Five Bel°w: Hot stuff. Cool prices.
October 29, 2022
that are less than $5, plus a small assortment of products from $6 to $25.
On October 4, 2002, two smart businessmen founded Five Bel°w. The first was Tom Vellios, former CEO of Zany Brainy; the other was David Schlessinger, founder of Encore Books and of Zany Brainy. With 1,282 stores, the company is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Five Bel°w is a discount store aimed at tweens and teens.
Five Bel°w has stores in 40 states plus two distribution centres and employs over 90,000 associates. In 2011, Five Bel°w expanded from the Philadelphia Metro into Illinois and Michigan; in 2012 it expanded into Georgia, Kansas, Missouri and Western Michigan and in 2013, Texas. Expansion continued in 2014 with new stores opening in Tennessee, Alabama and Florida; in 2015, Kentucky; in 2016, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wisconsin; California in 2017; and Arkansas in 2018.
Five Bel°w announced in 2019 that it could build as many as 2,500 U.S. stores in the future. Arizona, Iowa and Nebraska were introduced that year and in 2020, Colorado and Nevada were added; New Mexico and Utah in 2021. Both North and South Dakota will see stores open in 2022; Oregon & Washington will open later.
Five Bel° has 1,282 stores in 43 states and territories in 906 cities in the United States.
On July 19, 2012, Five Bel°w went public on the NASDAQ with an opening share price of $17. In 2014, Joel Anderson was appointed CEO. Sales grew from $1 billion in 2016 to $1.56 billion in 2018.
In 2018, Five Bel°w moved its corporate headquarters, now called Wow Town, to Philadelphia. Wow Town has over 300 employees.
Since 2015, Five Bel°w has contributed over $19 million to organizations in the United States that focus on the well-being of children. There is an arms-length list of other charities in which Five Bel°w is involved.
Gloria Sauvé
Communications