Organized Living
{{Short description|Company selling organization products}}
{{Infobox company |
| name = Organized Living
| logo = OrganizedLivingLogo.jpg
| type =
| foundation = Ohio (1919)
| location = Cincinnati, Ohio
| key_people =
| industry = Manufacturing
| revenue =
| num_employees =
| homepage = http://organizedliving.com/
| owner =
}}
{{Infobox company |
| name = Organized Living (former)
| logo =
| type =
| foundation = Kansas (1985)
| location =
| key_people =
| industry = Retail
| revenue = {{gain}} USD Est. $75-100 million in 2004-05
| num_employees = ~1000 in 2004-05
| homepage =
| owner =
}}
Organized Living, formerly known as Schulte Corp.,{{cite web|title=What's in a name? For this brand, everything.|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1288750312|work=Cincinnati Enquirer|access-date=27 March 2014|archive-date=16 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416181008/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/enquirer/doc/1288750312.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Feb+17%2C+2013&author=Prevish%2C+Val&pub=Cincinnati+Enquirer&edition=&startpage=&desc=What%27s+in+a+name%3F+For+this+brand%2C+everything|url-status=live}} is a company that manufactures storage and organization products for the home, sold through independent dealers in the United States and Canada.{{cite web|title=About Us|url=http://organizedliving.com/about/about-us|website=OrganizedLiving.com|accessdate=27 March 2014|archive-date=16 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416173920/http://organizedliving.com/about/about-us|url-status=dead}} 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,{{cite news | url= http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/06/20/daily37.html | title=Organized Living liquidating stores | newspaper=Columbus Business First | date=June 24, 2005 | accessdate=Oct 26, 2009 | first=Tony | last=Goins}}{{cite news | url= http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/07/04/tidbits1.html | title='Sad deal' as Organized Living fails | newspaper=Columbus Business First | date=July 1, 2005 | accessdate=Oct 26, 2009 | first=Doug | last=Buchanan}} with its first location in Overland Park.{{cite news | url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18419779.html | title=Organized Living goes west (expanding in Las Vegas, Nevada)| publisher=HFN | date=June 24, 1996 | accessdate=Oct 27, 2009}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In 1993, the then-two store chain changed its name from Containers and More to Organized Living.{{cite news | url= http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB04DF8B2F84718&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | title=Business Plus, Bulletin Board | newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch | date=January 11, 1993 | accessdate=October 26, 2009}} 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. As it grew, the company consciously decided to focus expansion on markets not already served by The Container Store, its primary competitor.{{cite news | url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-50371565.html | title=Organized Living Stresses Solutions | work=HFN| date=September 21, 1998 | accessdate=October 27, 2009}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} As of mid-2000, the chain had grown to 11 stores.{{cite news | url= http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2000/06/12/story7.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160816160707/http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2000/06/12/story7.html | url-status= dead | archive-date= August 16, 2016 | title=Upscale Organized Living opening at The Summit | newspaper=Birmingham Business Journal | date=June 9, 2000 | accessdate=Oct 26, 2009}}
The store eventually grew to 25 stores before filing for bankruptcy in 2005, after planned financing did not come to fruition.{{cite web|title=Organized Living Chapter 11 Petition|url=https://www.pacermonitor.com/view/2JQX35I/Organized_Living_Inc__ohsbke-05-57620__0001.0.pdf|website=PacerMonitor|accessdate=7 June 2016}} After private equity firm Saunders Karp & Megrue bought a majority stake in the company, the former head of Bath & Body Works, Beth Pritchard, was hired in January 2004 to grow the chain into a national presence.{{cite news | url= http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2004/01/12/daily58.html | title=Organized Living names new CEO | newspaper=Kansas City Business Journal | date=January 16, 2004 | accessdate=October 26, 2009}} Pritchard also moved the company's headquarters from Lenexa, Kansas, in the Kansas City area, to Westerville, Ohio, near Columbus. Pritchard was released in May 2005 during the bankruptcy proceedings.{{cite news | url= http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/05/16/daily4.html | title=Organized Living cuts chief in Chapter 11 | newspaper=Columbus Business First| date=May 16, 2005 | accessdate=October 26, 2009 | first=Tony | last=Goins}} Pritchard cited changes in Saunder Karp's commitment to finance growth as the cause of the collapse.
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.{{cite news | url= http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/04/02/story8.html | title=Firm shelves brass pipes for Organized Living chain | newspaper=Business Courier of Cincinnati| date=March 30, 2007 | accessdate=Oct 26, 2009}} On January 1, 2013, Schulte Corp. changed its corporate name to Organized Living and relaunched OrganizedLiving.com as its new website.{{cn|date=September 2023}}