Organized Living
IndustryManufacturing
FoundedOhio (1919)
HeadquartersCincinnati, Ohio
Websitehttp://organizedliving.com/
Organized Living (former)
IndustryRetail
FoundedKansas (1985)
RevenueIncrease USD Est. $75-100 million in 2004-05[1]
Number of employees
~1000 in 2004-05[2]

Organized Living, formerly known as Schulte Corp.,[3] is a company that manufactures storage and organization products for the home, sold through independent dealers in the United States and Canada.[4] Prior to 2007, Organized Living was a specialty retail chain in the United States that sold storage solutions for home and office.

History

In 1985, Mark Ferrel founded the company as Containers Unlimited, in Kansas,[1][2] with its first location in Overland Park.[5] In 1993, the then-two store chain changed its name from Containers and More to Organized Living.[6] By mid-1996, the chain had three stores (the original location plus two others in St. Louis) and next expanded by adding two stores in Las Vegas, in early 1997.[5] As it grew, the company consciously decided to focus expansion on markets not already served by The Container Store, its primary competitor.[7] As of mid-2000, the chain had grown to 11 stores.[8]

The store eventually grew to 25 stores before filing for bankruptcy in 2005, after planned financing did not come to fruition.[9][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.[10] 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.[11] 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 proceedings, and operated OrganizedLiving.com as an online retailer through 2012.[12] On January 1, 2013, Schulte Corp. changed its corporate name to Organized Living and relaunched OrganizedLiving.com as its new website.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Goins, Tony (June 24, 2005). "Organized Living liquidating stores". Columbus Business First. Retrieved Oct 26, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Buchanan, Doug (July 1, 2005). "'Sad deal' as Organized Living fails". Columbus Business First. Retrieved Oct 26, 2009.
  3. ↑ "What's in a name? For this brand, everything". Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "About Us". OrganizedLiving.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Organized Living goes west (expanding in Las Vegas, Nevada)". HFN. June 24, 1996. Retrieved Oct 27, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Business Plus, Bulletin Board". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 11, 1993. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Organized Living Stresses Solutions". HFN. September 21, 1998. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Upscale Organized Living opening at The Summit". Birmingham Business Journal. June 9, 2000. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved Oct 26, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Organized Living Chapter 11 Petition" (PDF). PacerMonitor. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "Organized Living names new CEO". Kansas City Business Journal. January 16, 2004. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  11. ↑ Goins, Tony (May 16, 2005). "Organized Living cuts chief in Chapter 11". Columbus Business First. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Firm shelves brass pipes for Organized Living chain". Business Courier of Cincinnati. March 30, 2007. Retrieved Oct 26, 2009.
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