Defunct Business Shorts
Description: Bradlees Department Store, more commonly known as Bradlees, was a discount department store chain based in Braintree, Massachusetts, which operated primarily in the Northeastern United States. Bradlees sold various retail items in its stores, including clothing, jewelry, health care, beauty products, footwear, furniture, electronics, housewares, and bedding. At its peak in 2000, Bradlees operated over 105 stores in seven states across the Northeast, with close to 10,000 employees. The chain went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000, with all of its stores eventually closed by March 15, 2001.
Description: Remembering Burdine’s Department Store. Miami, Florida. Over its nearly 110-year history, Burdines grew into a popular chain of department stores, known as 'The Florida Store,' decorated with palm trees in the center of the store, painted in pink and blue, and other subtropical colors and motifs.
Description: Caldor was a discount department store chain founded in 1951 by husband and wife Carl and Dorothy Bennett, hence the name, Cal-Dor. Referred to by many as an upscale discounter, Caldor grew from a second story “Walk-Up-&-Save” operation in Port Chester, New York, into a regional retailing giant. Its stores were earning over $1 billion in sales by the time Mr. Bennett retired in 1985, by which time Caldor was a subsidiary of Associated Dry Goods. Despite its successes, Caldor suffered from financial issues by the ’90s, and the company was liquidated, with all 145 stores closing by May 1999.
Description: Remembering Meier & Frank Department Stores. Meier & Frank was a prominent chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, operating in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006. For a time, Meier & Frank reigned as the largest retail outlet west of the Mississippi and one of the largest stores in the nation in the early 1930s. It was considered as one of America’s great stores. Meier & Frank pioneered the concept of a "money-back guarantee", until then unheard-of in merchandising. Clark Gable worked at Meier & Frank selling neckties.
