Montgomery Ward

Montgomery Ward ( and Wards) are brands currently owned by an online and catalog-based merchant, Montgomery Ward, Inc., based in Monroe, Wisconsin, that carries the same names as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001. At its height, the original Montgomery Ward company (Wards) was one of the largest retailers in the United States, but declining sales in the late 20th century forced the original Montgomery Ward to close all of its retail stores and catalog operations by early 2001. Montgomery Ward was revived in late 2004 online.

By the 1990s, however, even its old rivals had begun to lose ground to low-price competition from Kmart, Target, and especially Wal-Mart, which stripped away even more of Montgomery Ward's old customer base. In 1997, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, emerging from bankruptcy court protection in August 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Capital, by then its largest shareholder. As part of a last-ditch effort to remain competitive, the company closed 250 retail locations in 30 U.S. states, closed all the Lechmere stores, abandoned the speciality store strategy, renamed and rebranded the chain as simply Wards (although unrelated, Wards was the original name for the now-defunct Circuit City), and spent millions of dollars to renovate its remaining outlets to be flashier and more consumer-friendly. But GE reneged on promises of further financial support of Wards' restructuring plans.

On December 28, 2000, the company, after lower-than-expected sales during the Christmas season, announced it was going out of business and would close its remaining 250 retail outlets and lay off its 37,000 employees. All the stores closed within weeks of the announcement. The subsequent liquidation was at the time the largest retail bankruptcy liquidation in U.S. history. Roger Goddu, Wards' CEO, was offered the CEO position of J.C. Penney. Goddu declined on pressure from GE. One of the last stores to close was the Salem, Oregon location in which the head of the Human Resources Division was located. By May 2001 Montgomery Ward was gone.

External Link
Main site