Shopko Stores
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Shopko Stores Operating Co., LLC | |
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| Type | Discount store |
| Founded | 1962 Green Bay, Wisconsin |
| Headquarters | Green Bay, Wisconsin |
| Key people | James Ruben, founder. |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, market, housewares, contact lenses. |
| Employees | 25,000+ |
| Website | Shopko.com |
Shopko (formerly ShopKo until May 2007) is a chain of retail stores based in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, outside of Green Bay, behind Bay Park Square, a shopping mall featuring Shopko as one of its anchor tenants. The company employs approximately 16,000 people and has a presence in 13 states.
Shopko was founded in 1962 in Green Bay by James Ruben. From 1991 until 2005, the company was publicly held with stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SKO. In December 2005, the company was acquired by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners and reverted to private ownership. The company generates annual sales of approximately $2.2 billion. The first Shopko store is located on 216 S. Military Avenue, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
In 1999 Shopko purchased Pamida, a regional discount chain that operated mainly in smaller communities of three to eight thousand people. Shopko operated Pamida as a separate division until 2007, when Pamida was separated from Shopko and reestablished as a separate company.
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[edit] Brands
[edit] Shopko
The company operates 135 stores located in 13 states. These stores are placed in small to mid-sized communities. Such stores are multi-department operations.
When James Ruben - a Chicago pharmacist who moved to Green Bay opened the first Shopco store on 216 S. Military Avenue, in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1962 he envisioned a larger retail store with health care services combined with the retail operations. As a result, Shopco became one of the first chains to offer services such as a pharmacy and an eye care center within the store. The name was later changed to "ShopKo" by dropping the "c" and replacing it with an uppercase "K". In 2007, the logo was updated and the spelling was changed to "Shopko" with a small case "k".
[edit] Payless ShoeSource
Although not a part of the Shopko organization, in 1999, Shopko signed a contract with Payless ShoeSource, leasing the chain floorspace within Shopko stores, thus replacing the previous contract with J. Baker, Inc. as the retailer in charge of the discount shoe department. This contract, which included Payless signage both inside and outside the stores, as well as visible uniform differences between Shopko and Payless employees, marked a change from the previous Shopko policy of "two companies one store". The change-over to Payless was completed by late June of 2000.
[edit] Timeline
[edit] 1960s
- March 1961: Green Bay Mayor Roman Denissen and Shopco Stores, led by Chicago pharmacist James Ruben and a group of investors, announce plans for a $1 million department store on Military Avenue.
- April 1962: The first Shopko (the spelling was changed since the initial announcement) opens at 216 S. Military Ave. A grocery store shares part of the building until its closure in 2004.
- July 1966: Shopko East opens at 1819 Main St.
[edit] 1970s
- June 1970: Ruben announces plans for corporate headquarters on Ashland Avenue in Ashwaubenon.
- June 1970: ShopKo Corp. becomes ShopKo Stores, Inc.
- January 1971: Shopko announces plans to merge with SuperValu of Minneapolis.
- January 1971: New Ashwaubenon headquarters opens.
- April 1971: Merger with SuperValu is completed.
- August 1971: Company announces plans to start putting pharmacies in its stores.
- September 1972: William Tyrrell is named the new president; Ruben left Green Bay to become group vice president and director of SuperValu Stores.
- 1977: With 21 stores, Shopko exceeds $100 million in sales.
- 1978: Expansion of Ashland Avenue headquarters.
- 1978: Shopko opens its first optical center.
- November 1979: New Ashwaubenon store opens a few months before the opening of Bay Park Square shopping center.
[edit] 1980s
- 1981: Second expansion of Ashland Avenue headquarters.
- 1981: Shopko opens its 30th store.
- 1984: Company begins looking for new space for corporate offices; De Pere, Green Bay and out-of-state sites are under consideration.
- May 1986: Shopko announces it will stay headquartered in the Green Bay area.
- 1987: Construction begins on new headquarters on 46-acre site just east of Bay Park Square; the building opens in 1988.
- 1988: With 87 stores, the company exceeds $1 billion in sales.
- 1988: ShopKo announces a new east-side store will go in at East Town Mall, replacing the 1819 Main St. store (now home to Copps Food Center, to be torn down in late summer 2008 and be replaced with a new store on the site of the former Marcus movie theater located next door. The former Shopko/Copps is expected to be torn down and be replaced with a strip mall.).
[edit] 1990s
- 1990: Shopko opens its 100th store.
- June 1991: SuperValu announces Shopko will spin off as a publicly held company.
- Summer 1991: Dale Kramer becomes the company’s third president.
- October 1991: In an initial public offering, ShopKo stock is offered at $15 a share.
- September 1996: A merger is announced with Phar-Mor of Youngstown, Ohio.
- 1997: Shopko acquires Penn-Daniels Inc., a retailer operating 18 Jacks Discount Stores.
- April 1997: Phar-Mor deal falls apart.
- April 1997: Shopko announces it will secure independence from SuperValu by buying back the other company’s 46 percent share of Shopko stock.
- July 1997: Buy-back from SuperValu completed.
- March 1999: William Podany becomes president and chief executive officer.
- March 1999: Shopko announces record earnings for 1998 — earning $55.6 million or $2.23 per share.
- May 1999: Shopko announces it will buy the 147-store Pamida chain for $375 million.
- July 1999: Shopko begins selling stock for ProVantage, a prescription benefits company that helped spur Shopko's growth.
- September 1999: ShopKo opens its first test prototype store in Meridian, Idaho.
[edit] 2000s
- March 2000: Shopko reports record earnings of $3.57 per share in 2000, up 70 percent from the year before.
- May 2000: Shopko announces it will sell ProVantage to Merck & Co. for about $222 million.
- January 2001: Shopko announces it will close 23 stores and cut 2,500 jobs, including 136 at corporate headquarters.
- April 2002: Podany resigns as president and CEO; Jeffrey Girard replaces him on an interim basis.
- October 2002: Sam Duncan becomes president and CEO.
- January 2005: Shopko opens three Shopko Express stores, a new, smaller concept competing with the likes of Walgreens and CVS/pharmacy.
- December 2005: Shopko is acquired by private investment group Sun Capital Partners.
- May 2006: Michael R. MacDonald becomes CEO.
- 2007: Pamida was spun-off to form a separate company, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, still owned by the same investment group.
- May 2007: Ground breaking begins on a new 80,000 ft.2 Shopko store on 2318 Lineville Road in Suamico, Wisconsin. A new Shopko logo is introduced and will appear on advertising the following Sunday. The new logo will replace the logo used since 1992 and will be easier to read. The new design will appear on 28 existing stores and the corporate headquarters by the end of July. The company also dropped the upper case K in its logo.
- Fall 2007: The new Shopko logo appears on the outside of Bay Park Square mall, as well as the interior mall entrance.
- September 2007: Shopko announce they will start construction on two new Shopko Express stores in the Appleton, WI area to open in mid 2008
- March 2008: Shopko opens its Suamico, Wisconsin location. Shopko announces an 80,000-square-foot prototype store in Iowa. Shopko announces 80,000 square foot store to anchor the Marlet Place in North Branch, Minnesota. Shopko announces a Shopko Express Pharmacy location for downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin to anchor the redevelopment of the Larsen Cannery site on Broadway Street.
