- Builders Square
Infobox_Company
company_name = Builders Square
company_
company_type = Originally,home improvement retailer
Currently,online retailer
foundation = 1984 (as retail store)
2006 (asonline retailer )
location = Original company inSan Antonio, Texas
Current company inEdison, New Jersey
industry =Retail
products = Home improvement, Home and Garden
homepage = http://www.builderssquare.comBuilders Square was founded as a
big-box home improvement retailer headquartered inSan Antonio ,Texas . A subsidiary of Kmart, its format was quite similar toHome Depot ,Home Quarters Warehouse andLowe's with floor space of about convert|100000|sqft|m2.History
Beginnings
The company opened its first store in 1984. In the 1990s, with
Tim Allen as a spokesman, they had stores in Colorado, Nevada, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico. However even with a $700 million (USD) investment by its parent company, and promoting itself with high-profile sponsorships that included theAlamo Bowl andNASCAR driverDarrell Waltrip , as well as havingTim Allen as their spokesperson, it was not able to compete.Hechinger and Bankruptcy
In 1997, Kmart sold all 162 Builders Square stores to
Leonard Green & Partners (Hechinger ) for only $10 million. The parent company filed forbankruptcy in 1999, followed by the closure of stores and the sale of several stores to Home Depot, and the remaining ones were converted to theHome Quarters format. The locations rebranded to Home Quarters have also closed as part of Hechinger. The six locations in Puerto Rico were bought out by Empresas Masso (Masso Enterprises), a local chain of Hardware & Home Improvement stores.Return
Builders Square re-emerged in 2006 as an online shopping comparison site focused exclusively on the Home and Garden market, by parent company
Home Decor Products . The company is headquartered inNew York, New York , and manages a product catalog of over 5 million items. Builders Square also owns and operates two blogs — The Square Deal and Builders Share.External links
* [http://www.builderssquare.com Builders Square] Official website
** [http://www.buildersshare.com Builders Share] DIY blog
** [http://www.thesquaredeal.com The Square Deal] Home Shopping blog
** [http://www.homestoreguide.com HomeStoreGuide] Online Directory of Home & Garden Stores
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