Pic 'N' Save Corporation (later MacFrugals) was at one time the second-largest closeout retail chain in the United States. Financial troubles caused the chain to close many stores in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

History

William Zimmerman founded Pic 'N' Save Corporation in 1950 in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

. By 1985, it operated 90 stores in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and six other U.S. states. In 1991, the company changed its name to MacFrugals. It later expanded to the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, but left both markets in the late 1990s. In 1997, Consolidated Stores Corporation bought out the remaining MacFrugals stores for $995 million in stock. In 2002,

Big Lots Big Lots Stores, Inc. (stylized as Big Lots!) is an American retail company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with over 1,400 stores in 47 states. History The Big Lots chain traces its history back to 1967 when Consolidated Stores Corporation w ...

(formerly Consolidated Stores) converted them into the Big Lots brand.Mac Frugal's making switch, will be known as Big Lots
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In popular culture

In the 1983 film ''

10 to Midnight ''10 to Midnight'' is a 1983 American crime- horror-thriller film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay originally written by William Roberts. The film stars Charles Bronson in the lead role with a supporting cast that includes Lisa Eilb ...

'', detectives Leo Kessler (

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...

) and McCann (

Andrew Stevens Herman Andrew Stevens (born June 10, 1955) is an American executive, film producer, director and actor. Early life Stevens was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the only child of actress Stella Stevens and her former husband Noble Herman Stephens. Ca ...

) are en route to inform the parents of a murder victim of their daughter's demise when they pass a Pic 'N' Save, next to a

Thrifty Drug Store Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles-based TCH Corporation, the pa ...

; this location was a
11341 National Boulevard
in Los Angeles. In ''

Troop Beverly Hills ''Troop Beverly Hills'' is a 1989 American comedy film. It is produced by the Weintraub Entertainment Group and directed by Jeff Kanew, starring Shelley Long, Craig T. Nelson, Betty Thomas, Mary Gross, Stephanie Beacham and introducing Jenny Lewis ...

'' (1989) when Freddy discovers soon-to-be ex-wife Phyllis has just gone on a shopping spree using their joint credit cards, he tells her to have her fun now cause after the divorce she'll, "be shopping at the Pic 'N' Save." Pic 'N' Save's parking lot, store front, and signs were also featured in the 1998 film, ''

Slums of Beverly Hills ''Slums of Beverly Hills'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, and starring Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, David Krumholtz, Kevin Corrigan, Jessica Walter and Carl Reiner. The story follows a ...

''.

References

External links

Big Lots stays in the black
(2002)

(2001) Retail companies established in 1950 Retail companies disestablished in 2002 Defunct discount stores of the United States 1950 establishments in California 2002 disestablishments in California {{US-retail-company-stub