Organized Living, formerly known as Schulte Corp., is a company that manufactures storage and organization products for the home, sold through independent dealers in 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 territori ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Prior to 2007, Organized Living was a
specialty retail chain in the United States that sold storage solutions for home and office.
History
In 1985, Mark Ferrel founded the company as Containers Unlimited, in
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
,
with its first location in
Overland Park
Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. ...
.
In 1993, the then-two store chain changed its name from Containers and More to Organized Living.
By mid-1996, the chain had three stores (the original location plus two others in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
) and next expanded by adding two stores in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, in early 1997.
As it grew, the company consciously decided to focus expansion on markets not already served by
The Container Store
The Container Store Group, Inc. is an American specialty retail chain company that operates The Container Store, which offers storage and organization products, and custom closets.
The company has made ''Fortunes list of "100 Best Companies ...
, its primary competitor.
As of mid-2000, the chain had grown to 11 stores.
The store eventually grew to 25 stores before filing for bankruptcy in 2005, after planned financing did not come to fruition.
After private equity firm
Saunders Karp & Megrue bought a majority stake in the company,
the former head of
Bath & Body Works, Beth Pritchard, was hired in January 2004 to grow the chain into a national presence.
Pritchard also moved the company's headquarters from
Lenexa, Kansas
Lenexa is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is one of four principal cities of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and 9th most populated city of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,434. It is ...
, in the
Kansas City area, to
Westerville, Ohio
Westerville is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin and Delaware County, Ohio, Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. A northeastern suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, the population was 39,190 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
, near
Columbus.
Pritchard was released in May 2005 during the bankruptcy proceedings.
Pritchard cited changes in Saunder Karp's commitment to finance growth as the cause of the collapse.
Schulte Corp., one of the company's biggest creditors, obtained rights to the Organized Living name in the bankruptcy proceedings, and operated OrganizedLiving.com as an online retailer through 2012.
On January 1, 2013, Schulte Corp. changed its corporate name to Organized Living and relaunched OrganizedLiving.com as its new website.
References
{{reflist, 35em
Companies based in Cincinnati
Online retailers of the United States
American companies established in 1919
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005
Manufacturing companies established in 1919