Not to be confused with: ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
, the African country now known as the Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa, with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country in Africa...
.
Zayre was a chain of
discount retail storesA discount store is a type of department store, which sell products at prices lower than those asked by department stores and other traditional retail outlets. Most discount department stores offer a wide assortment of goods; others specialize in such merchandise as jewelry, electronic equipment,...
that operated in the Northeastern, Southern and Midwestern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in
FraminghamFramingham is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 66,910 at the 2000 census.Framingham, sited on the ancient trail known as the Old Connecticut Path, was first settled when John Stone settled on the west bank of the Sudbury River in 1647...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. The successful
BJ's Wholesale ClubBJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. , commonly referred to simply as BJ's, is a membership-only warehouse club chain operating on the United States East Coast, as well as in the state of Ohio...
and TJ Maxx chains are spinoffs from Zayre. In 1988, the Zayre department stores were sold to the parent company of the competing Ames chain, and Zayre's other businesses continued as the
TJX CompaniesThe TJX Companies, Incorporated , is the largest international apparel and home fashions off-price department store chain in the United States. Based in Framingham, Massachusetts, the company originally evolved from the Zayre discount department store chain, founded in 1956, which opened its first...
.
Not to be confused with: ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
, the African country now known as the Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa, with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country in Africa...
.
Zayre was a chain of
discount retail storesA discount store is a type of department store, which sell products at prices lower than those asked by department stores and other traditional retail outlets. Most discount department stores offer a wide assortment of goods; others specialize in such merchandise as jewelry, electronic equipment,...
that operated in the Northeastern, Southern and Midwestern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in
FraminghamFramingham is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 66,910 at the 2000 census.Framingham, sited on the ancient trail known as the Old Connecticut Path, was first settled when John Stone settled on the west bank of the Sudbury River in 1647...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. The successful
BJ's Wholesale ClubBJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. , commonly referred to simply as BJ's, is a membership-only warehouse club chain operating on the United States East Coast, as well as in the state of Ohio...
and TJ Maxx chains are spinoffs from Zayre. In 1988, the Zayre department stores were sold to the parent company of the competing Ames chain, and Zayre's other businesses continued as the
TJX CompaniesThe TJX Companies, Incorporated , is the largest international apparel and home fashions off-price department store chain in the United States. Based in Framingham, Massachusetts, the company originally evolved from the Zayre discount department store chain, founded in 1956, which opened its first...
. The Zayre chain ceased to exist two years later, in 1990, although TJX is still in operation today.
History
Zayre was founded by brothers Max and Morris Feldberg, who immigrated to the United States from Russia in the early 1900s. Their first chain of stores was the
Bell Shoppes, which sold women’s apparel. Zayre started in
Hyannis, MassachusettsHyannis is the largest of seven villages in the Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Also it is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area as a result of the 1990 census...
in 1956 as a discount
department storeA department store is a retail establishment which specializes in satisfying a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
. It was initially focused on the
NortheastThe Northeastern United States is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; and the...
but soon expanded to other areas including a considerable midwestern presence. Early growth was aided by the
Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, and one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the estimated second or third largest city in the New England region...
based advertising agency, Bo Bernstein, fueling the growth of both companies. Zayre entered
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
in the early 1970s by purchasing the locally-owned
Shopper's CityShopper's City was a chain of seven stores in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area in the 1960s and 1970s. It was one of the forerunners of the "big box" store and included discount groceries, home goods and sundries along with a barber shop, pharmacy, dry cleaners and snack bar...
, and rebranding those locations as "Zayre Shopper's City". These stores were an early example of the
hypermarketIn commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore which combines a supermarket and a department store. The result is a very large retail facility which carries an enormous range of products under one roof, including full lines of groceries and general merchandise...
concept, which included grocery, automotive, and a barber shop. This version of Zayre was found only in Minnesota. During the early 1970s the company started the TJ Maxx chain. In 1984 it started the
BJ's Wholesale ClubBJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. , commonly referred to simply as BJ's, is a membership-only warehouse club chain operating on the United States East Coast, as well as in the state of Ohio...
chain. In 1985, Zayre acquired California-based
Home ClubHomeBase was a home improvement warehouse chain in the Western United States based in Irvine, California.-History:Robert J. McNulty and George Handgis founded the chain as a warehouse club called the HomeClub, opening the first two stores in Norwalk and Fountain Valley, California in 1983...
