Rich's was a family-owned business that was established in 1962, grew out of Jerry's Army Navy Surplus in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

, USA. The Rich family once operated 29 stores in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, which offered discounted merchandise.

History

Jerry Rich, a Russian immigrant living in Salem, Massachusetts, established Jerry's Army-Navy Surplus in 1929. Rich's was founded in 1961 by Rich, his sons and his son-in-law. Similar to chain stores like

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Ok ...

and Bradlee's, the chain offered discounted brand-name merchandise. At its peak, the business operated 29 locations across New England. In 1994, the company had sales of $240 million. Due to retail consolidation and pressure from

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, the chain went bankrupt on March 14, 1996. Financial records in its bankruptcy filing detailed $63.4 million in assets and $51.3 million in liabilities. While the business was initially optimistic about its ability to emerge from bankruptcy, the store would shutter all its locations in December 1996. Nearly 2,000 workers at the company's 28 stores in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont lost their jobs by February 1997.

References

External links

Discounters from Woolworth to Wal-Mart
Retail companies established in 1962 Defunct discount stores of the United States Surplus stores Retail companies disestablished in 1997 1962 establishments in Massachusetts 1997 disestablishments in Massachusetts Companies based in Salem, Massachusetts {{US-retail-company-stub