Treasure Island, formerly The Treasury, was a

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

discount store A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cost ...

s owned by J.C. Penney. Through an acquisition of the General Merchandise Company in 1962, J.C. Penney entered the discount

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

market by launching The Treasury. The General Merchandise Company, which began as Treasure Island, was founded by David Kritzik and his two sons, Robert and Stanley, in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. The original stores were named Treasure Island, but because of

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

and copyright conflicts, some of the stores that were subsequently opened were called The Treasury. The only exceptions in this case were around Milwaukee and

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh) is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the c ...

and

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 ...

, which retained the Treasure Island name. In 1962, J.C. Penney was looking to break into the

catalog Catalog or catalogue may refer to: *Cataloging **'emmy on the 'og **in science and technology ***Library catalog, a catalog of books and other media ****Union catalog, a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries ...

business, and used their acquisition of the Treasure Island

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

to do so. Eventually the Treasury had locations in most

Southern U.S. The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

states,

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 the

Milwaukee area The Milwaukee metropolitan area (also known as Metro Milwaukee or Greater Milwaukee) is a major metropolitan area located in Southeastern Wisconsin, consisting of the city of Milwaukee and the surrounding area. There are several definitions of the ...

. Some stores also sold

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

and

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

, like the

Wal-Mart Supercenter 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 ...

s of today. But the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

s of the 1970s and early 1980s were too much to bear for J.C. Penney, and the discount division started losing money. The Treasury stores were eventually closed in about 1981. However, the

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

business, which was the main reason for J.C. Penney's acquisition of Treasure Island, remains a thriving, multibillion-dollar endeavor. The

roof A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

of The Treasury and Treasure Island stores was unique, having a

zig-zag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a ...

pattern that was very prominent both inside and outside. This is reflected in the store

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

. The original advertising slogan referred to the stores as "Under the squiggly roof." In 1979,

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

chain subsequently launched its first four stores in these former Treasure Island storefronts (which it shared with

Zayre Zayre () was a chain of discount stores that operated in the eastern half of the United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in Framingham, Massachusetts. In October 1988, Zayre's parent company, Zayre Corp., sold the stores ...

) around the

Atlanta area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...

, as the home improvement chain was beginning around the same time that many Treasure Island stores were already closing. The latter slogan used by Treasure Island was "It's a most unusual store". In the case of

Christmas shopping The economics of Christmas are significant because Christmas is typically a high-volume selling season for goods suppliers around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the ...

, the slogan was "America's

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

store".

Treasury Drug

The company branched out into drug stores, located in many Southern states, as Treasury Drug. Treasury Drug survived into the 1990s when J.C. Penney acquired Eckerd and converted remaining Treasury Drug locations into Eckerd stores. J.C. Penney sold the Eckerd chain to CVS and

Jean Coutu Group The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Varennes, Quebec. It has more than 400 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique, and PJC Santé banners. Th ...

of Canada in 2004. CVS got roughly 1,200 Eckerd stores in the Southern United States, while

got approximately 1,500 Eckerd stores in the Northeastern United States. In 2007, all the remaining Eckerd stores were sold to

Rite Aid Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. The company ranked No. 148 in the Fortune 500 lis ...

and rebranded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treasury Defunct discount stores of the United States Retail companies established in 1962 Retail companies disestablished in 1981 JCPenney 1962 establishments in Wisconsin 1981 disestablishments in Wisconsin Health care companies based in Wisconsin