Bradlees logo used from 1964–2001
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Traded as | (NASDAQ:BRAD) |
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Industry | Retail |
Fate | Bankruptcy |
Founded | September 30, 1958 |
Defunct | March 15, 2001 |
Headquarters | Braintree, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Number of locations
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105 |
Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, housewares |
Number of employees
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10,000(in 2001) |
Parent | Stop & Shop (owned from 1961 to 1992) |
Website | None |
Bradlees was a chain of discount department stores, which operated primarily in the northeastern United States. The chain went bankrupt in 2000 and all of its stores were closed by March 15, 2001.
Bradlees was named for Connecticut's Bradley International Airport, where early planning meetings were held by the store's founders. The first store was opened in New London, Connecticut in 1958. The company was acquired by grocery chain Stop & Shop in 1961, which owned the chain until 1992.
In the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area, nearly all shopping centers that had Bradlees stores would also have a Stop & Shop in the same plaza or, in some cases, connected with the store as a supercenter, but this ended when Stop & Shop pulled out of the New York area during the 1980s.
Like some of its competition, including Caldor, many Bradlees stores had snack stands/lunch counters that served soft drinks, hot dogs, french fries, soft pretzels, ice cream, prepackaged cookies, and various other food items to shoppers. In 1993, Bradlees added Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Dunkin' Donuts items to some of the stores that didn't have snack stands as well as new stores constructed during this time.
During the 1970s and early 1980s (and again in the late 1990s), Bradlees was known for its TV and print ads featuring the character "Mrs. B." (played by actress Cynthia Harris), depicted as the chain's buyer, who constantly searched for bargains to pass on to her customers. The advertising jingle went, "At Bradlees, you buy what Mrs. B buys. And nobody can buy like Mrs. B."
The first major Bradlees store closings came in 1988, when it exited from the southern United States. It also closed a few stores in New Jersey. Bradlees had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 1995 and closed down some underperforming stores in 1996. Some of these were turned into Ames.