Consumers Distributing
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Consumers Distributing 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 Boston, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Its US corporate headquarters was 200 Metroplex Drive in Edison, NJ.
Consumers Distributing aimed to reduce costs for customers by storing goods in an inexpensive warehouse, 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.
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[edit] History
The first Consumers Distributing store was opened in 1957 by Jack Stupp 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 catalog showroom retail stores in the United States.
Consumers 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 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.
When a product is out of stock, or unavailable from the manufacturer, this creates an "out of stock" problem for a catalogue store, which it does not create for a store who displays their in-stock items. When a customer goes to Wal-mart, they see that they have ten different products in stock. At Consumers, the customer chose one item, which may not have been in stock. They did not see that there were 15 other similar items that are in stock.
Consumers 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 was one of the first to initiate this "real time" stock check and prepayment of products available at other branches and the main warehouse. Unfortunately, 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.
Shirley Jones once represented Consumers Distributing in television commercials based on the theme "Consumers, we wrote the book, on-savings!"
[edit] Former locations
[edit] United States
- Antioch, California
- Berkeley, California
- Clayton, California
- Dublin, California
- Greenbrae, California
- El Cajon, California
- San Pablo, California
- Monrovia, California
- San Rafael, California - Northgate 1 - Now Big 5 Sporting Goods
- Mountain View, California - Mayfield Mall
- Pleasant Hill, California
- Walnut Creek, California
- Whittier, California
- Hamden, Connecticut
- Norwalk, Connecticut
- Stamford, Connecticut
- Waterbury, Connecticut - Now Joey'z Shopping Spree
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Dedham, Massachusetts
- Natick, Massachusetts
- Medford, Massachusetts
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Glen Burnie, Maryland
- Pikesville, Maryland
- 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
- Bayside, New York
- Rego Park, New York
- Flushing, New York
- Long Island City, New York
- East Meadow, New York
- Brooklyn, New York - 5 Locations
- Bronx, New York - 2 Locations
- Oceanside, New York
- 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
- Mineola, New York
- Merrick, New York
- Massapequa, 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
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 3 Locations
- Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
- Seven Corners, Virginia
[edit] Canada
[edit] Ontario
- Burlington - Fairview Street, west of the Burlington Mall
- Brantford - King George Road, Across From Brantford Mall
- Brockville - Stewart Blvd, Across from McDonald's. Now Blockbuster Video
- Cambridge
- Cornwall - 1400 Vincent Massey Dr and Seaway Shopping Centre
- Guelph
- Hamilton - Centre Mall, Eastgate Square and Limeridge Mall. There was also a standalone store on Upper James St.
- Kingston, Ontario - Bath Road, between Gardiner's Road and Downtown
- Kitchener - Weber Street E., across from the Hiway Centre
- London, Ontario - White Oaks Mall
- Markham, Ontario - Hwy 7 and McCowan Rd.
- Mississauga
- Newmarket - Newmarket Plaza
- North Bay
- Oshawa - Oshawa Shopping Centre near Le Sabre Restaurant
- Ottawa - Bells Corners, Place d'Orleans, Montreal Road and Westgate Shopping Centre
- Owen Sound
- Pembroke, Ontario - West End Mall
- 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)
- 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.
[edit] Other provinces
- Brandon, Manitoba
- Calgary, Alberta - Brentwood Mall - Center Street North
- Edmonton, Alberta - Meadowlark Mall - West Edmonton Mall Phase 2
- Lethbridge, Alberta - Park Place Mall
- Abbotsford, British Columbia - South Fraser Way
- Burnaby, British Columbia - Station Square Mall (Ground Level)
- Courtenay, British Columbia - Washington Park Centre
- Prince George, British Columbia - Spruceland Mall
- Prince Rupert, British Columbia
- Winnipeg, Manitoba - Regent Ave. & Lagimodiere Blvd.
- Edmundston, New Brunswick - Madawaska Mall
- Moncton, New Brunswick - Mountain Road
- Saint John, New Brunswick - McAllister Place
- Surrey, British Columbia - Guildford Town Centre
- Bathurst, New Brunswick - Place Bathurst Mall
- St. John's, Newfoundland - Kenmount Road now a Dooley's
- Halifax, Nova Scotia - Bayers Road Shopping Centre
- 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.
- Laval, Quebec - St. Martin shopping centre (Chomedey) - St. Martin boulevard (free-standing store) - Carrefour Laval
- Quebec City, Quebec - Galeries de la Capitale
- Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec - Boul. Mgr Langlois
- Regina, Saskatchewan - 4450 Albert Street; standalone store, now a Tony Roma's restaurant
- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - 3020 8th Street East; standalone store, now a TD Bank branch
[edit] See also
- List of Canadian department stores
- Service Merchandise - a defunct American company with similar business model
Gatineau, Quebec: Les Promenades de l'Outaouais