Hills Department Stores

Infobox_Defunct_Company
fate = Merged into Ames
defunct = 1999
company_name = Hills Department Stores
company_
foundation = 1957 Youngstown, Ohio
location = Canton, Massachusetts
industry = Retail
products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares.
homepage = None

Hills Department Store was a Canton, Massachusetts-based discount department store chain. It was founded in 1957 in Youngstown, OH, and existed until 1999 when it was acquired by Ames. Most stores were located in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

History

Beginning

In the late 1950s, Hill's stores were full-fledged department stores (as opposed to the discount department stores the chain later became known for).

Herbert H. Goldberger, the founder of Hills, sold the chain to SCOA Industries, (Shoe Company of America), of Columbus, Ohio in 1964. He remained as president of Hills until 1981, when his son succeeded him. Goldberger was the vice president and director of SCOA when, in 1985, he led a management buyout of Hills. [ [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_v24/ai_3887075 SCOA Industries' board O.K.'s recast leveraged buyout offer | Discount Store News | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]

Hills went public in 1987, becoming the nation's eighth-largest discount retailer. In November 1990, Goldberger's son resigned, according to a Hills statement, and was replaced by Jack Brouillard. Goldberger's resignation from his family business surprised some observers. He had been the chain's president and CEO since 1981, and assumed the role of board chairman when his father died in 1987. Stephen Goldberger also introduced several other changes, including acceptance of credit cards and rollout of UPC scanning.

In 1989, Hills bought 33 Gold Circle locations. In the Buffalo, New York area many of these locations had previously been Twin Fair, Inc. stores prior to 1982.

Hills had its own private label under which various goods were marketed. It was called "American Spirit". [ [http://www.secinfo.com/dsvRx.aTm.htm SEC Info - Hills Stores Co/DE - 10-K405 - For 1/28/95 ] ]

Bankruptcy

Hills filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 1991, and the number of stores declined, from 214 to 151. Michael Bozic was brought in as President and CEO of Hills to revive the company. He had spent 27 years with Sears and had been the head of the Sears Merchandising Group. [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/hills-stores-company?cat=biz-fin Hills Stores Company: Information and Much More from Answers.com ] ] Stores were remodeled, scheduled opening of distribution centers beginning in 1991, and the introduction of a new store prototype in 1991. Hills had a large toy section that accounted for more than 10% of sales throughout the year. [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/hills-stores-company?cat=biz-fin Hills Stores Company: Information and Much More from Answers.com ] ] Hills emerged from bankruptcy in 1993 as Hills Stores Company.

In 1998, Ames acquired Hills. At that time, in 1998, Hills was operating 155 stores, covering 12 states, and employing 8,553 employees. Headquarters were in Canton, Massachusetts. [ [http://www.hillsstores.com/hills_history.htm Hills Company History ] ] With the Hills acquisition, Ames expanded from 301 to 456 stores and became the nation's fourth-largest discount chain behind Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target. Almost all Hills stores were renamed Ames by the end of 1999, even in markets where Ames and Hills overlapped.

logans

"Hills is where the toys are." - Television commercials aired during the Christmas holiday season using this slogan."Check us out!" - used in print and TV ads."The Anti-Inflation Department Store"

ubsidiaries

Hills had various subsidiaries that handled some of the various operations: Hills Department Store Company, HDS Transport, CRH International, Canton Advertising, Corporate Vision and Hills Distributing Company. [ [http://www.secinfo.com/dsvRx.aTm.8.htm SEC Info - Hills Stores Co/DE - 10-K405 - For 1/28/95 - EX-21 ] ]

External links

* [http://www.hillsstores.com/Hills1.htm Hills Fansite]
* [http://www.tokensafari.com/rfc/archive/hills RetailFanClub]

Multimedia

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIaTckkXws0 Hills Commercial on YouTube]

References