![]() ![]() and GB Merchant Partners for $200 Million. The sale went through in 2004 and Things Remembered was quickly spun off in 2006 to investment firms Bruckmann Rosser Sherrill & Co. The combined strategies paid off almost instantly allowing the company to meet sales projections in 1999 for the first time in years.ĬNC which now owned Pearl vision had become the target of Luxottica, parent company of LensCrafters. There were three versions: General Gift, Wedding and Business focused. Things Remembered also released its first catalog during this time. Store associates took the title "Gift Advisers" with the premise that interactions with customers were conversations between two friends coming up with a gift idea. This moved the company to make stores warm and less masculine. In reaction, the company focused on this removing all non-personalized gifts and the motto was changed from Great Unexpected Gifts" to " The Place for Personalized Gifts." Research also showed their typical patrons were women who viewed themselves as unique gift givers. Cole National brought in a CRM agency which revealed the store was seen as a "brass and glass" gift shop that offered some engraving. Restructuring and an image change were necessary. In 1998 the key business was shuttered while Things Remembered and its 800+ stores failed to meet sales goals. The company went public in 1994 to reduce the persistent debt from the leveraged buyout. Sales began to slump and in 1990 Cole National unloaded unprofitable business units leaving Cole Key, Cole Vision and Things Remembered. The company prospered through much of the 1980s. The Cole family reclaimed the company in 1987 through a leveraged buyout. Cole National was taken private in 1984 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. At the time Cole National consisted of Cole Vision, DBA Sears Optical, Montgomery Ward Vision, Cole Key Company, and several other subsidiaries. ![]() Things Remembered was founded as "Can Do" in 1967 as a subsidiary of Cole National Corporation by Joseph Edmund Cole. Things Remembered is an e-commerce retailer specializing in personalized gifts, messaging and engraving. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |