Richard warren sears biography

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This third change was a new aggressiveness on the part of the old-line big city department stores. Boucicaut called his store the Bon Marche, meaning cheap or a bargain.

That experiment was repeated in hundreds of Midwestern small towns over the next 18 years. At that time the name of the company was changed to J.C. Penney and Company because other firms had begun to use the Golden Rule theme. Wood was an avid reader of The Statistical Abstract of the United States. With the approach of World War II, Avery struck a defensive posture and called for a halt to store expansion in 1941.

Sewell Avery While Sears, Roebuck was prospering under the leadership of Robert Wood, Montgomery Ward was attempting to recover from its slow start in opening retail stores. In 1952, 100 store managers quit Ward's. His business expanded rapidly, new departments were added, and by 1866 the store employed 200 employees. Ward's president, Merseles was one who couldn't accept Wood's conclusion.

The company grew steadily if not spectacularly during the following two decades. Julius Rosenwald From 1908 to 1925 the dominant figure in the Sears story was Julius Rosenwald. He did so in 1955. It sold only watches. He supplemented that strategy by pushing for cost-cutting improvements in operations, improvements in the quality of merchandise offered and improvements in the standards of service.

8. The business was not an overnight success. But Wood didn't believe the economists. Working a 12 hour day, 7 days a week, Richard Sears set out to catch up with industry leader Montgomery Ward and Company. Unable to raise funds elsewhere, Rosenwald dipped into his own fortune, purchasing some of the company's Chicago real estate for $16 million and giving the company $5 worth of Sears stock.

His previous experience as a clerk in dry goods stores in Missouri, Colorado and Wyoming had convinced him that he had the ability to purchase the right soft goods at the right price for the small town customer. He kept the title of chairman of the board, but never attended a board meeting.