Hechinger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hechinger | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1911 (as home improvement retail, defunct 1999) 2004 (as online retailer) |
| Headquarters | Landover, Maryland |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Lumber, tools, hardware, garden supplies & plants |
| Website | http://www.hechinger.com/ |
Hechinger, mistakenly called Hechinger's by many customers, was a chain of home improvement retail stores headquartered in Landover, Maryland outside Washington, D.C., and is currently an online retailer owned by Home Decor Products.
John Hechinger, Sr. helped pioneer the do it yourself industry; from a single hardware store established by his father in 1911, Hechinger grew to a 64-store chain by the time it acquired Virginia Beach, Virginia-based HQ Home Quarters Warehouse in December 1987 for $66 million. In the 1990s it underwent a massive expansion of both HQ and the Hechinger Co. divisions, opening big-box stores to better compete with rivals Home Depot and Lowe's.
The company continued to lose money in the early 1990s, however. The Hechinger family sold the company to Los Angeles investors Leonard Green & Partners for $507 million in July of 1997, and the management launched new, smaller concept stores called Better Spaces and Wye River Hardware & Home searching for a niche. In September, Hechinger was merged with San Antonio, Texas-based Builders Square, formerly owned by Kmart.
After several rounds of store closings, Hechinger Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 11, 1999, but the reorganization failed. That September, Hechinger's assets were liquidated, including its 117 remaining stores.
In 2004, Home Decor Products, bought the Hechinger brand name and opened an online retailer the following year, which sells the same products as the former brand. The company currently does not operate any retail stores.
[edit] References
- Golubovskis, George. "Hechinger no longer our hometown store," Washington Business Journal, July 18, 1997
- "Post 200: Hechinger Co.," The Washington Post, April 28, 1997
- Kelly, John, "A Familiar Brand, Reborn in Pixels", The Washington Post, March 28, 2006
