The Treasury (store)

The Treasury, also known as Treasure Island, was an American discount department store chain. The chain was founded in 1961 as the discounting arm of the General Merchandise Company, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based mail-order retailer. General Merchandise and Treasure Island were both acquired by the J.C. Penney Company in 1962, shortly after the first store opened in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1969, it was announced that new locations in the growing discount chain would be named "The Treasury", which was applied to all stores except those in Wisconsin and Georgia. J.C. Penney shut down all 34 stores in the chain in 1981. The Treasury's large, warehouse-like buildings were reused by several other retailers, particularly the earliest locations of The Home Depot.

History
The first Treasure Island store opened in Appleton, Wisconsin on November 24, 1961, the first store location opened by the General Merchandise Company after decades in the mail-order business. Less than a month after the store opened, it was announced that J.C. Penney would acquire General Merchandise, although by the time the acquisition was finalized, a second Treasure Island location had opened in Madison. Penney's first new Treasure Island stores were a group of three opened in and around Milwaukee in 1964, with a fourth in the area added in 1967. Four stores were built in the Atlanta area in 1968, the first Treasure Island locations outside Wisconsin, although one had its opening delayed until January 1969.

By 1969, J.C. Penney considered its experiment with its first 10 discount stores a success, although it announced that year that future locations would take the name "The Treasury, Family Store and Food Center". Three Treasury locations opened in Southern California in 1970. In 1971, the chain added its first two locations in Florida, a fourth in Southern California, and three in the area around Memphis, Tennessee. 1972 saw the opening of an additional four stores in Southern California, while two more stores opened in Florida in 1973.

For the most part, The Treasury expanded by periodically opening a small group of stores in a new market area, and the company rarely attempted to build on its success in any one place with more stores or to dominate any single region. These included Chicago in 1974, as well as Dallas and Northern California in early 1975. The six stores that opened in the San Francisco area in March 1975 would prove to be the chain's last new additions.

Treasure Island and The Treasury was never a satisfyingly profitable venture for J.C. Penney. The chain pulled out of the Chicago market in 1979, and was shut down entirely in 1981.