Handy Dan Home Improvement was an American

home improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation, or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electrical and plumbing), ...

store based out of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. It went out of business in May, 198

Bernard Marcus Bernard "Bernie" Marcus (born May 12, 1929) is an American billionaire businessman. He co-founded The Home Depot and was the company's first CEO, and chairman until retiring in 2002. Early life and education Bernard Marcus was born to Russian Jew ...

was CEO of Handy Dan in 1978 when he was fired along with company vice president

Arthur Blank Arthur M. Blank (born September 27, 1942) is an American businessman and a co-founder of the home improvement retailer The Home Depot. He also currently owns two professional sports teams based in Atlanta, Georgia - the Atlanta Falcons of the ...

amid a corporate power struggle with

Sanford C. Sigoloff Sanford C. Sigoloff (September 8, 1930 – February 19, 2011) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He became known as "Mr. Chapter 11" for his rescuing of a number of companies from bankruptcy, in the course of which he pioneered an ...

, who led Handy Dan's owner at the time,

Daylin Daylin, Inc. was a major retail conglomerate based in Los Angeles and later Beverly Hills, California. Its best-known unit was Handy Dan Improvement Centers, which prefigured The Home Depot; the company also briefly owned London Drugs as well as Gr ...

Inc. Marcus and Blank went on to found

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

. Daylin was purchased by

W. R. Grace and Company W. R. Grace and Co. is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes catalysts and related products and technologies ...

in 1979. In 1986, Grace's retail home improvement division, which included Handy Dan and Channel Home Centers, was sold to the division's executives through a

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loan ...

. Handy Dan played a major role in getting Texas's religion-based

blue laws Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons, ...

repealed in 1984 by opening on Sunday and using white price stickers for goods that could be sold seven days a week, and blue price stickers for items that could not be sold on Sunday. {{dead link, date=November 2019

References

Retail companies disestablished in 1989 Hardware stores of the United States Defunct retail companies of the United States Defunct companies based in New Jersey The Home Depot