Stuarts Department Stores Inc. was a company founded in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

in 1957. It incorporated as a

Delaware corporation The Delaware General Corporation Law (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code) is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U.S. state of Delaware. Adopted in 1899, the statute has since seen Delaware become the most im ...

in 1983, around which time the regional clothing and houseware retailer had stores in every state in New England with a primary focus on

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Its stock once traded for close to $30 a share.

History

Through the 1980s and 1990s the store went through a variety of major changes. First the chain tried to shed its image as a reseller of leftover department store merchandise by investing in their own label. They also invested a major amount of capital into a cosmetic overhaul of their real estate that introduced a more "

Bradlees Bradlees Department Store, more commonly known as Bradlees, was a discount department store chain based in Braintree, Massachusetts, which operated primarily in the Northeastern United States. Bradlees sold various retail items in its stores, inc ...

"-like color scheme. They rapidly expanded to 26 outlets, including the purchase of Harry's of

Barre, Vermont Barre, Vermont may refer to: *Barre (city), Vermont *Barre (town), Vermont Barre ( ) is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 7,923 at the 2020 census, making it the 3rd largest municipality in Washington County ...

. A major distribution and office complex was also built in

Franklin, Massachusetts The Town of Franklin is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Franklin is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalities that have applied for, and been granted, city forms of government but wish to retain "The town of" in their o ...

. During all of this change there was instability in corporate management. The chaos this caused resulted in a missed opportunity for this small retailer. They never modernized their sales/inventory tracking systems at the store level. While other chains like Rich's were already using barcode scanners, computerized shipping manifests, and automated sales result reports, Stuarts was still doing it by hand. By the early 1990s shares struggled to maintain $1 per share. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in December 1990, emerged from the Chapter 11 case in October 1992 and re-filed for protection under Chapter 11 in May 1995, shortly thereafter it went out of business.

Presidents/CEOs

*1989; Joseph Ettore"PR newswire, Sept.12, 1989

References

{{Reflist Retail companies established in 1957 Defunct discount stores of the United States Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1995