Lechmere

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Lechmere, Inc.
company_
fate = Liquidation
foundation = Boston, Massachusetts (1913), later Woburn, Massachusetts
defunct = 1997
location = New England
industry = Retail
products = Appliances, housewares, electronics, sporting goods, seasonal items, automotive
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =

Lechmere, pronounced|litʃmɪər, (sometimes described as "Lechmere's") was a retail store chain in New England, which closed in 1997.

Lechmere Sales Company (Lechmere) was the premier hard goods retailer in greater Boston, and eventually the New England region, from the 1950's through the 1990’s. The company was a pioneer in discounting appliances and other household goods and inspired great loyalty in its customers.

History

Lechmere was originally founded as a harness shop by Abraham "Pop" Cohen in 1913. Cohen, a recent immigrant from Eastern Europe, chose the name because nearby Lechmere Square was the terminus of a streetcar line. The destination name on the streetcar would provide free advertising, he reasoned. As horses were replaced by cars, Cohen converted the store to a tire business, which it remained through the end of World War II.

After the war, Cohen’s three sons, Maurice, Phil and Norman took over building the business. Appliances were added in 1948 and quickly became the core business. Other household goods soon followed. By the time they moved from Cambridge Street to 88 First street around the corner in 1956, Lechmere had separate departments for jewelry, luggage, records, sporting goods, small appliances, seasonal outdoor items, radio and television, as well as major appliances and automotive including tires.

The Cambridge store doubled in size in 1962, and the second store opened in Dedham, Massachusetts in 1965. Major appliances were always at the heart of the business, but other product lines came and went, such as furniture, artificial flowers, even cars.

Needing greater capital resources for expansion, in 1968 the Cohen brothers sold the company to Dayton Corporation of Minneapolis, later to become Dayton-Hudson and eventually Target. Other stores soon followed, starting with its first mall stores in Danvers, MA, Springfield, MA and Manchester, NH. By 1977 all three Cohen brothers had retired and David Banker took over as CEO. The company grew, but Dayton-Hudson struggled with how to run this kind of operation.

In 1980 George Scala became CEO and infused new life into the company. He brought in new product lines and continued to open new stores. Scala eventually partnered with a local investment firm, Berkshire Partners and in 1989 bought the chain, then 29 stores, from Dayton-Hudson.

By the late 1980’s, Lechmere had become a home electronics superstore. Most of its stores were located in malls. For a few years they introduced stores in the southeastern U.S., but eventually closed them to concentrate on its primary region in the northeast.

In March 1994 Berkshire Partners sold Lechmere to Montgomery Ward, the large midwestern retail and catalog giant. Montgomery Ward tried to turn Lechmere into a cut-rate home electronics outlet. They cheapened the product line and cut staff. Customers, many of whom had been loyal for decades, abandoned the company in droves. By 1997 Montgomery Ward, facing its own severe financial crisis, pulled the plug on Lechmere and closed all 31 stores in November of that year. Montgomery Ward went out of business three years later.

Mystique

Lechmere grew up as a family business. The three Cohen brothers along with their older sister Nan and a loyal cadre of experienced managers worked closely with employees and suppliers to create an atmosphere of collegiality unimaginable in most businesses. Employees were on a first name basis with the owners. The company threw special parties and awarded special recognition to suppliers. Knowledgeable salespeople and low prices helped develop extraordinary customer loyalty.

The company was a leading innovator. Lechmere pioneered discounting of major appliances, which attracted many new customers. Through a central distribution spot in the middle of the store, the “pickup counter” customers could pick up all their purchases at once rather than having to tote them around from department to department. Colorful sales promotions such as for Washington’s Birthday, when cherry pies were sold for 22 cents each, made it a fun place to shop. Merchandise was chosen to sell at a variety of price points, so there would be something for everybody. From early on prices typically ended in 88 cents to remind everyone of the store’s address at 88 First Street. The store's catch phrase was "You pocket the difference at Lechmere". Quality and customer convenience stayed at the forefront of Lechmere’s merchandising policy, and the store won several “Brand Name Retailer of the Year” awards. "Our customers don't want cheap steak, they want steak cheap!" was a familiar saying during the George Scala years.

Management at Lechmere always focused on good relationships with its customers based on service, selection, low prices, and a pleasant atmosphere. After the last of the Cohen family had left, the company began to lose the community atmosphere that had been so carefully developed. When the stores finally closed in 1997, an article in the Boston Globe quoted a long-time customer as saying, “Lechmere had lost its soul.” The writer of the article then went on to say how remarkable it was that a retail store could have ever been thought to have had a soul in the first place.

References

This was written by a member of the founding family, born in 1948, and is based entirely on family history with the company that was our family business.

Montgomery Ward's policy based on conversation with MW CEO in 1997 about the reason for closing the business