Variety Wholesalers, Inc., is a privately held company based in

Henderson, North Carolina Henderson is a city and the county seat of Vance County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,060 at the 2020 census. History The city was named in honor of former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Leonard Henderson, w ...

, which owns more than 380 retail stores in the

southeast 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 ...

including the

Roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

and Maxway stores, and employs more than 7,000 workers.

History

It originated in 1930 as a small group of

retail stores The retail format (also known as the retail formula) influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are ...

owned by the Pope family. In 1949, John William Pope took over the family business, and starting in 1970, the company expanded by purchasing a number of other retail chains, including the

and Maxway stores, to become one of the largest in the US. The company is still privately owned by the Pope family, and its current

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Art Pope James Arthur Pope (born May 5, 1956) is an American businessman, attorney and former government official. Pope is the owner, chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers, a group of 370 retail stores in 16 states. He is also the president and chairm ...

Organization

The Company has three main divisions: ''Maxway'' stores, which consists of 135 stores in the "junior department store" competitive market. The size of the store ranging from 10,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet and operate under the Maxway and Roses Express names ''Super 10'' consists of 85 stores. Their size ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. These stores operate under the names "Super Dollar," "Bill's Dollar Stores," "Super 10", and "Bargain Town" ''Roses'' stores have 160 locations and are competitive with "discount" and "off-price" stores. These range in size from 30,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet.

External links

Variety Wholesalers corporate website

References

{{Reflist Privately held companies based in North Carolina American companies established in 1930 Retail companies established in 1930 Variety stores Discount stores of the United States 1930 establishments in North Carolina