Heck's

[wiseguy93]

Founded 1963  Dissolved 1990

Heck's Department Stores

Heck's Department Store was a chain of West Virginia based discount department stores owned by business entrepenurer Fred Haddad that existed in West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Kentucky until dissolved in September, 1990. It was founded by Fred Haddad in Charleston, West Virginia.[1]

Heck's, Inc. was established in 1963, and between 1963 and 1990 served as a retail arm of automotive supplier Steel City Products, Inc.

Heck's stores were discount, stand alone department stores found in small cities throughout West Virginia, western Maryland, the Ohio Valley, and parts of Indiana & Kentucky. Its structure and product lines were similar to its competitors, Fisher's Big Wheel, Hills Department Stores, and G.C. Murphy's Mart.

By the mid-1980's, the chain was losing money and market share. In February 1987, a $125 million merger agreement with New York-Based Toussie-Viner Group was terminated due to weak performance by Heck's in the final months of 1986.

In September 1990, all of the assets of the Retail Division were sold to Retail Acquisition Corporation, Inc., and became L.A. Joe Department Stores. Two locations were sold to, and became, Fisher's Big Wheel.

Area served West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky

Products Clothing, garden/seasonal, sporting goods, hardware, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares

[wiseguy93]

In 1959 in a downtown Charlestown West Virginia in a building that former housed a Kaiser - Fraser car dealership Heck's Department store was born. Fred Haddad, brother Tom & Lester Ellis and Douglas Cook,

The new store was called Heck's after the letters of the names of the founders and friends. In 1960  a second store would be added in St. Albans, West Virginia. And only about a week later a third store would follow in
Huntington West Virginia. Fred Hadddad was the chairman.

In 1963 Heck's expanded beyond West Virginia. Expanding into Kentucky, Maryland, and Virginia. The  beginning year, Heck's was profitable until 1984.

In 1983 chairman Fred Haddad retired and sold his Heck's stock the store had expanded to 122 stores
with annual  sales of $435 million.

But in 1984 things started going down hill for Heck's with a new chairman on board and some new ideals that didn't go over to good with the customers. Chairman Russell Isaacs decided to reset, or relay  the floor plans of  105 stores of the 120 Heck's stores in nine states. Accompanied in many cases by practical or full remolding, the reset stores were made to conform to highly successful prototype units tested over that past year.
but Heck's employees only heard customers complaining who were upset because of some of the products
Heck's decided not to sell anymore. Heck's would lose over $8 million in 1984. People couldn't understand the move of taking such biggest sellers out of the stores. Customers complained because of the products that were moved of the shelves, plus every time they turned around the stores were being changed, they never could find anything.

In 1985 Heck's bought out the Maloney Enterprises Inc which owned 34 store in the Heck's marketing areas.
this would bring Heck's up to 166 stores. Maloney's who had just filed for chapter 11 in 1982. In 1986 as a company reorganized they started laying off longtime employees some who had been with the company since the beginning. This was a way to try to full them out of dropping income. But by the end of 1986 Heck's would lost a profit of $18 million.

In 1988 with a new president on board Heck's would shut down or sell at least 50 stores trying to pull
their self out of what look like destruction ahead. The losses just keep piling up, Heck's who once had 166
stores was now down to 55 stores which once had over 7,000 employees now had only 1,700. By January of 1990 the name Heck's would be gone. In February of 1990 the Jordache Enterprise bought the remaining Heck's store for $ one million and the 22million debt. The 55 remaining stores scattered across the hills of the Appalachian Mountains would be relabeled as L.A. Joe's Department Stores. But only one year later the company would be in bankrupt court,  and another year later the stores would be closed.

