Consumers Distributing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:09, 24 December 2022

Revision as of 19:52, 9 February 2023

Line 18:

| website =

}}

'''Consumers Distributing Inc.''' (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, including 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"/>