In 1948, John Cotter founded Cotter & Company, which was. The company was made up 25 independently-owned and operated retail hardware stores. In 1963, Cotter purchased Hibbard, Spencer and Bartlett, … Read more
How did a chain of retail stores ever get a name like Wawa? Well, as the story goes, Wawa is the Native American name for the Canada Goose, which was … Read more
Thirty-one years ago, in 1988, Bob Basham, Trudy Cooper, Chris T. Sullivan and Tim Gannon founded the first Outback Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida. The Outback Steakhouse was owned and operated in the United States by OSI … Read more
Bill and T.J. Palmer opened their first restaurant in Decatur, Georgia in November, 1980. A rather strange name for a restaurant, it was called T.J. Applebee’s Rx for Edibles & Elixirs. Now, that’s a mouthfull! The … Read more
Dollar General Corporation has been delivering value to shoppers for over 75 years. During the Great Depression (1939-1949) J.L. Turner began buying bankrupt general stores and liquidating each store’s stock. … Read more
How do you sell doughnuts? Just cut a hole in the wall of your bakery. Okay, that sounds a little crazy, but it’s true! Back in 1937, Vernon Rudolph cut … Read more
Ace Hardware: the world’s second largest retail cooperative Located in all 50 of the United States, Ace Hardware’s emphasis is on service and up-to-the-minute retailing techniques. Ace Hardware’s 3,959 U.S. … Read more
In 1990, in a Cambridge, Massachusetts mall, the first Bath and Body Works opened it doors to the public. Founded in New Albany, Ohio, in 1990, Bath and Body Works … Read more
The first Olive Garden was opened on December 13, 1982, in Orlando, Florida, as a unit of General Mills Inc. By 1989, the chain had grown to 145 restaurants. They were … Read more
If you live in the eastern half of the United States, there’s a pretty darn good chance you’ve shopped at Save-A-Lot. With 1,255 store locations, it is one of the … Read more
