Hancock Fabrics

Hancock Fabrics
Public
Traded as OTC Pink: HKFI
Industry Retail
Founded 1957 (Tupelo, Mississippi)
Headquarters Baldwyn, Mississippi, USA
Number of locations
 266 (2008)
Key people
 Steve Morgan (CEO)
Website www.hancockfabrics.com

Hancock Fabrics is a specialty retailer of crafts and fabrics based in Baldwyn, Mississippi, United States. Hancock Fabrics operates 266 stores in 37 states under the Hancock Fabrics name.[1]

History

The company, founded in 1957 in Tupelo, Mississippi by Elaine and Lawrence Doyce (L.D.) Hancock, started out as a cost-efficient retail store and offered a greater selection of merchandise to its customers at lower prices.[2] By 1972, when Lucky Stores bought Hancock Fabrics, the chain owned 81 stores and had 265 additional franchise stores in 19 states.[3]

In 1985, it acquired Minnesota Fabrics based in Charlotte, North Carolina, which operated over one hundred stores under the names Minnesota Fabrics and Fabric Warehouse.

Lucky Stores demerged Hancock in 1987, floating it as a public company.[4]

By 1992, the company was one of seven major retail piece-goods chains operating 482 stores in the United States.[2]

On March 21, 2007, Hancock Fabrics announced it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[5] The company closed 104 stores and emerged from bankruptcy in August 2008.[1] In 2014, Hancock announced plans to take the company private,[6] then withdrew the proposal.[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hancock Fabrics Investor Overview
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hancock Fabrics, Inc. -- Company History
  3. ↑ Claudia H. Deutsch, "Lawrence Doyce Hancock, 85, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist", New York Times, October 29, 1998.
  4. ↑ Maturi, Richard J. (June 1989). "Making money in unmergers". Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Retrieved May 1, 2015. This retailer was a favorite of Bear Sterns analyst Charles Neuhauser, who specializes in spin-off stocks, before its stock soared to more than $22 a share. Hancock operates 366 stores in 29 states under the names Minnesota Fabrics, Fabric Warehouse and Fabric Market. It was spawned by Lucky Stores in 1987 ...
  5. ↑ Hancock Fabrics Files for Chapter 11 Reorganization
  6. ↑ "Miss.-based Hancock Fabrics plans to go private", Associated Press in The Washington Times, April 26, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Hancock Fabrics drops plan to go private", WAPT, August 6, 2014.

External links