[wiseguy93]

Indiana

Auburn - later Fisher's Big Wheel
Kokomo

Ohio

Salem - later Fisher's Big Wheel
Wooster
Lancaster, Ohio
Athens, Ohio
Jackson, Ohio
Zanesville
Heath
Belpre

West Virginia

Buckhannon
Charles Town
Charleston (Kanawha City)
Clarksburg
Danville - now a Magic Mart.
Elkins
Fairmont
Follansbee
Gassaway
Martinsburg* store front now occupied by Big Lots store
Morgantown
Parkersburg
Princeton - now Schewels Furniture
Saint Albans
Westover - Now a Big Lots
Wheeling (Warwood Shopping Plaza)
Virginia

Staunton
Pulaski
Radford
Winchester
Galax after Heck's Helig Meyers, now Schewels Furniture
Clintwood closed in the mid 80's now Food City & Family Dollar
Norton - Now a Big Lots
Bristol - Now a Post Office
Abingdon - Aaron's

Tennessee

LaFollette
Kentucky
Frankfort
Georgetown
Lexington (3 locations)
Pennsylvania

Waynesburg - original building was converted to Giant Eagle
Heck's former location on MacCorkle Avenue in the Kanawha City section of Charleston is now a Drug Emporium.

[wiseguy93]

Williamsburg Center
1100 S Highway 25 W

Built orginally as a Heck's Department Store

Now for Sale

[wiseguy93]

1/14/2003

Founder of Heck's store chain Haddad dies at age 81

By LEE ANN WELCH - The Herald-Dispatch

CHARLESTON -- Fred Haddad, a founder of the Heck's department store chain, died Monday. He was 81.

Haddad had been in poor health since he left the retail business 19 years ago.

Haddad established Heck's in 1959. Six of the department stores were in the Huntington area. Heck's filed for bankruptcy in 1987.

In addition to his ownership of Heck's, Haddad was part of a 26-member investment group, River City Associates Inc., which purchased the Radisson Hotel in downtown Huntington in the mid-1980's.

...
"I always found (Mr. Haddad) to be a person where you knew exactly where you stood with him."

Haddad was a member of the Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority, the governing board of Yeager Airport in Charleston, for several years.

Haddad was keenly aware of business opportunities and did thorough research and planning before executing a deal, Perry said.
...
Haddad had a good mind for business."

Perry said his association with Haddad was one of respect and admiration.
...
"I learned a great deal from my association with Mr. Haddad. I found it difficult to call him 'Fred'. It was always 'Mr. Haddad.' "

Haddad was a thorough and detail-oriented man, Perry said.
...
Haddad, who did not attend college, learned the retail business from his father, a Lebanese immigrant who peddled goods carried on his back in Logan County.

He is survived by his wife, Karen White Haddad, and an adult son and daughter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[wiseguy93]

NITRO, W. Va. (FNS) -- Heck's, Inc., has agreed to acquire Maloney Enterprises Inc., a privately owned discount department store chain, for an undisclosed amount of cash.
Heck's said the sale includes Maloney's 32 discount department stores located in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. In addition, Heck's has agreed to buy three Maloney franchise stores, which makes the total number of purchased stores 35.
Maloney's stores have total annual sales of $80 million

[wiseguy93]

OLD HECKS BUILDING TO BE TURNED INTO FAIRMONT PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING

Fairmont's Building Commission will now look for temporary financing to cover the purchase price of the old Hecks Building near Downtown Morgantown West Virginia.

The Commission approved the purchase of that site last night clearing the way for its transformation into Fairmont's new Public Safety Building.

The building on Quincy Street housed the Heck's Discount Department Store nearly two decades ago. It's expected to require renovations upwards of two-million dollars.

[wiseguy93]

[wiseguy93]

NITRO, W.Va.--Heck's has received bankruptcy court approval to close 35 stores that accounted for $6 million of its $61.3 million loss last year.

The fourt round of closings since 1986 will slash store count to 83, half of the 1986 high of 165. The number of Heck's units will fall to 71 from 92 and the number of stores the chain operates under the Maloney name will be more than halved to 12 from 26. Consolidated sales will tumble to about $300 million from $417.8 million in calendar '87.

