Rickel (known as Rickel Brothers in its early years, Rickel Supermarts in the 1960s, and Rickel Home Centers in later years) was a chain of

home-improvement center A home improvement center, home improvement store, or home center is a retail store that combines the functions of a hardware store with those of a lumber yard. Major North American home-improvement center chains include Home Depot, Lowe's, Menar ...

s based in northern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The company’s first store opened in 1953 and for three decades Rickel was the leading hardware, plumbing, heating and electrical retailer in its region. At its peak Rickel operated over 90 stores, but competition from

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

, debt problems with its former parent, and an ultimately ill-advised merger with competitor

Channel Home Centers Channel Home Centers (formerly known as Channel Lumber Company and often simply known as Channel) was a chain of home-improvement centers that was based in Whippany, New Jersey. History The chain of stores was founded in 1948 but could trace its ...

led to a 1996 bankruptcy filing and liquidation and closure starting in late 1997 and continuing through early 1998.

Founding

The origins of the company date back to 1946 when brothers Al, Mort, and Bob Rickel went into business for themselves in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Roush, Chris, ''Inside Home Depot'', pp.126-30 1999 The brothers formed their own heating business, continuing a family tradition. Rickel Brothers logo c

An anecdotal story says that a few years later, the brothers purchased a warehouse full of plumbing supplies for "next to nothing". In many cases, a contractor involved in heating is also involved in plumbing, but the Rickel brothers were not. Since they were unfamiliar with plumbing, they had no idea what the actual value of the haul was and sought help. A friend put them in touch with a plumber named Bill Ryan, who agreed to go through the items and determine how much they would sell for. Plumbing supplies were usually sold wholesale at this time, which presented a problem for Al, Mort, and Bob. With the massive amount of supplies they had, it was likely going to take a significant amount of time for them to sell them off to local plumbers. They came up with an idea that, at the time, had been unheard of. The idea was to start a business selling the supplies to the general public at retail cost, with Ryan as their salesman. In that role, the brothers felt that he could not only sell the supplies to the people but pass along his plumbing knowledge to advise customers on how to fix their own toilets, sinks, drains, etc., and making sure they had the correct parts to perform the repair. So, in 1953 Al, Mort, and Bob opened up the first Rickel Brothers store in Union, New Jersey, and Ryan was warmly referred to as "employee number one" for his entire 35-year stint with the Rickel store chain. Rickel was one of the first "do-it-yourself" home improvement stores, eventually expanding beyond plumbing supplies and selling heating and electrical supplies and tools in addition. An early slogan and jingle of the Rickel chain, which lasted in some degree to its 1997 closure, was "Rickel Helps You Do it Better- Do it Better With Rickel"- a reflection of the Rickel brothers' focus which included employees who could explain to customers how to perform their own home repairs. The concept took off and enabled 'Rickels' (as the store came to be known locally) to develop a loyal customer base. Rickel soda syphon chargers

Growth

The Rickels began expanding quickly after their first store became a success and by the early 1960s were operating three locations, all in New Jersey: Succasunna,

Paramus Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

East Brunswick East Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The suburban bedroom community is part of the New York City metropolitan area and is located on the southern shore of the Raritan River, directly adjacent to the city ...

, and a new location in Union. By 1967 the "Rickel Supermarts" chain (as the stores were now known) had six stores, all in New Jersey, opening in Menlo Park and Wayne. The Rickels then began expanding at a more rapid pace, opening more stores in New Jersey and entering the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

markets for the first time. During this time a corporate headquarters was established in

South Plainfield, New Jersey South Plainfield is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is located in the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the bo ...

, which also served as Rickel's primary distribution center. The Rickel brothers sold the still-growing chain of Rickel Supermarts to Supermarkets General Corporation, the parent company of the Pathmark supermarket chain, in 1969. After the sale SGC renamed the chain "Rickel Home Centers", which lasted until Rickel's closure. In 1973 Rickel built their

executive office headquarters, which doubled as a distribution and storage center that had been expanded to nearly 800,000 square feet by 1988. In 1975, the Rickel division of SGC recorded $80 million in sales and was the dominant home improvement retailer in the region, far outselling its larger competitors Channel Lumber and Pergament. The subsequent decade was a time of continued expansion as the Rickel chain grew to over 30 stores by the mid-eighties. Hom by Rickel (1990 prototype store concept)

