Caldor
Encyclopedia
Caldor was a chain of American
discount department store
s headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut
, operating throughout the northeastern United States. At one time, the company was a subsidiary of May Department Stores
; Caldor was among the country's largest discount retailers.
Despite being a popular destination for shoppers, Caldor faced mounting losses during its final years. The chain declared bankruptcy
in 1995 and never fully emerged from it, eventually resorting to closing its remaining stores on May 15, 1999.
, from Virginia
to New Hampshire
. In late 1998, Caldor had 145 stores. Many Caldor stores had been part of the J.M. Fields chain
Dorothy Bennett died of a lengthy illness on May 2, 2008, at age 82.
The Bennetts sold the company to Associated Dry Goods Corporation (ADG) in 1981. ADG would merge with May Department Stores
in 1986. May sold the chain in November 1990 in a leveraged buyout
. In 1991, Caldor went public and earned over $2.5 billion in revenue that year, becoming the fourth largest retailer in the United States
behind Kmart
, Target
, and Wal-Mart
. That same year Caldor came out with a new red logo and in 1992 introduced a new format for their stores. Throughout the early 1990s, Caldor expanded and renovated many of their older stores. By 1994, Caldor had 166 stores in 10 states.
to inform its shoppers. The posting of the list led to a spat with the newspaper in 1993. That year, Howard Stern
released his autobiography Private Parts
. Caldor wanted nothing to do with the book and would not carry it in its stores. In fact, Caldor would not even acknowledge the book's place on the list once it reached the top spot, moving every other book on the list up one place. The New York Times told Caldor that in order to post the list, all of the books on it had to be acknowledged. Caldor responded by not posting the list the next week.
(which had acquired several former Caldor stores), causing a dramatic loss in sales.
Caldor also had trouble meeting its financial goals and losses mounted. Shortly before filing for bankruptcy, Caldor had $1.2 billion in assets and $883 million in liabilities, the lowest amount of assets and the highest amount of liabilities the company had since it was sold by May Department Stores
in 1990. After the bankruptcy, Caldor closed 10 underperforming stores in 1996.
. This along with the slow financial progress of the chain caused its secured creditors to force the chain into Chapter 7 bankruptcy
, which would have forced the liquidation of the entire chain. The creditors felt that their shareholders would benefit more from the liquidation of the company than if they allowed it to remain in business. In addition, Caldor's stock was delisted on the New York Stock Exchange.
Caldor responded by seeking mediation to resolve the dispute. However, it became clearer that Caldor's troubles could not be resolved by any means and that the demise of the chain was imminent. As 1999 began Caldor announced that they would no longer be placing orders for or accepting shipments of new merchandise, which seemed to serve as a prelude to a liquidation announcement. That announcement came on January 22, where Caldor's chairman announced the chain had no alternative but to wind down business.
Layoffs began immediately, with the staff at Caldor's corporate headquarters cut by a large margin. The liquidation sales began within several weeks of the announcement and the last Caldor store closed on Saturday, May 15, 1999. At the time the chain closed, it had 22,000 employees and 145 stores in nine East Coast states.
The chain made $2.5 billion in sales in its last full year in business.
Many of Caldor's former locations were purchased by other retailers, including competitors Target
, Wal-Mart
, Bradlees
, and Ames. Many New York metro area Caldor locations were bought by Kohl's
after the company's closure as part of Kohl's entry into the New York retail market.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
discount department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
s headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...
, operating throughout the northeastern United States. At one time, the company was a subsidiary of May Department Stores
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...
; Caldor was among the country's largest discount retailers.
Despite being a popular destination for shoppers, Caldor faced mounting losses during its final years. The chain declared bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in 1995 and never fully emerged from it, eventually resorting to closing its remaining stores on May 15, 1999.
Beginning
The first store was opened by Carl and Dorothy Bennett in Norwalk, CT, in 1951, as a five and dime. The name was taken from parts of each of their first names. They developed a private clothing label as well, Marc Robbins, named after their two children. By the 1980s, Caldor had stores along the East CoastEast Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
, from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
to New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. In late 1998, Caldor had 145 stores. Many Caldor stores had been part of the J.M. Fields chain
Dorothy Bennett died of a lengthy illness on May 2, 2008, at age 82.
