Service Merchandise

{{for|the album|Service Merchandise (album){{!}}Service Merchandise (album)}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Service Merchandise

| logo = Service Merchandise logo.svg

| type = Private

| industry = Retail

| fate = Bankruptcy and liquidation

| foundation = 1934 (as five-and-dime store and later wholesale company)
1960 (as catalog showroom retailer)

| founders = Harry Zimmerman
Mary Zimmerman

| defunct = 2002

| location = Brentwood, Tennessee

| key_people = Harry Zimmerman
Raymond Zimmerman

| products = Jewelry, gifts, home decor products, sporting goods, electronics, toys

}}

Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002.

History

Service Merchandise's history can be traced to 1934, to a small five-and-dime store founded by Harry and Mary Zimmerman in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee. After leaving the wholesale business, they opened Service Merchandise, Inc., the first of what evolved into a chain of catalog showrooms. It opened in 1960 at 309 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.{{Cite news|date=July 31, 1968|title=Appliance Sales|work=The Tennessean|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/112096935/?terms=service%2Bmerchandise|access-date=October 2, 2020}}

File:Service Merchandise.png

During the 1970s and 1980s, Service Merchandise was a leading catalog-showroom retailer. At its peak, the company achieved more than $4 billion in annual sales. As the company expanded, it began to open showrooms nationwide, mostly in the vicinity of major shopping malls, which were in vogue in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the Service Merchandise headquarters moved from Nashville to nearby Brentwood, Tennessee, becoming one of the first businesses to plant itself in the area that is now known as Cool Springs.{{Cite web |last=Rennick |first=Lee |date=2019-06-17 |title=Remember When: Service Merchandise |url=https://williamsonsource.com/remember-when-service-merchandise/ |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=Williamson Source |language=en-US}}

In May 1985, Service Merchandise acquired the H. J. Wilson Co. for approximately $200 million. Raymond Zimmerman, the CEO, was attracted to Wilson's stores to gain a stronger foothold in the Sun Belt states.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-10-fi-7648-story.html |title=Service Merchandise acquired two retail chains |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 10, 1985 |author=}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/20/business/business-people-service-merchandise-head-may-take-company-private.html |title=Service Merchandise Head May Take Company Private |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 20, 1988 |first=Daniel F. |last=Cuff}} Several of these Wilson's locations included an off-priced apparel department of about {{convert|15000|sqft|m2}}. Service Merchandise also had other wholly owned subsidiaries featuring retail stores, such as Zim's Jewelers, HomeOwners Warehouse (later called Mr. HOW Warehouse),{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/05/31/mr-hows-5-stores-in-chicago-area-to-close/ |title=Mr. How's 5 Stores In Chicago Area To Close |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=May 31, 1986 |first=David |last=Elsner}} The Lingerie Store and The Toy Store.

=Downfall=

The company lost market share in its housewares and electronics sectors to giant discounters, such as Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond, and later Best Buy and Circuit City. Although Service Merchandise was early to embrace the Internet in the 1990s, generating tens of millions of dollars in sales, it was not enough to offset the damage done by the mega-chain stores springing up nationwide.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

Gary M. Witkin was appointed to the new position of president and chief operating officer in 1994.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/08/business/service-merchandise-gets-a-president-from-saks.html |title=Service Merchandise Gets a President From Saks |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 8, 1994 |first=Stephanie |last=Strom}}{{cite news |url=http://adage.com/article/news/service-merchandise-warm-place-president/89361/ |title=Service Merchandise To Be 'Warm' Place Under New President |magazine=Ad Age |date=November 14, 1994 |first=Michael |last=Wilke}}{{cite news |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1995/08/26/service-merchandise-begins-new-chapter/ |title=Service Merchandise Begins New Chapter: The Company's New President Is Determined To Turn The Outlet Into A real Retail Store |newspaper=Orlando Sentinel |date=August 26, 1995 |author=}}

