| Industry | Retail |
|---|---|
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Successor | Vornado Realty Trust |
| Founded | Harrison, New Jersey, 1946 |
| Defunct | 1982 |
| Headquarters | Harrison, New Jersey |
| Key people | Herbert Hubschman, Co-founder Sidney Hubschman, Co-founder |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, toys, sporting goods, electronics, housewares, hardware, automotive, appliances, and food. |
Two Guys was a discount store primarily operating in the New York City metropolitan area and headquartered in northern New Jersey until the early 1980s. It was founded in 1946 in Harrison, New Jersey by brothers Sidney Hubschman and Herbert Hubschman as Two Guys from Harrison. The company originally sold major appliances such as televisions.[1]
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In 1959, the company acquired O.A. Sutton Corp., manufacturers of electric fans, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers. The merged company was renamed Vornado, Inc., after O.A. Sutton's Vornado line of appliances. At its peak, there were more than 100 Two Guys locations nationwide, including Upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, Maryland, and Virginia.[1]
As Vornado's commercial fortunes declined throughout the mid-to-late 1970s, they began selling off Two Guys stores to various companies. In late 1980, Vornado (later renamed to Vornado Realty Trust) was acquired by Interstate Department Stores, Inc. after Interstate won a proxy fight. Interstate began the process of liquidating its Two Guys outlets by closing the stores and leasing the physical location to other retailers, which had posted a loss of $20 million for the first half of 1981.[1]
Many locations originally included a discount store with a supermarket, as well as complete hardware, major appliance, and automotive service departments. The Two Guys supermarkets were full sized "stores within a store." They competed directly with large supermarket chains in the region at the time like Acme, Food Fair, Penn Fruit, Grand Union, A&P, and ShopRite. Trading stamps like Plaid and S&H Green Stamps were popular supermarket promotions into the early 1980s, and Two Guys supermarkets had its own private label trading stamps. Completed books of Two Guys trading stamps could then be turned in for merchandise credit slips that could be used in any non-food Two Guys department. The supermarkets used the tag line, "Two Guys, The Super Supermarket", while the main store used the tag line, "We Save Money For You, Naturally". The store in East Hanover, New Jersey even had an attached liquor store with bar. It was succeeded by developer Vornado Realty Trust, which developed – and in many cases still owns – the land on which Two Guys stores once stood. In Middletown, New Jersey, a Two Guys on New Jersey Route 35 operated for many years within sight of the "Evil Clown of Middletown"; it later became a Bradlees and is now a Kohl's store. There were also stores in New Jersey on Route 9 in Manalapan Township, on Route 37 in Toms River, Route 35 in Neptune City, Route 70 in Brick Township and Route 18 in East Brunswick.
One of the chain's more unusual operations was its outlet in downtown Newark, New Jersey. This location was originally the flagship of the Kresge-Newark department store, and for a brief time Chase-Newark. Two Guys operated on 4 floors of this building (later 3), and operated this store more like a traditional department store. Two Guys continued to maintain display windows, revolving doors and other touches of a traditional downtown department store. This location also included an in-store dining room, The Rainbow Cafeteria. This store opened in 1967, and remained until the chain's liquidation.
Bernard Marcus, one of the founders of Home Depot, began his retail career when he convinced the Hubschmans to let him operate the cosmetics concession at a Two Guys store in Totowa, New Jersey. He eventually was put in charge of first sporting goods and the major appliance department for the entire company, controlling over $1 billion in sales. He left the company after it was sold to outside investors following Herbert Hubschman's death. (Ironically, the Totowa Two Guys is today a Home Depot).