.
Zayre also acquired a few locations in Ohio in 1986 from
MeijerMeijer is a regional American hypermarket chain based in Walker, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 190 locations are located in Michigan, with additional locations in Illinois,...
; these locations were part of Meijer's failed "Meijer Square" concept.
In 1975 Zayre started a program entitled "Zayre '75" to remodel and update the stores. In 1985, Zayre purchased the former Gaylords store chain.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_v24/ai_3772108 However, many of the new stores opened up during the 1980s suffered from cluttered aisles and messy appearances. Zayre began to feature appearances from celebrities such as
Sherman HemsleySherman Alexander Hemsley is an American actor, most famous for his role as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family and The Jeffersons and as Deacon Ernest Frye on Amen. He also played Earl Sinclair's horrifying boss, a Triceratops named B.P...
and
Robert GuillaumeRobert "Bob" Guillaume is an American stage and television actor, best known for his role as Benson Du Bois on the TV-series Soap and the spin-off Benson, voicing the mandrill Rafiki in The Lion King, as Isaac Jaffe on Sports Night, and as Eli Vance in the Half Life 2 series.- Early life :Bob...
in "Grand-Reopenings" of their major stores. These events failed to improve their market share. In February 1988 they filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, and in October 1988 the Zayre stores were sold to the competing Ames chain. Zayre's other brands were reorganized under the corporate umbrella of the renamed
TJX CompaniesThe TJX Companies, Incorporated , is the largest international apparel and home fashions off-price department store chain in the United States. Based in Framingham, Massachusetts, the company originally evolved from the Zayre discount department store chain, founded in 1956, which opened its first...
.
BJ's Wholesale ClubBJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. , commonly referred to simply as BJ's, is a membership-only warehouse club chain operating on the United States East Coast, as well as in the state of Ohio...
was later spun off from TJX. Both BJ's and TJX are still going strong today.
The acquisition of Zayre doubled the size of Ames Department Stores Inc., but it proved unprofitable. By 1990, Ames had closed 74 Zayre stores, and the rest were converted into Ames stores. Some of the former Zayre stores operated under the Ames name until Ames ceased operations in 2002.
Name
The original name of the company was "Zayre Gut," which means "very good" in Yiddish. Not having enough money to pay for a sign that included both words, ownership instead installed the first word "ZAYRE" to the front of their building with the intentions of adding the "GUT" later. However, the company became branded as "ZAYRE" and the owners feared that adding the second half of the name might confuse customers.
Slogans
- It pays to shop at Zayre...Everyday! (this was while stores transitioned from Zayre to Ames)
- Zayre - Fabulous Department Stores!
- "I got it at Zayre, compare, you can't do better than Zayre." mid-1970s
- Compare...you can't do better than Zayre!
- Zayre is going "Price-happy!" (circa 1977)
- We'd like to make Zayre your store!
- There's always a sale a Zayre!
- Save at Zayre - All Day and Night We'll Be There. (70's holiday jingle when stores opened for 24hrs)
- TakeAnotherLook, TakeAnotherLook...at Zayre! (1970s)
- Be a Super Santa! (December 1978)
- Get a Good Look at Zayre!
- Get to Zayre and Get It All! (circa 1981)
- "Before you go back to school, go to Zayre! You can learn the ABC's of savings there!" (from musical jingle used in radio & TV advertising, circa early-to-mid 1960's)
- "Where? Zayre!" circa 1981
See also
- TJX Companies
The TJX Companies, Incorporated , is the largest international apparel and home fashions off-price department store chain in the United States. Based in Framingham, Massachusetts, the company originally evolved from the Zayre discount department store chain, founded in 1956, which opened its first...
- T.J. Maxx
T.J. Maxx is a chain of American department stores owned by TJX Companies. It is the largest off-price apparel retailer in the United States offering brand name clothing, ladies footwear, bedding and domestics, furniture and giftware, jewelry, beauty products, handbags, and housewares...
- BJ's Wholesale Club
BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. , commonly referred to simply as BJ's, is a membership-only warehouse club chain operating on the United States East Coast, as well as in the state of Ohio...
- Ames
- Zehrs, a Canadian superstore chain