Gold Circle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gold Circle | |
 |
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| Type | Discount department store |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1967 |
| Headquarters | Worthington, Ohio |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, toys,hardware and housewares. |
| Website | None |
Gold Circle, an upscale discount chain similar to Target, was the discount division of Federated Department Stores.
[edit] History
Covering mostly New York, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and Kentucky, the chain was founded in 1967 in Columbus, Ohio, with its corporate headquarters and distribution center located in Worthington, Ohio, a Columbus northern suburb. In 1984, Gold Circle was notable as the first major discounter to implement chain wide UPC barcode scanning in an effort to reduce checkout time for shoppers and improve inventory accuracy and speed store merchandise replenishment.
[edit] Merge with Richway
In 1986, Federated merged its Gold Circle division with its Richway discount stores, another Federated discount division, in an effort to improve the operating efficiency and profits of both. While the chains each continued to operate under their original names, buying and other administrative functions for both were consolidated into Gold Circle's Worthington, Ohio headquarters.
[edit] Liquidation
In 1988, after Campeau Corporation acquired Federated Department Stores, Gold Circle (along with Richway) was liquidated in addition to the sale or liquidation of several other under-performing Federated divisions. The chain was dismantled in late 1988 with Kimco Development acquiring most of the store locations while the corporate office and distribution center were sold off in separate transactions. Thirty-three (33) former Gold Circle stores later reopened in 1989 as Hills and most of the former Richways reopened as Target Stores.
