King's Department Stores was a chain of

discount stores A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cos ...

in the Eastern United States. The chain started in 1956, in

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population is 105,643 as of the 2020 United States Census. Along with Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County. It is the sixth-largest city in Mas ...

. They expanded to 187 stores (three stores operated in the

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

area). In 1978, they purchased the bankrupt

Mammoth Mart Mammoth Mart was a discount department store chain, located in the northeastern United States, primarily in the New England area. The chain was founded by Max Coffman and Henry Gornstein in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1956, and was something of ...

chain. Because of the economic downturn and the debt from the Mammoth purchase, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982. In 1984

Ames Department Stores Ames Department Stores Inc. was an American chain of discount stores based in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, United States. The company was founded in 1958 with a store in Southbridge, Massachusetts, and at its peak operated 700 stores in 20 states, ...

purchased the chain and converted most of them into Ames stores. Ames went out of business in 2002.

Retail Chains Bought out By King's

Barker's Discount Department Stores Barkers Discount Department Stores was a chain of discount department stores founded in May, 1957 by Felix Mininberg and Irving Barker. As one of the first hard goods discounters, and with creative promotions, the initial store, in Orange, Conne ...

* Sandy's Discount Stores * Miracle Mart (US Chain, not to be confused with the Canadian chain)

References

Defunct discount stores of the United States Defunct companies based in Massachusetts 1956 establishments in Massachusetts {{US-retail-company-stub