Jamesway
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| Jamesway Corporation | |
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| Type | Department store |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Headquarters | Secaucus, New Jersey |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares. |
Jamesway was a chain of discount department stores founded in Jamestown, New York, in 1961. At its peak in 1991, the company operated 138 stores throughout the mid-Atlantic region of the United States and employed nearly 6,000. The company had locations in NY, NJ, PA, MD, OH, VA, DE and other states. The name Jamesway is derived the town in which the first store was located. Their headquarters was in Secaucus, NJ. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Jamesway expanded from more than 100 stores in 1988 to 136 stores in 1990. By 1991, Jamesway had grown to 138 stores and had sales of $855 million.
[edit] Bankruptcy
Peter Hollis, former president and CEO of Ames, joined Jamesway in 1991 and was named president in February 1991. In April 1991, in an effort to strengthen its financial position, the company secured a $40 million refinancing agreement and closed 11 unprofitable stores. In January 1993, Jamesway rolled out a new store format and planned to completely remodel the 127-store chain within the following three years. The remodel would include completely redoing 30 stores in 1993. The remodeling efforts included better lighting, store layouts, and signage improvements throughout the store.
In June 1993, Joseph Ettore, most recently chairman of Stuarts, rejoined the company as president. On July 19, 1993 the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Before the filing, the chain had sales of $1.05 billion and 7,400 employees. In August 1993, the discounter said it cut 70 headquarters jobs and implemented a management realignment. "We want to stay in business," emphasized Joseph Ettore, President and CEO. Back then, Jamesway operated 127 stores. In 1993 and 1994 Jamesway was forced to do a round of closings. By early 1995, Jamesway had about 95 stores left open. Jamesway faced competition from other large chains such as Ames, Bradlees, Caldor and Hills, which started to open new stores in areas were Jamesway stores were already located.
In 1995, the chain emerged from bankruptcy, only to be hit hard once again by competition, this time from Wal-Mart, which began opening stores in many Jamesway trade areas. Unable to compete, Jamesway was once again forced into bankruptcy in October 1995. Jamesway closed its doors in December 1995. Some stores were sold to Ames, but that chain declared bankruptcy and closed in 2002.