Hom by Rickel (1990 prototype store concept)

However, Supermarkets General's fortunes were starting to turn as the company entered a financial downturn that it stayed locked in, in various forms, for the next two decades. While Rickel was doing well, its corporate sibling Pathmark was losing business and dragging the company's finances down with it. In 1987, the

Dart Group Jet2 plc (formerly Dart Group plc) is a British multinational airline company based in Leeds, England. Its head office is located in the Low Fare Finder House on the grounds of Leeds Bradford Airport, England. Subsidiary Jet2.com has its head o ...

made a hostile takeover bid to acquire SGC. In a move to avoid the takeover, management took the company private by engineering a $2.1 billion leveraged buyout.

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

Capital Markets Inc. received 55 percent of the shares, Equitable Life Assurance received 30 percent and SGC management retained ten percent. The company's debt grew to $1.6 billion by early 1990, half of it in junk bonds, primarily as a result of the buyout. Servicing the debt became SGC's primary objective and largest problem.

Home Depot competition

Around the time of Supermarkets General's cash flow problems, the

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

-based home improvement chain

began to open stores in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. Although Rickel, Channel, Pergament, and local hardware stores all felt the effects of Home Depot's entry and quick expansion into their market area, Rickel's problems were made worse by its parent company's financial state. This helped lead to a somewhat contentious relationship between Rickel and Home Depot over the next few years. An early example of the consequences of the rivalry between Rickel and Home Depot can be seen in an incident surrounding

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

' long running home improvement series ''

This Old House ''This Old House'' is an American home improvement media brand with television shows, a magazine, and a websiteThisOldHouse.com. The brand is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The television series airs on the American television networ ...

''. For many years, Home Depot has been one of the largest sources of financial support for the noncommercial program. In 1989, however, this relationship nearly came to an end. ''This Old House'' host

Bob Vila Robert Joseph Vila (born June 20, 1946) is an American home improvement television show host known for ''This Old House'' (1979–1989), ''Bob Vila's Home Again'' (1990–2005), and ''Bob Vila'' (2005–2007). Early life and education Vila, a C ...

, who had been with the show since its 1979 debut, signed an endorsement deal with Rickel and did a series of commercials for them. Home Depot was angered by this and, citing Vila's work for a competing business, pulled its backing from ''This Old House'' and its lumber supplier,

Weyerhaeuser Weyerhaeuser () is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company also manufactures wood products. It operates as a real e ...

, followed.

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

, the producer of ''This Old House'', responded by firing Vila from the show and replacing him with Steve Thomas in an attempt to convince Home Depot to return, which they did.(Vila eventually launched his own television series, ''Home Again with Bob Vila'', the following year and hosted it for sixteen seasons. His relationship with Rickel did not last long, as he became a spokesman

Craftsman Tools Craftsman is a line of tools, lawn and garden equipment, and work wear. Originally a house brand established by Sears, the brand is now owned by Stanley Black & Decker. As with all Sears products, Craftsman tools were not manufactured by Sears ...

and

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 ...

shortly after leaving ''This Old House''.) Combined with Home Depot's expansion and its parent company's debt problems, not only did Rickel find itself unable to compete with the rapidly growing Home Depot, but it also began to lose market share to its local competitors who were on more secure financial footing. By Fall 1993, it became apparent that Rickel's future was beginning to look grim. Supermarkets General was still in serious financial trouble as Pathmark's sales continued to slide, and the company chose to keep its focus on trying to bring its primary brand out of decline. As a consequence of this, Rickel was unable to receive the funding it needed to properly compete with the juggernaut that Home Depot was becoming. In 1994, Supermarkets General reorganized. The company changed its name to Pathmark Stores, Inc. and began looking for ways to divest itself of its varied retail properties including Rickel. In the summer of 1994, they found a solution.

Merger

Eos Partners L.P., a venture capital firm based in New York, made a bid for Rickel that Pathmark accepted on August 26, 1994. After that, Eos struck a second agreement with

GE Capital GE Capital is the financial services division of General Electric. The company currently only runs one division, GE Energy Financial Services. It had provided additional services in the past; however, those units were sold between 2013 and 2018 ...