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...
in 1986. May sold the chain in November 1990 in a leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...
. In 1991, Caldor went public and earned over $2.5 billion in revenue that year, becoming the fourth largest retailer in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
behind Kmart
Kmart
Kmart, sometimes styled as "K-Mart," is a chain of discount department stores. The chain acquired Sears in 2005, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation. The company was founded in 1962 and is the third largest discount store chain in the world, behind Wal-Mart and...
, Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
, and Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
. That same year Caldor came out with a new red logo and in 1992 introduced a new format for their stores. Throughout the early 1990s, Caldor expanded and renovated many of their older stores. By 1994, Caldor had 166 stores in 10 states.
Stern disagreement
Most Caldor stores had a bookselling department, and the stores would often post the New York Times Best Seller listNew York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
to inform its shoppers. The posting of the list led to a spat with the newspaper in 1993. That year, Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
released his autobiography Private Parts
Private Parts (book)
Private Parts is the first autobiography of American radio presenter Howard Stern. Released on October 7, 1993 by Simon & Schuster, it is the fastest-selling book in the company's history. It was later adapted into a film in 1997 starring Stern and his radio show staff as themselves...
. Caldor wanted nothing to do with the book and would not carry it in its stores. In fact, Caldor would not even acknowledge the book's place on the list once it reached the top spot, moving every other book on the list up one place. The New York Times told Caldor that in order to post the list, all of the books on it had to be acknowledged. Caldor responded by not posting the list the next week.
First bankruptcy
In 1995, Caldor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The chain found itself unable to compete with the lower prices and wider selection of such stores as Wal-MartWal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
(which had acquired several former Caldor stores), causing a dramatic loss in sales.
Caldor also had trouble meeting its financial goals and losses mounted. Shortly before filing for bankruptcy, Caldor had $1.2 billion in assets and $883 million in liabilities, the lowest amount of assets and the highest amount of liabilities the company had since it was sold by May Department Stores
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...
in 1990. After the bankruptcy, Caldor closed 10 underperforming stores in 1996.
Printing error
Caldor relied heavily on a weekly multi-color sales flier to generate business. Fliers were distributed weekly to advertise sales that ran from Sunday through Saturday. In November 1998, the company suffered a huge public relations blow when its sales flier featured a prominent photograph of two grinning boys playing the board game "Scrabble" with the word "RAPE" spelled out in the center of the board. Eleven million copies of the flier were distributed to the public via an 85-newspaper distribution chain. Caldor released a statement pressing its mystification over how the image was created and got past proofreaders.Second bankruptcy and liquidation
In January 1998, Caldor had $1.2 billion in liabilities and $949 million in assets, one of the worst deficits the company ever had. A few months later, Caldor closed 12 underperfoming stores located mostly around Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. This along with the slow financial progress of the chain caused its secured creditors to force the chain into Chapter 7 bankruptcy
Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States...
, which would have forced the liquidation of the entire chain. The creditors felt that their shareholders would benefit more from the liquidation of the company than if they allowed it to remain in business. In addition, Caldor's stock was delisted on the New York Stock Exchange.
Caldor responded by seeking mediation to resolve the dispute. However, it became clearer that Caldor's troubles could not be resolved by any means and that the demise of the chain was imminent. As 1999 began Caldor announced that they would no longer be placing orders for or accepting shipments of new merchandise, which seemed to serve as a prelude to a liquidation announcement. That announcement came on January 22, where Caldor's chairman announced the chain had no alternative but to wind down business.
Layoffs began immediately, with the staff at Caldor's corporate headquarters cut by a large margin. The liquidation sales began within several weeks of the announcement and the last Caldor store closed on Saturday, May 15, 1999. At the time the chain closed, it had 22,000 employees and 145 stores in nine East Coast states.
The chain made $2.5 billion in sales in its last full year in business.
Many of Caldor's former locations were purchased by other retailers, including competitors Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
, Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, Bradlees
Bradlees
Bradlees was a chain of discount department stores which operated primarily in the Northeastern United States. The chain went bankrupt in 2000 and all of its stores were closed by March 2001.-History:...
, and Ames. Many New York metro area Caldor locations were bought by Kohl's
Kohl's
Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating , 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500...
after the company's closure as part of Kohl's entry into the New York retail market.