Zayre88 - Bradlees

Headquarters: Braintree, MA
President: Peter Thorner
Employees: 16,000 (Jan.1994)
Stores: 105
Slogan: Savings on the good stuff!
Founded: 1958
Closed: 2001

COMMENTARY:

Bradlees was one of my favorite discounter. It was a chain similar to Ames, but it typically had larger stores with a unique layout, often located in bigger cities. It offered general merchandise with many discounts all year around. The chain survived many years while facing Walmart stores that were opening throughout New England. Bradlees had 130 stores before filling for Chapter 11. It emerged with 102 stores in 1997 and was up to 105 stores in 2000. CEO Peter Thorner cleaned up the financial problems of the company and wanted to see Bradlees operating 150 store in a near future. Bradlees did open new stores including one in a former Caldor in Staten Island.

The big box expansion in the Northeast made it hard for Bradlees to compete and stay relevant. The thing I liked the most about the chain was the layout and look of the stores. It was different from the cookie-cutter Walmart stores and from smaller discount chains lacking common theme and colors.

BRADLEES OVERVIEW:

The first Bradlees store opened its doors in 1958 in New London, CT. The name Bradlees was taken from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, CT where the Company’s earliest planning meetings were held. The chain was acquired by The Stop & Shop Cos. in 1961. By 1968, the company had 52 stores and was making nearly $140 million in sales. Bradlees had consistently profitable growth through the 1970s & 1980s.

Stop & Shop Cos. was acquired by Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts in 1988. The decision was eventually made to sell 37 facilities located in southern states (Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland) to reduce debt.
Bradlees spun off as a publicly traded company in 1992 and started to operate separately from Stop & Shop.
In 1994, Bradlees had over 16,000 employees and was entering new markets with six to ten new stores, including its first stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY.
In December 1994, Mark A. Cohen joined Bradlees. He had been Chairman and CEO of the Lazarus store division of Federated. Cohen succeeded Barry Berman which had joined Bradlees in 1990 as senior VP of merchandising, after spending 23 years with Stop & Shop.
In early 1995, a new management team was chosen by Bradlees' Board of Directors to lead the company and return it to profitability. James Zamberlan, formerly at Lazarus stores, became executive VP stores and operations. Before joining Bradlees in March 1995, Peter Thorner had been President, COO and acting CEO at Ames department stores.
The company filled for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in June 1995.
In February 1996, Bradlees closed twelve unprofitable stores in 6 states. Before this round of closures, Bradlees operated 124 stores.
In August 1996, Bradlees said it would close 14 unprofitable stores.
In December 1996, Peter Thorner replaced Mark A. Cohen as Chairman and CEO. At that time Bradlees had 110 stores.
A location in New London CT closed in 1998,
On February 2, 1999 Bradlees successfully emerged from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.
In 2000, the company's fortunes began to change and in December the company filed for Chapter 7 liquidation.
All stores were closed early 2001.

Mark A. Cohen eventually moved to Sears Roebuck & Co. and eventually became president of Sears Canada Inc. a role he held from 2001 to 2004.

"There's always a new reason to shop at Bradlees" was one of their slogans.

Bradlees offered three core product assortments: moderately priced, basic and casual fashion apparel for the family along with accessories and jewelry, basic and fashion items for the home, and edited assortments of commodity and convenience goods. During its later years, the company operated 105 stores in seven Northeastern states: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (In 1996, the company operated 136 stores, in February 1986 Bradlees had 156 stores)