, another venture capital firm which owned Rickel's competitor Channel, later that day. When the entirety of both deals were revealed, Eos announced that its new acquisitions would merge into one. 59 of Channel's 60 stores became Rickel locations; in the other remaining case, Rickel operated a store in the former Ice World hockey arena in

Totowa, New Jersey Totowa (pronounced "TO-tuh-wuh" ) is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 10,844,

Home Depot sues Rickel

By 1995, Home Depot was establishing itself as New Jersey's home improvement leader and building stores almost anywhere demand existed, putting significant strain on Rickel and its competitors that had long been established before Home Depot's encroachment. One of these areas was a large vacant parcel of land on Orange Street in

Bloomfield, New Jersey Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 53,105. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District. History The initial patent for the land that w ...

. Home Depot submitted a proposal to take over the land and build a massive store on it. The Orange Street location was less than one mile from the Bloomfield Center strip mall where Rickel, at the time, was its longstanding anchor store. The center is located along Bloomfield Avenue, which is a significant thoroughfare in the area as it begins

West Caldwell West Caldwell is a township located in the West Essex area in northwestern Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is located approximately west of Manhattan and northwest of Newark. As of the 2010 United States census, the township's pop ...

and passes through several municipalities in Essex County before terminating near Newark Broad Street Station. In addition to being on such a heavily traveled stretch of road, the center's location enabled it to draw from four different municipalities. A sliver of

Belleville, New Jersey Belleville (French: "Belle ville" meaning "Beautiful city / town") is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 38,222, reflecting an increase of 6.4% from th ...

's border with Bloomfield was just past the center with the Roseville section of Newark just beyond that. Furthermore, residents of

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

had access from Ampere Parkway, a major roadway in that city which ran into Bloomfield and terminated just across from the strip mall. However, like many of its fellow outlets the Bloomfield Rickel was a much smaller sized business than the massive Home Depot stores being built in and around New Jersey were. Rickel certainly was not in a good position as even though their store was in a centralized location, the Home Depot store would siphon away a significant amount of their customers. In addition, the store would have easy access as it was located very near Bloomfield's border with

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and located near public transit on nearby Watsessing Avenue (including a New Jersey Transit rail station) and Exit 148 on the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...

. Rickel decided to fight the proposal. Its methods, however, led to Home Depot filing a lawsuit in New Jersey court in July of that year. Home Depot alleged that Rickel had engaged in a deceitful "smear campaign"; Rickel was accused of posing as a community action group that accused Home Depot of bringing an increase of car theft and violent crime everywhere they opened stores, specifically citing figures obtained from the police in

Clifton, New Jersey Clifton is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Criss-crossed by several major highways, the city is a regional commercial hub for North Jersey and is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan Area. As ...

, a neighboring municipality to Bloomfield where Home Depot first opened a store in 1992 (Rickel, at that time, was not doing business in Clifton; after the merger with Channel in 1994, Rickel took over the lone Channel Home Center in the city).

Bankruptcy and liquidation

If things were not bad enough, by the end of 1995 Rickel discovered that their financial situation was significantly more unstable than they had realized. The new sales figures from its fifty-nine new stores had not done enough to correct the damage that the years of financial trouble that its former parent Pathmark had left on Rickel, and thus a bankruptcy filing was looming as a serious possibility. To try and stave it off, the company decided to close thirteen underperforming stores shortly after the Home Depot lawsuit was filed. This did not work, and on January 10, 1996, Rickel announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. More store closures followed, with another thirteen locations liquidated by July. Although Rickel was starting to show signs of recovery that met with positive reactions, reality painted a different picture as the company appeared to be in a state of terminal decline. Rickel went through two more rounds of closures that ran into 1997; when those were done, the chain was almost half the size of what it had been just two years before, with 49 locations still operating. In 1997 Rickel decided to shift focus again and focus less on being a direct competitor to Home Depot, which had now established itself as the New York area market leader in retail home improvement. Instead, Rickel decided to focus on things that made it unique compared to the larger, big-box chain. Although Rickel was one of the larger and more successful home improvement chains in the area prior to Home Depot's entry into its market, Rickel tended to operate in smaller facilities than Home Depot did even after its merger with Channel. For example, a typical Home Depot store was well over in size. Rickel stores, by comparison, averaged approximately with a handful of stores such as the Totowa, New Jersey store and the Wayne, New Jersey store being larger (the Wayne store was, in fact, the company's largest). Rickel decided, as they had tried once before, to use their size to their advantage and define themselves as more of a neighborhood home center. Since both Rickel and Home Depot sold many of the same items, Rickel's strategy was to portray the stores as much easier to shop at than the immense Home Depot stores. The attempt did little, if anything, to either take business from Home Depot or lure customers to Rickel and in August 1997, a plan to allow the chain to remain open until at least February 1998 was rejected. Despite its best efforts, it now seemed that it was no longer a matter of if the still-in-bankruptcy Rickel could reverse its fortunes and stave off its demise but instead a matter of how much time the former home improvement stalwart had left before it would be forced to close its doors for good. On October 11, 1997, Rickel vice president for marketing Greg Hanselman made the announcement that the company "ran out of cash" to operate the remaining 49 stores and that the chain was to begin liquidating. Most of the Rickels were closed by Thanksgiving 1997, with several more lasting until December as they received more merchandise from already shuttered stores. The last Rickel to close was its largest, with the Wayne store closing in early 1998. Rickel still held leases on the 53 stores they were operating at the beginning of 1997, and office supply chain Staples picked up 41 of those leases, including Rickel's Bloomfield store that they had been sued trying to protect. Staples did not reopen all of the Rickel locations they purchased, however, as there were objections raised by some of the tenants and landlords involving six of the forty-one purchases. The company's distribution center, meanwhile, was retaken by Pathmark. As far as the other stores mentioned in this portion of the article are concerned, the Totowa store was repurposed as a clothing retailer, first being occupied by

