T G & Y
| Variety store chain | |
| Industry | Retail sales |
| Fate | Defunct |
| Founded | 1935 |
| Founder | Rawdon E. Tomlinson, Enoch L. "Les" Gosselin, and Raymond A. Young |
| Defunct | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Oklahoma City, United States |
| Owner | McCrory Stores, Inc. (1966 - 2001) |
| Parent | McCrory Stores, Inc. (1966 - 2001) |
TG&Y was a five and dime, or variety store, chain in the United States. At its peak, there were more than 900 stores in 29 states. Starting out during the Great Depression in rural areas and eventually moving into cities, TG&Y stores were firmly embedded in southern culture as modern-day general stores with a bit of everything, and often called "Turtles, Girdles and Yoyos," "Toys, Games and Yoyos," and other irreverent monikers. The chain used the advertising slogan, "Your best buy is at TG&Y." The founders articulated their business philosophy as, "...have what people want at a price they can afford to pay,"
Founded in 1935, the chain was headquartered in Oklahoma City and named for its three founders: Rawdon E. Tomlinson, Enoch L. "Les" Gosselin, and Raymond A. Young. The three men each owned separate variety stores in Oklahoma when they met at a trade show in 1932. In 1935, the three pooled their financial resources to form the Central Merchandising Corporation and built a warehouse in Oklahoma City, allowing their stores to buy merchandise in bulk directly from manufacturers, instead of through wholesalers. They opened their first jointly-owned store in 1936. The owners' initials were ordered according to the ages of the three, with Tomlinson being the oldest. Raymond Young, the only partner remaining with the chain, oversaw operations until his retirement in 1970.{{efn|Tomlinson died in 1947 and Gosselin died in 1977.
In 1957 TG&Y was acquired by Butler Brothers of Chicago, with the stipulation that Young's leadership remain unchanged. After Young's retirement, leadership changed frequently. By this time, there were 127 retail stores. By 1960, the entire TG&Y operation had become a wholly owned subsidiary of City Products, a Chicago based company which already operated other variety stores. In 1966, Household Finance Corporation (HFC) acquired City Products.
In 1975 David Green left a supervisor job at TG&Y to open the second location in what would become the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and crafts stores, also based in Oklahoma City.
In 1985, when it had about 730 stores, TG&Y was acquired by competitor McCrory Stores. McCrory was a division of Rapid-American Corporation, a holding company that owned several retail chains. At the time, Rapid-American was solely owned by businessman and money manager Meshulam Riklis.
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Wikipedia