In addition, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy judge extended until Aug. 1 the discounter's period for filing its own plan for reorganization. That makes at least the third extension of the period during which Heck's was protected from having creditors force their own reorganization plan or even drive the chain into involuntary Chapter 7 dissolution.

Proceeds from closing the stores and liquidating inventory will be placed in escrow, Heck's said, and are expected to help finance reorganization.

Anywhere from 700 to 1,000 employees will lose their jobs when 21 Heck's stores and 14 smaller stores that operate under the Maloney name are closed. The firings will include 35 to 200 headquarters employees.

Kentucky will bear the brunt of the Maloney closings, accounting for 13 of the 14, along with two Heck's. The state previously had 20 Maloney units.

The burden falls next heaviest on Virginia, where Heck's will close its only Maloney unit, along with eight of 15 Heck's stores.

Ohio will lose six of 20 Heck's, Maryland will lose two Heck's, and Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana each will lose one.

The towns losing Heck's are: Charlottesville, Danville, Galax, Rocky Mount, South Boston, South Hill, and Waynesboro, Va.; Circleville, Heath, Salem, Wilmington, Wooster, and Van Wert, Ohio; Cumberland and Frostburg, Md.; and Corbin and Williamsburg, Ky.

Also: Waynesburg, Pa; Richwood, W.Va., and Auburn, Ind.

Heck's will close its Maloney store in Norton, Va., and these units in Kentucky: Flemingsburg, Grayson, Hazard, Hindman, Hyden, Inez, Jackson, Liberty, Manchester, Neon, Salyersville, Stanton and Whitley City.

Heck's expects to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of February 1989, said William K. Bragg Jr., secretary and general counsel.

Heck's creditors are rendering "nice cooperation" with company plans, Bragg said. In announcing the store closings, Heck's said that same store sales for June rose about 15 percent, compared to June sales a year ago. That follows same store gains of 14 percent in May, 13 percent in April and 11 percent in March.

Sales met or exceeded expectations for May and June, chairman and chief executive officer John R. Isaac Jr. said in a release announcing the closings.

Although first quarter results (March through May) are unavailable, Isaac predicted they will show a substantial improvement over the $28.5 million loss in the same three months of 1987.

For January and February 1988, Heck's trimmed its losses to $2.2 million on sales of $39.8 million from $7.3 million on revenues of $57 million in the same two months of 1987.

The improvement for the two months reflects better shrinkage results and proceeds from selling stores previously closed, Heck's said.

Heck's began closing stores in 1986, when it closed 13 units. It closed 29 more stores in mid-1987 and nine more after last Christmas.

Of its $61.3 million loss for 1987, $33 million was attributed to last year's closings.

Heck's filed for Chapter 11 protection March 5, 1987, after negotiations broke down with the Toussie-Viner investment group to acquire the chain for $145 million.

[wiseguy93]

The use to be the location of a Heck's Discount Store.Piggly Wiggly was right beside of it. When Heck's closed in the mid or late 80's. Piggly Wiggly expanded their store and Family Dollar & U.S. Postal Office took the rest of the building.

[wiseguy93]

This is a fomrer Heck's Dept. Store location. They were here for several years. Located here in the Bristol Plaza right off from Lee Highway. This shopping center was also anchored by a Krogers which has since shut down and now Food Lion is there. The old Heck's store were divided and now a Schewels and Highland Fellowship @ Bristol (church) now fills the building.This location was also a L.A. Joe's Dept. Store for about a year after Heck's was shut down. Interstate 81 is right behind the plaza.

[wiseguy93]

Former Heck's Dept Store, located on Cummings Street. This was also a L.A. Joes' for about a year. It is now an Advance Auto & Aaron's. The Aaron's enternace was the originial for the building.

[XDeSuEhTX]

I believe I posted a topic about Heck's last year.

I noticed the locations post didn't include the one that was in my local area, Beckley. It was Value City since Heck's closed and recently Value City closed, so the building is now empty.