ALCO Stores
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| Discount store | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Fate | Closure due to Chapter 11 bankruptcy |
| Founded | 1901 |
| Defunct | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Coppell, Texas |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, market, housewares |
| Website | Final pre-bankruptcy announcement (Oct 2014) web Final post-bankruptcy (Mar 2015) web |
ALCO Stores, Inc. (formerly Duckwall-ALCO Stores) was a retail chain operating 198 stores in 23 states, primarily in the United States Midwest. The company was founded in 1901 in Kansas by Alva Lease Duckwall.
It had its headquarters in Coppell, Texas. The company's 352,000-square-foot (32,700 m2) distribution center was located in Abilene, Kansas, where it was previously headquartered.
In October 2014, ALCO filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; subsequently the chain was sold to a liquidation firm and closed all of its stores by March 2015.
In its early years the company operated five and dime (or "variety") stores called Duckwall's. In 1968 it began to move into the discount retail business and opened stores that were bigger than their five and dime counterparts called ALCO. ALCO stores (somewhat smaller than a non-supercenter Walmart) provide the full selection of merchandise offered by the company, while the Duckwall stores provided a limited selection.
In 1985, after three acquisitions, the company went through a management-led leveraged buy-out. The company had 127 ALCO stores, and 33 Duckwalls in 14 states at that time.
In May 1989, Duckwall-ALCO filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, emerging in 1991 after securing financing from GE Capital, its primary creditor. At least 52 stores were closed during this period. After 1989 they switched to their current business strategy of targeting communities where no direct retail competitor existed (such as Walmart, Target or Kmart). The strategy initially proved to be successful for the chain, and there were 205 ALCO stores and 59 Duckwall stores as of June 2008.
The company previously experimented with a combination discount and food store called C.O.L.A. (Cost of Living Adjusters) in Mineral Wells, Texas, which was discontinued. The company also began a supercenter concept, ALCO Market Place, by providing limited perishable goods. These stores were considerably smaller than Walmart's or Target's supercenter stores.
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