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[[Category:Online retail companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Online retail companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Retail companies established in 1985]]
[[Category:Retail companies established in 1985]]
[[Category:Defunct companies]]

Revision as of 01:22, 16 June 2013

Organized Living
IndustryRetail
FoundedKansas (1985)
RevenueIncrease USD Est. $75-100 million in 2004-05[1]
Number of employees
~1000 in 2004-05[2]

Organized Living was a specialty retail chain in the United States that sold storage solutions for home and office. Since 2007, it has operated as an online-only outlet.

The company was founded as Containers Unlimited by Mark Ferrel in Kansas in 1985,[1][2] with its first location in Overland Park.[3] In 1993, the then-two store chain changed its name from Containers and More to Organized Living.[4] By mid-1996, the chain had three stores (the original location plus two locations in St. Louis) and next expanded by adding two stores in Las Vegas in early 1997.[3] As it grew, the company consciously decided to focus expansion on markets not already served by The Container Store, its primary competitor.[5] As of mid-2000, the chain had grown to 11 stores.[6]

The store eventually grew to 25 stores before filing for bankruptcy in 2005 after planned financing did not come to fruition.[1] After private equity firm Saunders Karp & Megrue bought a majority stake in the company,[2] the former head of Bath & Body Works, Beth Pritchard, was hired in January 2004 to grow the chain into a national presence.[7] Pritchard also moved the company's headquarters from Lenexa, Kansas in the Kansas City area to Westerville, Ohio near Columbus.[1] Pritchard was released in May 2005 during the bankruptcy proceedings.[8] Pritchard cited changes in Saunder Karp's commitment to finance growth as the cause of the collapse.[2]

Schulte Corp., one of the company's biggest creditors, obtained rights to the Organized Living name in the bankruptcy, and operates OrganizedLiving.com as an online retailer.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Goins, Tony (June 24, 2005). "Organized Living liquidating stores". Columbus Business First. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d Buchanan, Doug (July 1, 2005). "'Sad deal' as Organized Living fails". Columbus Business First. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ a b "Organized Living goes west (expanding in Las Vegas, Nevada)". HFN. June 24, 1996. Retrieved Oct. 27, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Business Plus, Bulletin Board". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jan. 11, 1993. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Organized Living Stresses Solutions". HFN. Sept. 21, 1998. Retrieved Oct. 27, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Upscale Organized Living opening at The Summit". Birmingham Business Journal. June 9, 2000. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) [dead link]
  7. ^ "Organized Living names new CEO". Kansas City Business Journal. Jan. 16, 2004. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Goins, Tony (May 16, 2005). "Organized Living cuts chief in Chapter 11". Columbus Business First. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Firm shelves brass pipes for Organized Living chain". Business Courier of Cincinnati. March 30, 2007. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ OrganizedLiving.com, About Us, Retrieved 2009-10-26