Consumers Distributing: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Defunct retail company}}

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{{Infobox company

| name = Consumers Distributing Inc.

| logo = Consumers Distributing logo.jpgsvg

| logo_size = 300

| type = [[Private company|Private]] (1957–1969)<br>[[Public company|Public]] (1969–1996)

| industry = [[Catalog merchant|Catalogue store]]

| fate = [[Bankruptcy]]

| fate = Filed for [[bankruptcy]]

| foundation = 1957

| founder = Jack Stupp

| defunct = 1996

| location_city = 6303 Airport Road<br>[[Mississauga]], [[Ontario]]

| location_country = [[Canada]]

| locations = 243 ([[Canada]])<br>217 ([[United States]])

| key_people = Jack Stupp ([[President (corporate title)|President]])

| products = Seasonal goods, jewellery, appliances, kitchenware, personal care, discount furniture, electronics, toys

| parent = [[Oshawa Group]] (1969–1987)<br>[[Provigo]] (1987–1993)<br>[[Ackermans & van Haaren]] (1993–1996)

| website =

}}

'''Consumers Distributing''' (known in [[Quebec]] as '''Distribution aux Consommateurs''', and informally as '''Consumers''') was a [[catalog merchant|catalogue store]] in [[Canada]] and the [[United States]] that operated from 1957 to 1996. At its peak, the company operated 243 outlets in Canada and 217 in the United States,; includingthese included stores in every province in Canada and in the states of [[New Hampshire]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Connecticut]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[New Jersey]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Maryland]], [[California]] and [[Nevada]].

Consumers Distributing aimed to reduce costs for customers by stocking merchandise in a warehouse-type stocking system instead of displaying them in a costly showroom. Customers made their selections from a catalogue, filled out a form listing the items they wanted, then waited for stock staff to retrieve the items from the warehouse. The business model of Consumers Distributing has been described as "Internet shopping before the Internet".<ref name="woes"/>

==History==

The first Consumers Distributing store was opened in 1957 by Jack Stupp and Sydney Druckman in [[Toronto]]. The company was taken public in 1969. In 1978, [[Oshawa Group]] sold the 50% interest it had acquired.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-oshawa-group-limited-company-history.html|title=History of THE OSHAWA GROUP LIMITED – FundingUniverse|author=|date=|website=www.fundinguniverse.com}}</ref> In 1988, revenues topped $1- billion.<ref name="woes">{{cite news |title=Woes hit reborn Consumers Distributing |url=https://www.thestar.com/business/2013/01/11/woes_hit_reborn_consumers_distributing.html |first=Francine |last=Kopun |newspaper=[[Toronto Star]] |date=January 11, 2013 |accessdate=December 11, 2017}}</ref>

Consumers Distributing purchased the 42-store Cardinal Distributors catalogue chain from [[Steinberg's (supermarket)|Steinberg Inc.]] and the 70-store American chain Consumers from [[The May Department Stores Company|May Department Stores]], bringing its total store count to approximately 400 in 1981.<ref name="citizen">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19811118&id=2a4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5-4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1164,5107737 ''Ottawa Citizen'', 18 November 1981] "600 to lose jobs as Bay closes Shop-Rite stores"</ref>

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Consumers Distributing was bought by the Quebec-based grocery retailer [[Provigo]] in 1987,<!-- <ref>[http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/78/PROVIGO-INC.html Reference for Business] Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Provigo Inc.</ref>-->{{cn|date=November 2019}} then was sold in 1993 to a group controlled by [[Ackermans & van Haaren]], a Belgian holding company.

In the 1990s, Consumers Distributing Inc. struggled to compete with [[Zellers]] and then [[Walmart Canada]]. Consumers Distributing sought bankruptcy protection in 1996.<ref>{{cite news|title=Consumers Distributing closes the book on catalogue shopping|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/throwback-thursday-edmonton-stereos-parks-1.4241144|accessdate=August 10, 2017|work=CBC News|date=August 9, 1996}}</ref><ref name="woes"/>

Ten years following the bankruptcy, former Consumers Distributing employee Marc King relaunched the company as an online retailer. The new Consumers Distributing website operated in the run up to the 2012 holiday season, taking orders for furniture and brand-name electronics. However, but the site was shuttered in January 2013, and. King was accused of owing back wages to employees.<ref name="woes"/> In May 2015, the company was issued a compliance order by Consumer Protection B.C. for deceptive acts and practices and for failing to issue refunds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vancouver, BC business faces compliance order, administrative penalty from Consumer Protection BC |url=https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/vancouver-bc-business-faces-compliance-order-administrative-penalty-consumer-protection-bc/ |publisher=Consumers Protection BC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428173838/https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/vancouver-bc-business-faces-compliance-order-administrative-penalty-consumer-protection-bc/ |archive-date=April 28, 2019 |date=May 27, 2015 |accessdate=August 29, 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The regulator reopened the investigation in October 2016 when it received a new complaint, noting that the company still had not paid penalties from the prior investigation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Consumer Protection BC reopens investigation; impacted consumers asked to come forward |url=https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/consumer-protection-bc-reopens-investigation-impacted-consumers-asked-come-forward/ |publisher=Consumers Protection BC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430032415/https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/consumer-protection-bc-reopens-investigation-impacted-consumers-asked-come-forward/ |archive-date=April 30, 2019 |date=October 31, 2016 |accessdate=August 29, 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Store format==

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==Competitors and similar retailers==

[[Hudson's Bay Company]], which operates Canadian [[department store]]s under [[Hudson's Bay (retailerdepartment store)|The Bay]] and (formerly) [[Zellers]] names, acquired the small [[Shop-Rite (Canada)|Shop-Rite]] catalogue chain in 1972 and quickly expanded it in an attempt to compete with Consumers Distributing. The chain never reached profitability, and ceased operations in 1982.<ref name="citizen" />

American competition was mainly from the catalogue showroom retail store chains [[Best Products]] (also known simply as Best) and [[Service Merchandise]]. Both Best Products and Service Merchandise ultimately declared bankruptcy and ceased operations.

[[Argos (retailer)|Argos]], which was modelled on the format of Consumers Distributing, continues to thrive in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

==Business model issues and attempts to address them==

Consumers Distributing was plagued by the perception that items were frequently out of stock due to the catalogue shopping nature of the store. With the catalogue concept, the customer selected the item either at home while looking through the company's catalogue, or by a group of catalogues in the showroom of every store. It was not uncommon for a customer to wait in line only to be told by a clerk that the merchandise was not in stock. In 1984, a concept called the Flashboard was introduced. The Flashboard was a steel bulletin board with magnetic catalogue numbers for out of stock items. Customers were able to look at the Flashboard for their item and if it was listed, they knew that it was out of stock and they did not have to wait in line. This concept was used in some New York and New Jersey stores before computerization became mainstream.

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==Corporate offices==

Consumers Distributing's final Canadian headquarters werewas located at 6303 Airport Road, in [[Mississauga]], [[Ontario]].

==See also==

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==References==

{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

*{{cite web|url=https://www.tvo.org/article/what-happened-to-consumers-distributing|title=What happened to Consumers Distributing?|last=Bradburn|first=Jamie|publisher=[[TVO]]|date=21 December 2023|access-date=23 December 2023}}

==External links==

{{Commonscatinline}}

[[Category:Catalog showrooms]]

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[[Category:Retail companies established in 1957]]

[[Category:Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada]]

[[Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996]]

[[Category:Defunct retail companies of Canada]]

[[Category:Defunct retail companies of the United States]]