| Type | Public (NASDAQ: CONN) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1890 as Eastham Plumbing and Heating Company 1934 as Conn's |
| Headquarters | Beaumont, Texas, U.S. |
| Number of locations | 70 |
| Key people | Edward Eastham, Founder Carol Washington Conn, Sr., Chain's namesake Theodore M. Wright, CEO |
| Products | Consumer electronics |
| Revenue | US$ 836.7 million (2010) |
| Operating income | US$ 27.4 million (2010) |
| Net income | US$ 7.7 million (2010) |
| Total assets | US$ 551.4 million (2010) |
| Total equity | US$ 344.3 million (financials for fiscal 2010)[1] (2010) |
| Employees | 2,800 (2010) |
| Website | conns.com |
Conn's Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN) is an electronics and appliance store chain headquartered in Beaumont, Texas, United States. The chain has stores in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Within Texas Conn's has stores in Greater Houston, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Greater San Antonio, Greater Corpus Christi, Southeast Texas, and South Texas.[2]
In 1890, Edward Eastham founded Eastham Plumbing and Heating Company in Beaumont, TX. First National Bank of Beaumont took over the company and renamed it Plumbing and Heating, Inc. in 1931. Plumbing and Heating, Inc. hired Carol Washington Conn, Sr. in 1933.[3] He purchased the company one year later and changed the name to Conn Plumbing and Heating Company.
In 1937, Conn's began selling refrigerators and soon added gas ranges to its inventory. By 1940, Conn had purchased a store building and moved the company to 268 Pearl Street in Beaumont. The company's second store opened in 1959 on Eleventh Street in Beaumont. C.W. Conn, Jr. joined the company in 1953 after serving in the Korean War. He recognized that customers needed dependable, quality service and founded Conn's retail service repair and maintenance subsidiary company, Appliance Parts and Service, in 1962. In 1964 he cofounded Conn Credit Corporation, a retail credit financing services company, to provide retail credit financing services to Conn's customers.
Conn, Jr. was named president and chief operating officer in 1966 and served in those capacities until 1976. The Year 1966 found the company with four stores and a total sales volume of $4 million. Lake Charles, Louisiana was the site of Conn's first out-of-state store opened in 1969. A second out-of-state store was opened in Louisiana that same year, making it a landmark year. In 1975, Conn's opened stores in Port Arthur, Orange and Baytown, Texas, as well as one in Lafayette, Louisiana. A second location in Lafayette and new stores in New Iberia and Opelousas, Louisiana soon followed. Conn, Sr. passed away in 1975 and Conn, Jr. became Chairman of the Board.
Conn, Sr. and Conn, Jr. were dedicated to their customers and to the idea that consumers should receive value for the dollars they spent on the products they offered in their stores. Their dedication was so strong that they often directed their employees to seek out dissatisfied customers and find what the company could do to replace their disappointment with satisfaction.
Under Conn, Jr.'s direction, Conn's first location in Houston was opened in 1983, with many others to follow in subsequent years. In 1993, Conn's experienced its first $100 million sales volume year and opened its first San Antonio, Texas location. Thomas Frank, Sr. became Chairman of the Board of Conn's in 1994. Under Frank's leadership, the company continued its growth trend and established itself as a major player in the retail sales industry as total sales volume grew to more than $200 million in 1997. In July, 1998, the company reorganized and brought in a new financial partner, The Stephens Group, Inc. Conn's market reach was broadened in 1999, when it opened its first store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and again in 2001, 2002 and 2003 when it opened its first stores in Austin, Corpus Christi, and in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, respectively. The company now offers a full-range of products and services in nine markets in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma with 23 stores in the Houston area, 17 in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, eight in San Antonio, three in Austin, five in Southeast Texas, one in Corpus Christi, four in South Texas, six in Louisiana and three in Oklahoma. Conn’s has 70 locations.
By the 2000s the chain, historically based in Beaumont, expanded.[4]
In 2009, the Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the company, saying that the company falsely advertised, failed to honor warranties, mislead customers about products, and committed other violations against the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.[5]