Industry WIKI

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy is a radio show and podcast on the BBC World Service. It is presented by economist and journalist Tim Harford. The first series was broadcast between 5 November 2016 and 28 October 2017. A second series began on 30 March 2019.

99 Cents Only Stores LLC (also branded as The 99 Store) was an American price-point retailer chain based in Commerce, California. It offered "a combination of closeout branded merchandise, general merchandise and fresh foods." The store initially offered all products for 99¢ or less. The base price became 99.99¢ in 2007 and products were later introduced at higher prices.

Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company, it eliminated the A&S brand. Most A&S stores took the Macy's name, although a few became part of Stern's, another Federated division, but one t

Allied Stores Corporation was an American holding company of department store chains based in New York City. It was founded in the 1930s during a period of consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928.

Alpha Beta was a chain of supermarkets in the Southwestern United States. Stores under this brand existed between 1917 and 1995. Former Alpha Beta stores have all been purchased by other grocery chains and rebranded.

Anchor Blue Inc. (formerly Miller's Outpost) was an American clothing retailer which had over 100 stores in the western United States. It generally sold its own Anchor Blue brand name of youth-oriented denim, graphic T-shirts and casual clothing. Sometimes the company was referred to as the Anchor Blue Inc., but their retail clothing chain of stores was labeled as Anchor Blue. The Anchor

Arthur James Nesbitt (19 August 1880 – 24 October 1954) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was a cofounder of Nesbitt, Thomson and Company stockbrokerage and the Power Corporation of Canada.

Avantor, Inc. is an American biotechnology, chemicals, and pharmaceutical company headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Established in 1904 as J.T. Baker, the company changed its name to Avantor in 2010. Avantor went public in 2019 and is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “AVTR”.

Barneys New York is an American luxury department store founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman. It introduced many major brands to the American market including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Zegna.

Bloomingdale's Inc. is an upmarket American department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930. Federated purchased Macy's department store chain in 1994 and was renamed Macy's, Inc. in 2007.

Brick and mortar (sometimes B&M; commonly bricks and mortar in British English) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term brick-and-mortar business is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory production facilities, or warehouses for its operations. More specifically, in the jargon of e-commerc

Brookstone is a chain of retail stores in the United States and China. It was founded as a mail-order business in 1965, when it started selling items, such as dental clamps and other specialty tools. Its first physical location opened in 1973 in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The company's headquarters are currently located in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

A company store is a retail store selling a limited range of food, clothing and daily necessities to employees of a company. It is typical of a company town in a remote area where virtually everyone is employed by one firm, such as a coal mine. In a company town, the housing is owned by the company but there may be independent stores there or nearby.

A concession or concession agreement is a grant of rights, land, property, or facility by a government, local authority, corporation, individual or other legal entity.

David's Bridal is a clothier in the United States that specializes in wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, prom and homecoming dresses, quinceañera dresses, flower girl dresses, other formal wear, and alterations. Until filing for bankruptcy in 2023, David's Bridal operated 298 stores in 49 states, Canada, and the United Kingdom, making it the largest American bridal-store chain It sold

Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Dollarama Inc. is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Mount Royal, Quebec. The business was established in 1992 by Larry Rossy. Since 2009, Dollarama has been Canada's largest retailer of items for five dollars or less. It has over 1400 stores across all provinces of Canada and the Northwest Territories; Ontario has the most stores. The company also owns The Reject Shop

Electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS; ) is a type of payment transaction in which electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usually via payment methods such as payment cards (debit cards, credit cards or gift cards). EFTPOS technology was developed during the 1980s.

Electronic billing or electronic bill payment and presentment, is when a seller such as company, organization, or group sends its bills or invoices over the internet, and customers pay the bills electronically. This replaces the traditional method where invoices are sent in paper form and payments are done by manual means such as sending cheques.

Experiential retail or experiential commerce is a type of retail marketing whereby customers coming into a physical retail space are offered experiences beyond the traditional ones (such as in a clothing store: browsing merchandise, advice from salespeople, dressing rooms and cashiers). Amenities provided may include art (often interactive art), live music performances, virtual reality,

FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and retail chain. The company features high-end toys, toys exclusive to them, life-sized stuffed animals, interactive experiences, brand integrations, and games.

Flying Tiger Copenhagen (formerly Tiger until 2016) is a Danish variety store chain. Its first shop opened in Copenhagen in 1995, and the chain now (as of 2026) operates +1,100 shops across 46 countries. Flying Tiger's name derives from similarities between the Danish pronunciation of the animal name tiger (IPA: [ˈtsʰiːɐ]) and the Danish word tier (IPA: [ˈtsʰiˀɐ]), used to denote a 10 kr

Fortunoff is a New York–based retailer of outdoor furniture and jewelry.

Guitar Center, Inc. is an American musical instrument retailer chain headquartered in Westlake Village, California. It operates 304 locations and is the largest company of its kind in the United States.

The Hudson's Bay Company (abbreviated HBC and colloquially Hudson's Bay or The Bay) was a Canadian holding company of department stores and commercial property. It was the oldest corporation in North America, founded in 1670 and liquidated in 2025. It was headquartered at the Simpson Tower in Toronto. Today, it serves as an Intellectual Property and brand of Canadian Tire for its iconi

Hyosung Group is a major South Korean conglomerate established in 1966. The company operates across diverse sectors including textiles, heavy industries, chemicals, and information & communication.

