Globe Shopping City: Difference between revisions

==History==

{{Image frame|align=left|caption=Total store locations, 1960-1979|content={{Graph:Chart|width=500|height=200|yAxisMin=0|type=line|x=1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979|y=0,1,3,3,4,5,9,13,14,16,17,21,23,23,25,26,28,27,26,1,1|yType=number}} }}The chain was founded in 1960 by United Mercantile president Stanley Danburg and executive vice president George Kamins. United had formed earlier in 1960 to operate the existing seven-store chain of [[Danburg's]] Department Stores which had existed since the 1930s but felt there was need for a much larger discount store chain. Danburg, Kamins, and four other executives toured the country for more than a year, studying every major discount store to get ideas for the new chain.<ref>[https://archive.org/download/news-article-houston-chronicle-published-as-the-houston-chronicle-november-24-1960-p-38/News_Article__Houston_Chronicle_published_as_THE_HOUSTON_CHRONICLE___November_24_1960__p38.pdf "Top Executive Tells How Globe Became a Reality."] [[Houston Chronicle|''Houston Chronicle'']], November 24, 1960, p. 4.</ref>

With three Globe stores open in 1962, Walgreens acquired the United Mercantile portfolio on March 21, 1962.<ref>Collins T., Albert. [https://archive.org/download/news-article-houston-chronicle-published-as-houston-chronicle-march-21-1962-p-1/News_Article__Houston_Chronicle_published_as_HOUSTON_CHRONICLE___March_21_1962__p1.pdf "Globe to Merge With Walgreen's: Discount Firm, Drug Chain In Multimillon-Dollar Deal"], [[Houston Chronicle|''Houston Chronicle'']], March 21, 1962, p. 1 and [https://archive.org/download/news-article-houston-chronicle-published-as-houston-chronicle-march-21-1962-p-20/News_Article__Houston_Chronicle_published_as_HOUSTON_CHRONICLE___March_21_1962__p20.pdf p. 20].</ref> Walgreens had seen [[F.W. Woolworth]] announce its new big-box retail concept of [[Woolco]] in 1961, [[S.S. Kresge]] opening its first [[Kmart]] in January 1962, and many others getting into large scale discount stores including the first [[Walmart]] store later in 1962 and [[W.T. Grant]] would create big-box Grant City stores. Walgreens would use Globe as its big-box brand while later creating a Walgreens Superstore line for its mid-sized pharmacy-centric stores while continuing its existing, smaller Walgreens stores.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/walgreensWBAannualreports/walgreens1967/page/n13/mode/2up "Our Typical Walgreen Store... Even Bigger Walgreen Store... Our Biggest: Globe Department Stores"], ''Walgreens Annual Report to Stockholders: 1967'', p. 15-15.</ref>

Walgreens would extend the Globe big-box locations to its peak of 31 stores primarily in Texas and Arizona with three locations in Louisiana and two locations each in Tennessee and New Mexico. Some locations were branded as Globe Discount City with others labeled as Globe Shopping City.<ref>The launch of the Tucson Globe store was scheduled to be "Globe Discount City" and was changed to "Globe Shopping City" likely because the former name had been in use by another, unrelated store in the 1950s in Arizona. The name "Discount City" was considered to be "obsolete" for the new store. Turpin, Ted. [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115240150/tucson-daily-citizen/ "Sensory Systems Lab Ideal Type for Tucson."] [[Tucson Daily Citizen|''Tucson Daily Citizen'']]'','' March 22, 1966, p. 26.</ref> The stores' slogan at the time was, "Everything under the sun priced lower". To retain Globe's "multi-line customer appeal", Walgreens leased back certain departments of the store including the food market, fine jewelry (to [[Zales]]), the auto center, and the shoe department to third party vendors.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/walgreensWBAannualreports/walgreens1976/page/n23/mode/2up "The Globe Division"], ''Walgreens Annual Report to Stockholders: 1976,'' p. 23.</ref> Annual Walgreens shareholders reports touted Globe's "per square foot" sales in the early 1970s that were over-trending and the chain's usage of computers to track inventory, sales, and other key performance indicators.<ref>It was reported in the trade publication, ''The Discount Merchandiser,'' (June 1973) that Globe stored delivered a 60% higher per square foot sales metric than the national average of mass merchandisers. [https://archive.org/details/walgreensWBAannualreports/walgreens1973/page/n11/mode/2up "Globe Department Stores"], ''Walgreens Annual Report to Stockholders: 1973'', p. 8-9.</ref> By 1973, the chain would not be extending past its Southwest locations due to the big-box competition getting "intense".