Melville Corporation, formerly based in

Rye, New York Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...

, was a large

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

incorporated by

Ward Melville John Ward Melville (January 5, 1887 – June 5, 1977) was an American philanthropist and businessman active in the "Three Villages" in western Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He donated 400 acres of land and money to establish Stony Broo ...

in 1922 from Melville Shoe Company. It became

CVS Corporation CVS Health Corporation (previously CVS Corporation and CVS Caremark Corporation) is an American healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager; and Aetna, a health insurance provi ...

in 1996 under a massive reorganization plan. The company traded on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

(NYSE) under the ticker MES, before changing its ticker to CVS. During the period from 1925 to 1928, the number of Melville stores increased by 184% and net income expanded 360%. In the first three months of 1929 the

chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

realized a 34% increase in sales over 1928. In February 1930 the Melville Shoe Corporation controlled 460

Thom McAn The surname Thom is of Scottish origin, from the city of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Angus, and is a sept of the Clan MacThomas. Thom is also a first name variant of the abbreviation " Tom" of "Thomas" that holds the "h". People with the surname ...

, Rival, and John Ward stores in thirty-nine of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

.''Melville Shoe Corp.'', Wall Street Journal, February 7, 1930, pg. 9. At its peak, Melville operated over 7,282 retail stores in approximately 3,500 unique locations, providing a wide range of products. In April 1976, the Melville Corporation acquired

Marshalls Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. Mar ...

, a chain of thirty-two specialty stores, based in New England. The purchase price was $40 million.''Melville Closes Acquisition'', Wall Street Journal, April 15, 1976, pg. 16. Melville was one of the first companies in the world to develop a shared-services satellite communications network, consolidating the infrastructure of all of its discrete divisions, resulting in significant cost savings for the corporation. Beginning in the early 1990s, Melville was under pressure to reorganize and shed its diverse portfolio. Many of the chains the company operated were underperforming. The chain shed all of its retail chains, except for CVS, which accounted for 40% of Melville's revenue. Its Peoples, Revco, Standard Drug, and Austin Drug

pharmacies Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

were converted to the CVS identity. Most of the company's units that were unrelated to its pharmacy business were shed in 1996. Many of the retail divisions that Melville once owned still operate either as independent companies or as subsidiaries of other companies.

Divisions

During the height of Melville's success, the company operated the following retailing divisions.

Pharmacies

CVS Pharmacy CVS Pharmacy, Inc. is an American retail corporation. A subsidiary of CVS Health, it is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was also known as, and originally named, the Consumer Value Store and was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts, in ...

Peoples Drug Peoples Drug was a chain of drugstores based in Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1905, Peoples was subsequently purchased by Lane Drug in 1975, Imasco in 1984, and finally by CVS in 1990, which continued to run the stores under the Peoples banne ...

* Standard Drug * Austin Drug * Freddy's Drug

Apparel

(sold to

T.J. Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...

in 1995) * Wilsons The Leather Experts *Bermans *

Pelle Cuir Pelle may refer to: * ''Pelle'' (album), a 2000 studio album of the Italian band Punkreas * Pelle (given name) * Pelle (surname) * Pelle Pelle, a fashion brand * An enzyme, also known as IRAK1 * A familiar form of the male given name Per * Anothe ...

Tannery West Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

Snyder Leather Outlets Snyder may refer to: Places in the United States * Snyder, Colorado * Snyder, Missouri * Snyder, Nebraska * Snyder, New York * Snyder, Oklahoma * Snyder, Texas * Snyder County, Pennsylvania *Snyder Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania *Snyder T ...

Georgetown Leather Georgetown or George Town may refer to: Places Africa *George, South Africa, formerly known as Georgetown *Janjanbureh, Gambia, formerly known as Georgetown * Georgetown, Ascension Island, main settlement of the British territory of Ascension Isl ...

Design *

Bob's Stores Bob's Stores is a chain of retail stores in the northeastern United States owned by GoDigital Media Group. Founded as Bob's Surplus in Middletown, Connecticut, by Robert "Bob" Lapidus in 1954, the chain expanded gradually until it was acquired by ...

*Accessory Lady *

Chess King Chess King was a United States men's clothing retailer created by the Melville Corporation. From its founding in 1968, it grew to over 500 locations by the mid-1980s, before an eventual decline, sale, and closure of the chain in 1995. History ...

(sold to

Merry-Go-Round A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

in 1993; defunct as of 1995) *Chess King Garage * Foxmoor (sold in 1985; purchased by

Edison Brothers Stores Edison Brothers Stores, Inc., was a retail conglomerate based in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated numerous retail chains mainly located in shopping malls, mostly in the fields of shoes, clothing and entertainment, with Bakers Shoes as its flagship ...

in 1990; closed in Edison Brothers liquidation in 1999) *Free Fall *Putnam Stores Melville Shoe Corporation Operating Committee (1971)

Footwear

FootAction USA Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an Americans, American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries. Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in ...

(spun off as

Footstar Footstar, Inc., was a shoe retailer that was headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey. The company was traded under the symbol “FTAR” on the Pink Sheets. In April 2012, Footstar was merged into Xstelos Holdings, Inc. History Footstar was spun o ...

Inc., now owned by

Foot Locker Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an Americans, American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries. Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in ...

) *FootAction For Kids *Fan Club *

(was part of Footstar spinoff, now owned by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

) *B.O.Q. *Miles *Open Country *Smart Step *Vanguard *Meldisco *Woodbridge Shoes

Toys

KB Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy who ...

(sold to Consolidated Stores in 1996, defunct as of 2010, reviving in 2018) * Circus World *K & K Toys *Toy Works (defunct) *Play Things

Domestics

Linens 'n Things Linens 'n Things was a Clifton, New Jersey-based big-box retailer specializing in home textiles, housewares, and decorative home accessories. The chain operated 571 stores in 47 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and had 7,300 employees as of ...

(sold to

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

in 1996) Online store as of 2009. *Prints Plus

Furniture

* This End Up *Wood's End *Prism

References

External links

Ward Melville Heritage Organization

Harvard Business School Profile of Ward Meville
{{Authority control Retail companies established in 1922 Holding companies established in 1922 Defunct retail companies of the United States Companies based in Westchester County, New York Retail companies disestablished in 1996 Defunct companies based in New York (state) 1922 establishments in New York (state) 1996 disestablishments in New York (state) CVS Health Holding companies disestablished in 1996 American companies established in 1922 American companies disestablished in 1996