Jobber, in merchandising, can be synonymous with "wholesaler", "distributor", or "intermediary". A business which buys goods and bulk products from importers, other wholesalers, or manufacturers, and then sells to retailers, was historically called a jobbing house (or jobbing center). A jobber is a merchant—e.g., (i) a wholesaler or (ii) reseller or (iii) independent distributor operatin

Linens 'n Things, Inc. is an online retailer and former department store specializing in home textiles, housewares, and decorative home accessories. Based in Clifton, New Jersey, the chain operated 571 stores in 47 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and had 7,300 employees as of December 2006. The company's business strategy was "to offer a broad selection of high quality, brand na

The historic Los Angeles Stock Exchange Building, also called the Pacific Stock Exchange Building, is located in the Spring Street Financial District within the Historic Core in Los Angeles. It was the headquarters of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange and the Pacific Stock Exchange from 1931 to 1986. It was then the site of two nightclubs.

Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito's. Bloomingdale's joined Federated Department Stores the next year. Throughout its early history, frequent acquisitions and divest

A magazine is a periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content forms. Magazines are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination of the three. They are categorised by their frequency of publication (i.e., as weeklies, monthlies, quarter

Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain that was based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, toys, and housewares. Many of the company's stores were opened in shopping malls; however, some locations were operated i

MYOB (meaning mind your own business) is an Australian multinational corporation that provides tax, accounting and other business services software to small and medium businesses. It is owned by KKR.

Neiman Marcus is an American upmarket department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. The chain has been owned by the New York City–based Exemplar Luxury Group since 2024. Previously, it was part of the Neiman Marcus Group, and prior to that, Carter Hawley Hale Stores.

Neiman Marcus Group was an American holding company of department stores. It was established after holding company Carter Hawley Hale spun-off several of the department store chains it owned in 1987. At the time of its two-fold acquisition by Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Company and spin-off into Saks Global in 2024, it owned the full-line luxury stores Bergdorf Goodman (based in New York

Nihonbashi (日本橋, Nihonbashi; Japanese pronunciation: [ɲ̟ì.hó̞ḿ.bä́.ɕí], also romanized as Nihombashi) is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, which sprung up around the bridge of the same name that has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current bridge, designed by Tsumaki Yorinaka and co

Omnichannel is a neologism describing a business strategy. According to Frost & Sullivan, omnichannel is defined as "seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels".

Online ticket brokering is the resale of tickets through a web-based ticket brokering service or online ticket exchanges. Prices on ticket brokering websites are determined by demand, availability, and the ticket reseller. Tickets sold through an online ticket brokering service may or may not be authorized by the official seller.

The point of sale (POS), or point of purchase (POP), is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer (which may be a cash register printout), and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at wh

In marketing and economics, a product is any object, service, or system offered to a market to satisfy a customer’s need or want. Products may be tangible, such as physical goods that can be touched and owned, or intangible, such as services, digital currency products offerings, or rights that provide value without physical form. Products are created through processes of design, producti

Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. names in California.

Revlon, Inc., is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, perfume, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it remains. Revlon was founded by brothers Charles and Joseph Revson, and chemist Charles Lachman. Revlon products are sold in 150 countries and the company has many global locations including M

Revolving credit is a type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments, in contrast to installment credit. Credit cards are an example of revolving credit used by consumers. Corporate revolving credit facilities are typically used to provide liquidity for a company's day-to-day operations. They were first introduced by the Strawbridge and Clothier Department Store.

Self-checkouts (SCOs), also known as assisted checkouts (ACOs) or self-service checkouts, are machines that allow customers to complete their own transaction with a retailer without using a staffed checkout. When using SCOs, customers scan item barcodes before paying for their purchases without needing one-to-one staff assistance. Self-checkouts are used mainly in supermarkets, although

Shopko Stores, Inc. (stylized as SHOPKO, formerly stylized as ShopKo) was a chain of department stores based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. All locations closed on June 23, 2019, with the exception of the Shopko Optical locations, which continue to operate.

Smart & Final is a chain of warehouse-style food and supply stores based in Commerce, California, which developed through a series of mergers and expansions. The oldest of the combined companies, Hellman, Haas & Co., was founded in 1871 in Los Angeles. The company operates over 250 stores in the Western United States and 15 in northwestern Mexico.

Staples Inc. is an American office supply retail company headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts.

SunGard was an American multinational company based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, which provided software and services to education, financial services, and public sector organizations. It was formed in 1983 as a spin-off of the computer services division of Sun Oil Company.

The Children’s Place Inc. is an American retailer of clothing for children. It sells its products primarily under its proprietary brands The Children’s Place, Gymboree, Sugar & Jade, PJ Place and Crazy 8. The company has about 525 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, and also sells via two online outlets and through five franchise partners in 15 countries. Its product line include

The Limited is an American clothing brand sold exclusively through Belk. The Limited began with operating retail stores between the early 1960s and the late 2010s. In 2017, it became a brand owned by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

The Factory Shop Limited, trading as The Original Factory Shop, was a discount department store chain that operated from 1969 to 2026.

Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer that was founded in April 1948 by Charles Lazarus in Washington, D.C. The retailer initially began as Children's Supermart, selling furniture until it refocused itself as Toys "R" Us in June 1957.

Unisys Corporation is an American technology company founded in 1986 and headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The company provides cloud, AI, digital workplace, logistics, and enterprise computing services.

Worldpay Group plc (formerly RBS WorldPay) was a payment processing company. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange until 16 January 2018 when it was acquired by Vantiv. The combined company then took the name Worldpay, Inc. Worldpay, Inc. was acquired by FIS in July 2019 for $43 billion. In 2024, private-equity firm GTCR acquired a majority 55% equity interest in Worldpay.