Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The current Montgomery Ward Inc. is a national online shopping and mail-order catalog retailer that started several years after the original Montgomery Ward shut down.
Company type
- Original incarnation: Private; mail order and department store
- Current incarnation: Online retailer and catalog merchant
- 1872–2001: As mail order company and later department store
- 2004: As current online retailer
June 2001 (original company)
Bankruptcy in 2000; full liquidation in 2001; namesake retailer launched in 2004 after purchase of trademarks
- Original company: Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Namesake company: Monroe, Wisconsin, United States
- Original company: 1872 founder, Aaron Montgomery Ward
- Namesake company: John Baumann, president of parent company Colony Brands
Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, appliances, housewares, tools, and electronics
- Electric Avenue
- Wards Kids
- Montgomery Ward Catalog
- Montgomery Wards Auto Express
Original Montgomery Ward (1872–2001)[edit]
Company origins[edit]
Aaron Montgomery Ward started his business in Chicago; conflicting reports place his first office either in a single room at 825 North Clark Street[1] or in a loft above a livery stable on Kinzie Street, between Rush and State Streets.[2]
In 1883, the company's catalog had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items. In 1896, Wards encountered its first serious competition in the mail order business, when Richard Warren Sears introduced his first general catalog. In 1900, Wards had total sales of $8.7 million, compared to $10 million for Sears, and both companies struggled for dominance during much of the 20th century. By 1904, Wards had expanded such that it mailed three million catalogs, weighing 4 lb (1.8 kg) each, to customers.[3]
In 1908, the company opened a 1.25-million-square-foot (116,000 m2) building stretching along nearly one-quarter mile of the Chicago River, north of downtown Chicago. The building, known as the Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalog House, served as the company headquarters until 1974, when the offices moved across the street to a new tower designed by Minoru Yamasaki. The catalog house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978 and a Chicago historic landmark in May 2000.[4]
In the decades before 1930, Montgomery Ward built a network of large distribution centers across the country in Baltimore, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Oakland, Portland, and St. Paul. In most cases, these reinforced concrete structures were the largest industrial structures in their respective locations. The Baltimore Montgomery Ward Warehouse and Retail Store was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.[5][6]
Expansion into retail outlets[edit]
In 1926, the company broke with its mail-order-only tradition when it opened its first retail outlet store in Plymouth, Indiana. It continued to operate its catalog business while pursuing an aggressive campaign to build retail outlets in the late 1920s. In 1928, two years after opening its first outlet, it had opened 244 stores. By 1929, it had more than doubled its number of outlets to 531. Its flagship retail store in Chicago was located on Michigan Avenue between Madison and Washington streets.[7]
In 1930, the company declined a merger offer from rival chain Sears. Losing money during the Great Depression, Wards alarmed its major investors, including J. P. Morgan, Jr. In 1931, Morgan hired a new president, Sewell Avery, who cut staff levels and stores, changed lines, hired store rather than catalog managers, and refurbished stores. These actions caused the company to become profitable before the end of the 1930s.[8]
Wards was very successful in its retail business. "Green awning" stores dotted hundreds of small towns across the country. Larger stores were built in the major cities. By the end of the 1930s, Montgomery Ward had become the country's largest retailer, and Sewell Avery became the company's chief executive officer.[9]
Government seizure[edit]
In April 1944, four months into a nationwide strike by the company's 12,000 workers, U.S. Army troops seized the company's Chicago offices. The action was ordered due to Avery's refusal to settle the strike as requested by the Roosevelt administration, concerned about the adverse effect on the delivery of goods in wartime.[10]
Avery had refused to comply with a War Labor Board order to recognize the unions and institute the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. Eight months later, with Montgomery Ward continuing to refuse to recognize the unions, President Roosevelt issued an executive order seizing all of Montgomery Ward's property nationwide, citing the War Labor Disputes Act as well as his power under the Constitution as commander-in-chief. In 1945, Truman ended the seizure and the Supreme Court dismissed the pending appeal as moot.[11]
As online retailer[edit]
At its height, the original Montgomery Ward was one of the biggest retailers in the United States. After its demise, the familiarity of its brand meant its name, corporate logo, and advertising were considered valuable intangible assets. In 2004, catalog marketer Direct Marketing Services Inc. (DMSI), an Iowa direct marketing company, purchased much of the intellectual property assets of the former Wards, including the "Montgomery Ward" and "Wards" trademarks, for an undisclosed amount.[25]
DMSI applied the brand to a new online and catalog-based retailing operation, with no physical stores, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. DMSI then began operating under the Montgomery Ward branding in June 2004, selling many of the same kinds of products as the original company. The new company does not honor its predecessor's obligations, such as gift cards and items sold with a lifetime guarantee. David Milgrom, then president of the DMSI-owned firm, told the Associated Press, "We're rebuilding the brand, and we want to do it right."[25]
Four years later, in July 2008, DMSI announced it was on the auction block, with the sale of its assets scheduled for the following month. On August 5, 2008, the catalog retailer Swiss Colony purchased DMSI. Swiss Colony—which changed its name to Colony Brands Inc. June 1, 2010—kept Montgomery Ward alive and relaunched the Wards website September 10, 2008, with new catalogs mailing in February 2009.[26] A month before the catalog's launch, Swiss Colony President John Baumann told United Press International the retailer might also resurrect the original Montgomery Ward's Signature and Powr-Kraft store brands.[27] Among the new store brands Wards started under Colony was a home and kitchen brand called Chef Tested.[28] By 2020, some Chef Tested and Montgomery Ward–brand home and kitchen items were being sold on Amazon.com.[29]
Official website
Media related to Montgomery Ward at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to Montgomery Ward buildings at Wikimedia Commons