barrydowne Road, now a flooring store and hot tub store.
- Sarnia - A stand-alone store located on London Road. Was the last store in Ontario to close. Manager Michael J Powell.
- Thunder Bay - In plaza beside Intercity Shopping Center (plaza later demolished as part of Intercity expansion)
- Thornhill- In the Plaza at Centre & New Westminister
- Timmins
- Toronto - including one store in the Sunnybrook Plaza at Bayview and Eglinton
- Welland
- Whitby - Dundas Street East
- Windsor - Huron Church Road (now Columbia Sportswear Outlet) - Tecumseh Road East (now Perani's Hockey World) - Dougall Avenue (demolished, replaced by Zehrs Gas Bar)
- Waterloo - King Street (Uptown)
Quebec
- Gatineau - Les Promenades de l'Outaouais
- Laval - St. Martin shopping centre (Chomedey) - St. Martin boulevard (free-standing store) - Carrefour Laval
- Montreal, Quebec - Cavendish Mall - Complexe Desjardins - Galeries d'Anjou - Mail Côte-des-Neiges - Place Alexis-Nihon - Place Bourassa - Place Frontenac - Place Versailles — Some noteworthy free-standing stores: Bleury St. - Masson St. - Mt.Royal St. - St.Hubert St. - Boul des Sources, DDO
- Quebec City, Quebec - Galeries de la Capitale
- Rosemere (Galerie Des Milles Iles ) (shopping center ) 315 Boul Curé Labelle
- Salaberry-de-Valleyfield - Boul. Mgr Langlois
Saskatchewan
- Regina - 4450 Albert Street; standalone store, now a Tony Roma's restaurant
- Saskatoon - 3020 8th Street East; standalone store, now a TD Bank branch; also a location in a 22nd Street West strip mall later converted into other businesses and a bottle-collecting facility.
Advertising
Shirley Jones once represented Consumers Distributing in television commercials based on the theme "Consumers, we wrote the book on savings!"
See also
- List of Canadian department stores
- Service Merchandise — a defunct American company with similar business model
- Articles needing cleanup from December 2007
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from December 2007
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from December 2007
- Articles lacking sources from March 2008
- 1996 disestablishments
- Catalog showrooms
- Companies based in New Jersey
- Companies established in 1957
- Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada
- Defunct retail companies of Canada
- Defunct retail companies of the United States
- Edison, New Jersey