The Treasury (retailer)

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The Treasury

Type	Discount Department Store
Founded	1962
Headquarters	Unknown
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares.
Website	None

The Treasury was a chain of discount stores owned by J.C. Penney. Through an acquisition of the General Merchandise Company in 1962, J.C. Penney entered the discount store market by launching The Treasury.

The General Merchandise Company, which began Treasure Island, was founded by David Kritzik and his two sons, Robert and Stanley, in Milwaukee, WI. The original stores were named Treasure Island, but because of trademark and copyright conflicts, some of the stores that were subsequently opened, were called The Treasury. In 1962, J.C. Penney was looking to break into the catalogue business, and used their acquisition of the Treasure Island brandname to do so.

Eventually the chain had locations in most Southern U.S. states and California. The recessions of the 1970s and early 1980s were too much to bear for J.C. Penney, and by then the division was losing money. The discount stores were closed around 1981. However, the real reason for the acquisition of Treasure Island, was for J.C. Penney to enter into the catalogue business, which today, is a thriving, multi-billion dollar endeavor.

The roof architecture of The Treasury and Treasure Island stores is unique, having a zig-zag pattern that was very prominent both inside and outside. This is reflected in the store logo. The original advertising slogan referred to the stores as, "Under the squiggly roof." Home Depot started some of its first stores in these buildings, as it was around the time which many were closing.

Some stores also sold food silmilar to Wal-Mart Supercenter.

[edit] Treasury Drug

The company branched out into drug stores, located in many Southern states, as Treasury Drug. Treasury Drug survived into the 1990's when J.C. Penney acquired Eckerd and converted remaining Treasury Drug locations into Eckerd stores. J.C. Penney sold the Eckerd chain to CVS and Jean Coutu Group of Canada in 2004. CVS got roughly 1200 Eckerd stores in the Southern United States, while Jean Coutu Group got approximately 1500 Eckerd stores in the Northeastern United States. In 2007, all Eckerd stores were rebranded Rite Aid.