Ernst Home & Nursery

Infobox_Defunct_Company
company_name = Ernst Home Centers, Inc.
company_
slogan = Where Quality Counts
foundation = 1893
defunct = 1997
fate = Bankruptcy
location = Seattle, Washington
industry = Retail
products = Lumber, tools, hardware, garden supplies & plants
homepage = None

Ernst Home & Nursery is a defunct home improvement warehouse chain that filed for bankruptcy in the mid-1990s. Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1893 by Fred and Charles Ernst, many of their stores were located in strip malls, often with a chain in corporate parent company Pay 'n Save. At the company's height it operated 95 stores in 12 states.

Bankruptcy

By 1996, competition from big box retailers such as Home Depot and Eagle Hardware & Garden (later Lowe's) led to financial problems for the Ernst chain. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 14, 1996 [ [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2359341&date=19961112&query=ernst Ernst Selling All Its Stores, Finally Going Out Of Business -- Seattle Chain Unable To Survive Competition] ] [ [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2361295&date=19961123&query=ernst Ernst Home Center Liquidation Sales Start Today] ] , and the company closed operations in 1997, after operating for over 100 years. At the time of the bankruptcy, Ernst had 86 stores located in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, California, and Wyoming.

Many employees of Ernst, including store management, had no idea of the chain's financial problems. For instance, employees of the Utah stores reported for work one day only to be greeted by boarded up windows and a phone number to call for their final paycheck. It is believed that Ernst's business model was to blame for their demise. Instead of using a warehouse buying system to offer lower prices to customers, individual stores were selecting and buying items individually.

After the company closed, Calgary, Alberta-based Liquidation World acquired many locations and converted them to Liquidation World stores. Liquidation World in return shut almost all stores in 2007.

Malmo Nursery

Charles Malmo, an immigrant from Norway, founded a seed store on Second Avenue in Seattle in 1893.

Malmo was credited with being first in the Northwest to propagate and grow his own nursery stock rather than import ornamental shrubs from Japan, Holland and England. In 1930, he opened the first "garden department store" on the Pacific Coast, selling all that was needed for the "most elaborate garden, from seeds to large trees," as he humbly asserted during the opening festivities.

His son Clark bought 30 acres to cultivate at the present site of University Village shopping mall. Many of the gorgeous mature yards surrounding old Laurelhurst homes in Seattle today were the work of the Malmos. In 1962, the Malmos sold their business to Ernst Hardware and Pay 'n Save stores and became a wholly owned subsidiary. Malmo Nursery was shut down during Ernst's bankruptcy.

External links

* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3288 The founding of Ernst - Historylink]

References