The company responded to the market pressures with a series of restructuring plans that included the discontinuation of unprofitable product lines, including electronics, toys and sporting goods, and refocusing on jewelry, gifts and home decor products. Many of its showrooms were also closed or downsized significantly.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/03/28/service-merchandise-to-cut-3300-workers/ |title=Service Merchandise To Cut 3,300 Workers |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 28, 1997 |first=Genevieve |last=Buck}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/10/business/company-news-service-merchandise-to-close-stores-in-a-revamping.html |title=Service Merchandise To Close Stores In A Revamping |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 10, 1999 |author=}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/23/business/company-news-service-merchandise-cutting-4800-more-jobs.html |title=Service Merchandise Cutting 4,800 More Jobs |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 23, 2000 |author=}}

=Bankruptcy and liquidation=

File:Service merch logo.png

While in the process of changing its retail format, a group of creditors forced an involuntary petition for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 on March 15, 1999, seeking court supervision of the company's restructuring.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/17/business/service-merchandise-forced-to-reorganize.html |title=Service Merchandise Forced to Reorganize |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 17, 1999 |author=}} The company later filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition to improve relations with its vendors and creditors in an effort to stabilize its business. At the time, it was one of the top ten bankruptcy cases in the nation.{{Cite web |last=Satterwhite |first=Sydney |title=Lost Nashville: The rise and fall of catalog showroom Service Merchandise |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2022/05/27/service-merchandise-rise-fall-catalog-showroom-nashville-tennessee/7321290001/ |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=The Tennessean |language=en-US}}

Raymond Zimmerman, son of the original founders, resigned as chairman of the board in November 2000. The company attempted to pull itself out of bankruptcy once again in summer 2001, but the economic downturn following the September 11 attacks proved to be a hurdle the company could not clear.{{cite press release |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-04-2002/0001641992&EDATE= |title=Service Merchandise to Cease Continuing Business Operations |publisher=Service Merchandise |date=January 4, 2002 |author=}}{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-05-fi-rup5.3-story.html |title=Service Merchandise Going Out of Business |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=January 5, 2002 |author=}}

With only 200 catalog showrooms remaining, the stock was valued at less than one cent per share. With no profitability in sight, Service Merchandise ceased operations and shuttered all of its remaining stores by early 2002.{{cite news |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2002/01/14/story4.html?page=all |title=What killed Service Merchandise? |newspaper=Nashville Business Journal |date=January 13, 2002 |first=Brian |last=Forester}}

Showroom ordering process

Service Merchandise had an unusual ordering process that emphasized the catalog, even within the showrooms. Other chains such as Brendle's, Best Products, Sterling Jewelry & Distributing Company, and McDade's used this model. However, they too eventually suffered the same fate.

The reason behind offering the catalog showroom approach to retailing was that it reduced the risk of merchandise theft, known in the industry as shrinkage, and also enabled customers to shop without the inconvenience of physically dragging purchases throughout the store.

For non-jewelry orders, customers would enter the showroom and receive a carbon-paper order form and clipboard to record the catalog numbers of desired items. Items were displayed in working order in the showroom, allowing customers to test products as they shopped. Current Service Merchandise catalogs were placed on stands in strategic locations throughout the store to allow customers to shop for items not on display. When ready to place their orders, customers would take the order form to a clerk, who would submit the order to the store's stockroom via his computer-terminal cash register, as well as take payment for the items. The customer would then move to the "Merchandise Pickup Area" near the exit, where the order would emerge from the stockroom on a conveyor belt.

This process was altered in the late 1980s to allow customers to place their own orders on a number of self-service computer kiosks named "Silent Sam", which the company later renamed "Service Express".

In the mid-1980s, Service Merchandise experimented with the installation of drive-through windows at two showrooms (near Chicago and Nashville), allowing customers with phone-in orders to pick up their orders without leaving their automobiles. The concept was not expanded beyond its test stores, but remained in place at those locations.

{{cite web| url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_v23/ai_3517661| title=Service Mdse. quickly expands, renames home center chain - Mr. How Warehouse| publisher=Discount Store News| access-date=2008-01-09| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224084631/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_v23/ai_3517661| archive-date=2009-02-24| url-status=dead}}

Support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association

Service Merchandise was a large corporate donor to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Chairman/CEO Raymond Zimmerman would appear multiple times on the yearly Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon to present donations on behalf of the company and its customers.{{Cite web |title=Jerry Lewis, Jerry's Orphans and the Telethon: Disability Rag Classics |url=https://www.raggededgemagazine.com/archive/jerry92.htm |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=www.raggededgemagazine.com}}