Murphy's mart

[Retail_247]

I couldn't find a topic about this store.

discuss.

[TheFugitive]

They were a branch of G.C. Murphy Co., a "five and dime" chain based in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
At one time just about every urban neighborhood and small town in Western Pennsylvania had a
G. C. Murphy store located somewhere in its business district.

Just as Kresge's got into the big-box discount business by launching Kmart, G.C. Murphy did the same
by launching their Murphy Mart chain of discount stores.  I recall in particular shopping at Murphy's Mart
locations on PA Route 51, near the current site of Century III Mall, and on PA Route 88 in Bethel Park.
This store would eventually become an Ames, which was also their regional headquarters.  My interview
to become an Assistant Manager with Ames was at this store.  It is currently a Walmart.

The Murphy's Mart stores were sold to Ames in April, 1985, not long before I joined the company.
I was very surprised to arrive at my new assignment in Hillsdale, Michigan and find that the Ames
there was a former Murphy's Mart location.  Growing up in Pittsburgh I had no idea they existed that
far west.  As it turns out many of my management colleagues had worked for Murphy's at various
Indiana locations.   Some of those colleagues informed me that for reasons none of us could fathom
they had opened a handful of Murphy's Mart stores in Louisiana.  It was more or less mandatory for
every manager in the company to take a tour of duty down there, which they all hated.  For
Northerners Louisiana is just a really different, strange culture.

Some of them claimed (and I've never been able to really verify this) that the Gilman family that owned
Ames had a secret deal worked out with Sam Walton whereby Walmart would expand across the southern U.S. while Ames would expand across the North.  At some future date uncertain Ames would link-up with Walmart to become a national mega-retailer.  According to this tale Sam Walton got his knickers in a twist when Ames bought Murphy's Mart and decided not to close the Louisiana stores.  Walton viewed this as welching out on
the deal and he supposedly ditched it as a result.

As far as the Murphy's Mart buildings were concerned the one in Hillsdale had degenerated into a real
dump by the time I got there.  It had a fenced in outdoor garden center as Kmarts typically did (but
most Ames did not).  It also had a restaurant, which had closed after Ames took over.  The former
restaurant space was filled with lots and lots of old G.C. Murphy merchandise under dump SKUs.
The manager there played fast and loose with the valuations of this stuff at inventory time, an act
which could have landed us all in jail.  I was not unhappy to get transferred and work for a different
boss.

Eventually the G.C. Murphy five-and-dime stores were sold off to McCrory, where they collapsed along with the rest of the company in 2002.

One piece of G. C. Murphy continued to operate under Ames as the Joseph Leavitt Co.  They were basically a captive hardware and pegged goods vendor, operating out of former Murphy facilities in McKeesport.  I presume this was part of the acquisition deal that was intended to keep at least some of the longtime Murphy staff employed.

[TheFugitive]

Was thinking about this the other night.  Murphy's Mart had their own version of the Kmart Blue Light Special.
Only they used an amber colored light.

[Retail_247]

They were a branch of G.C. Murphy Co., a "five and dime" chain based in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
At one time just about every urban neighborhood and small town in Western Pennsylvania had a
G. C. Murphy store located somewhere in its business district.

Just as Kresge's got into the big-box discount business by launching Kmart, G.C. Murphy did the same
by launching their Murphy Mart chain of discount stores.  I recall in particular shopping at Murphy's Mart
locations on PA Route 51, near the current site of Century III Mall, and on PA Route 88 in Bethel Park.
This store would eventually become an Ames, which was also their regional headquarters.  My interview
to become an Assistant Manager with Ames was at this store.  It is currently a Walmart.

The Murphy's Mart stores were sold to Ames in April, 1985, not long before I joined the company.
I was very surprised to arrive at my new assignment in Hillsdale, Michigan and find that the Ames
there was a former Murphy's Mart location.  Growing up in Pittsburgh I had no idea they existed that
far west.  As it turns out many of my management colleagues had worked for Murphy's at various
Indiana locations.   Some of those colleagues informed me that for reasons none of us could fathom
they had opened a handful of Murphy's Mart stores in Louisiana.  It was more or less mandatory for
every manager in the company to take a tour of duty down there, which they all hated.  For
Northerners Louisiana is just a really different, strange culture.

Some of them claimed (and I've never been able to really verify this) that the Gilman family that owned
Ames had a secret deal worked out with Sam Walton whereby Walmart would expand across the southern U.S. while Ames would expand across the North.  At some future date uncertain Ames would link-up with Walmart to become a national mega-retailer.  According to this tale Sam Walton got his knickers in a twist when Ames bought Murphy's Mart and decided not to close the Louisiana stores.  Walton viewed this as welching out on
the deal and he supposedly ditched it as a result.

As far as the Murphy's Mart buildings were concerned the one in Hillsdale had degenerated into a real
dump by the time I got there.  It had a fenced in outdoor garden center as Kmarts typically did (but
most Ames did not).  It also had a restaurant, which had closed after Ames took over.  The former
restaurant space was filled with lots and lots of old G.C. Murphy merchandise under dump SKUs.
The manager there played fast and loose with the valuations of this stuff at inventory time, an act
which could have landed us all in jail.  I was not unhappy to get transferred and work for a different
boss.

Eventually the G.C. Murphy five-and-dime stores were sold off to McCrory, where they collapsed along with the rest of the company in 2002.

One piece of G. C. Murphy continued to operate under Ames as the Joseph Leavitt Co.  They were basically a captive hardware and pegged goods vendor, operating out of former Murphy facilities in McKeesport.  I presume this was part of the acquisition deal that was intended to keep at least some of the longtime Murphy staff employed.

I found an obituary for Milton Gilman (One of the Ames Founders) and Sam Walton is mentioned.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/milton-gilman-obituary?pid=145736107

It basically says that Sam talked to the Ames founders to help him shape Walmart. which is something that he did commonly. I heard that he walked through the Mammoth Mart corporate office and talked with the son of Max Coffman (Mammoth Mart founder)

I read Sam's autobiography ("Sam Walton, Made In America") and I remember something along the lines of Sam going to random discount stores (specifically mentioning Spartan stores, Zayre, Ann & Hope, Mammoth Mart, Arlan's and even Two Guys) and not only did he go to stores with a notebook to take notes (in this part of the book TG&Y and Kmart were also mentioned a few times) but he would also go to random stores and say something along the lines of "Hi, I'm Sam Walton and I'd like to speak to the owner of this company"

even still though, I don't think that he would make a deal like this.

[TheFugitive]

Some community minded folks in McKeesport, PA, former home of GC Murphy Co., have
created a tribute website.

http://www.murphymemories.com/index.html