Filene's Basement Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, was a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms. The oldest off-price retailer in the United States, Filene's B ...

's Aisle 3 concept and later by

Forman Mills Forman Mills, Inc. is a Pennsauken, New Jersey-based retail chain and department store with 44 stores. They also operate a store at the Iverson Mall in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland. It was begun by Richard Forman when he started selling items at ...

, which as of 2022 is still in operation. The Clifton store, which was one of the six Staples purchases that did not become a Staples store and was subdivided after closing. One half was occupied by Dollar Express, which was eventually merged with

Dollar Tree Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada. Its st ...

and still occupies the space today, while the other half was taken by

Drug Fair Drug Fair was a chain of Pharmacy, drugstores based in New Jersey. History The company kept its headquarters in Somerset, New Jersey and was founded in 1954. In addition to its drugstore chain Drug Fair also owned and operated Cost Cutters, a di ...

, closed in 2009 after the company’s surprise bankruptcy filing, and has since had a rotating chain of occupants that have either been seasonal stores like

Spirit Halloween Spirit Halloween, LLC is an American seasonal retailer that supplies Halloween decorations, costumes, props and accessories. It is the country's largest Halloween retailer. It is currently owned by Spencer Gifts. It was founded in 1983 and bega ...

or other businesses that failed. Only a portion of the Wayne store still exists. The rear portion of the store was converted into a bowling alley while the remainder was demolished. Originally, a

Grand Union A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer installati ...

supermarket was supposed to be constructed on the remaining property, but the company was forced to stop construction after a 2001 bankruptcy filing; the store was eventually completed in 2003 and opened as a

Stop & Shop The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide. Sto ...

. The year after Rickel shut its doors for good, in a strange twist, Home Depot decided to try its own hand at a smaller, neighborhood home center concept and created Villager's Hardware, which were similar to Rickel stores in their size and setup and included some scaled back versions of Home Depot departments like its plant nursery. The first location, coincidentally, opened in the former East Brunswick, New Jersey store Rickel occupied for thirty-plus years. Home Depot would open several more Villager's stores in the next year, but the company decided to discontinue the brand shortly thereafter. The Villager's stores remained open as smaller Home Depot locations and were all closed in 2008; Home Depot cited the bursting of the housing bubble as the reasoning.

Fate of the Rickels

All three Rickel brothers have since died. Mort Rickel passed away at 61 in 1980; his two brothers would reach 90 before following him in death. Al Rickel passed away in 2008, and Bob Rickel passed away in 2014.

References

External links

{{external media , width = 210px , align = right , headerimage= , video1
''"Rickel helps you do it better. Do it better with Rickel!"''
television commercial featuring regular store jingle, from June 15, 1980
Throwback Thursday: Rickel heads HoM
HBSDealer Defunct retail companies of the United States Home improvement retailers of the United States Retail companies established in 1953 Retail companies disestablished in 1998 1953 establishments in New Jersey 1998 disestablishments in New Jersey 1994 mergers and acquisitions Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996