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Venture was a chain of retail stores aimed at the discount department store market. It was founded in 1968 by John Geisse (of Target Stores and May Department Stores) and Executive Vice President Dave Babcock.
Venture Stores expanded to operate over 70 stores with major market share in St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City, and expanded across various areas in the US over a period of nearly 30 years, becoming the largest discount chain in Chicago.
In January of 1998, Venture Stores entered a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed within four months.
History[]
The chain was founded in 1968 when Target founder John F. Geisse went to work for May Department Stores. Under an antitrust settlement reached with the Department of Justice, May was unable to acquire any more retail chains at the time and the department store company needed a way to compete against the emerging discount store chains.
When May's Executive Vice President Dave Babcock learned that Geisse had resigned from Target Stores, he spoke with Geisse about starting a new discount retailer, resulting in the founding of Venture.
The first Venture store opened in 1970 in the St. Louis suburb of Overland (after Venture closed, the location became a Kmart, which later closed & was demolished for the current Home Depot).
In 1976, Geisse retired and left Venture Stores (which had by that time expanded to 20 units).
In 1978, Venture Stores purchased 23 Turn Style locations in the Chicago area from Jewel food stores, and expanded to over 40 locations in the Chicago market area with many city locations.
It was the largest discount chain in Chicago with inner city locations other than Zayre/Ames. In 1990, Venture separated from May and became a private corporation.
Venture's advertising slogan during the 1980s was "Save With Style." or "SWS".
In the 1990s, Venture would employ two other slogans; the first, tied to a company wide remodeling initiative aimed at making the stores (more like Kohl's) was "See What's New For You!"
At the time Venture closed, the slogan was "See What A Little Money Can Buy."
Many Venture stores offered a dining area inside the store. This area would sell standard American fare, from hamburgers and hot dogs to popcorn and Icee drinks. Venture's small eatery was known as "Cafe Venture."
Bankruptcy & Closure[]
By the late 1990s, the chain found that it was unable to compete against other retail chains, such as Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart.
Venture tried to return to its founding principles as an upscale discounter and remodeled most of its 90+ stores. While facing vast competition, the company made a fatal mistake trying to expand into Texas instead of protecting its core markets.
Venture sold the Texas stores to Kmart in 1996 and closed its distribution center in Corsicana, Texas.
The company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 20, 1998, and tried to operate with a smaller number of stores. The effort was not successful and the company announced its closing on April 27, 1998.
Most of the former Venture buildings were absorbed into other chains, such as Kmart (for their new Big Kmart stores at the time), Kohl's, ShopKo and Burlington Coat Factory.
Locations[]
- Main article: Venture/Locations