Organized Living

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.

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

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.[13]

See also

References
  1. Goins, Tony (June 24, 2005). "Organized Living liquidating stores". Columbus Business First. Retrieved Oct 26, 2009.
  2. 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. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  4. "About Us". OrganizedLiving.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  5. "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.
  13. "Organized Living Launches a New Website and Rebrands, Benefiting from 90 Years of SCHULTE Experience". Digital Journal. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
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