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Jamesway Corporation

Former type	Department store
Founded	1961
Defunct	1995
Headquarters	Secaucus, New Jersey
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares.

Jamesway was a chain of discount department stores founded in Jamestown, New York, in 1961 by Herbert Fisher. At its peak in 1991, the company operated 138 stores throughout the mid-Atlantic region of the United States and employed nearly 6,000. The company had locations in NY, NJ, PA, MD, OH, VA, DE and other states. The name Jamesway is derived the town in which the first store was located, Jamestown, NY. Their headquarters was in Secaucus, New Jersey. It expanded much in the 1960s, and continued to grow until the 1980s. During this period, it acquired many properties from then-defunct discount stores such as Two Guys, Woolco, King's, and 1 location from J.W. Mays. They also acquired the Westons chain of discount stores in 1985. By 1991, Jamesway had grown to 138 stores and had sales of $855 million.

[edit] Bankruptcy

Peter Hollis, former president and CEO of Ames, joined Jamesway in 1991 and was named president in February of that year. In April 1991, in an effort to strengthen its financial position, the company secured a $40 million refinancing agreement and closed 11 unprofitable stores. In January 1993, Jamesway rolled out a new store format and planned to completely remodel the 127-store chain within the following three years. The remodel would include completely redoing 30 stores in 1993. The remodeling efforts included better lighting, store layouts, and signage improvements throughout the store.

In June 1993, Joseph Ettore, most recently chairman of Stuarts, rejoined the company as president and CEO. On July 19, 1993 the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Before the filing, the chain had sales of $1.05 billion and 7,400 employees. In August 1993, the discounter said it cut 70 headquarters jobs and implemented a management realignment. "We want to stay in business," Ettore emphasized. Back then, Jamesway operated 127 stores. In 1993 and 1994 Jamesway was forced to do a round of closings. During this time, Jamesway closed 37 stores. Jamesway faced competition from other large chains such as Ames, Bradlees, Caldor and Hills, which started to open new stores in areas were Jamesway stores were already located.

The chain emerged from bankruptcy in January 1995 with 90 stores remaining, only to be hit hard once again by competition, this time from Wal-Mart, which began opening stores in many Jamesway trade areas. Unable to compete, Jamesway was forced into bankruptcy again nine months after it had emerge from its nearly two year long bankruptcy. This time, it was the fatal blow to the company and liquidation sales began immediately, running from October to December 1995, and the chain ceased to exist. Approximately one fifth of the Jamesway locations were purchased by competitor Ames, but that company would meet the same fate as Jamesway in 2002.

[edit] External links

• Jamesway Corporation profile