Goody's Family Clothing Inc. was an American chain of department stores, owned and operated by Stage Stores and headquartered in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, TX. It specialized in retailing on-trend apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares. It was a successor to a chain of clothing

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

s that was based in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. At one time Goody's operated close to 500 stores in the U.S South and

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, including

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, and

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. In late 2010, Goody's opened 17 new stores in the Southeast. Brands exclusively found at Goody's include Valerie Stevens; Signature Studio; Sun River; Rustic Blue; Rebecca Malone; and Wishful Park.

History

Goody's was founded in 1953 in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, by M. D. Goodfriend as an offshoot of a family retail business, The M. Goodfriend Store, that the founder's father, Mike Goodfriend, had started in Athens in 1913. The new store, Athens Outlet Store, focused on the sale of closeout, irregular, and previous-year merchandise. The business grew, operating 20 stores by 1970.Carly Harrington
Goody's legacy in Knoxville one of growth, charity
, ''

Knoxville News Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', also known as ''Knox News'', is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: '' ...

'', January 18, 2009, page C1 In 1978, the name was changed to "Goody's". "Goody" was the college nickname of M. D. Goodfriend's son Bob, who had joined the family business in 1972. In 1979, Bob Goodfriend became president of the business and the company changed its merchandise focus from the outlet model to offering current, first-quality, brand-name merchandise. With this new strategic direction, the chain expanded rapidly. A private-label clothing line was launched in 1993. By 1998, the chain recorded $1 billion in annual sales, and in 2000 it opened its 300th store. By 2004, there were more than 350 stores recording annual sales of $1.3 billion. In 2006 Goody's became a privately held company again when it was acquired by GMM Capital and Prentice Capital Management in January 2006. Sales in 2006 totaled $1.6 billion.Carly Harrington
"Goody's to close 69 of its stores"
''Knoxvillebiz.com'', June 10, 2008 In 2008 Goody's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced it was to close 69 stores. While Goody's successfully left Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it was announced four months later in early January 2009 that Goody's had filed for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...

and planned to liquidate all of their stores. Following the liquidation of the stores, the Goody's trademark was acquired by Houston-based Specialty Retailers (later renamed to Stage Stores) in July 2009, with plans to reopen stores starting later that year. In September 2019 it was announced that Goody's, along with all other stores operated by Stage Stores Inc, would be converted to Gordmans stores by the end of 2020. On May 10, 2020, Stage announced it had filed for

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

, and that it would liquidate all locations, Goody's and Gordmans included, unless a buyer could be found for the chain. No buyer had been found, and going out of business sales had begun at all locations. In 2022 BrandX bought the Goody's brand for an undisclosed amount, with intentions of re-establishing it in 2022.

References

External links

Official website
(Archive) {{Department stores in the United States Clothing retailers of the United States Department stores of the United States American companies established in 1953 Retail companies established in 1953 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008 Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Defunct companies based in Tennessee Re-established companies Retail companies disestablished in 2009 Companies based in Houston Economy of the Midwestern United States Economy of the Southeastern United States 2009 mergers and acquisitions Retail companies disestablished in 2020