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Ann & Hope

Ann & Hope was a chain of discount department stores based in Cumberland, Rhode Island, founded in 1953 by Martin Chase and his son Irwin Chase in a converted textile mill, which pioneered self-service shopping and everyday low pricing models that later influenced national retailers.^[1]^[2] The name derived from a schooner owned by Martin's ancestors that was lost at sea in 1806 near Block Island.^[3] The original Cumberland location emphasized no-frills operations, allowing customers to browse merchandise independently without salesperson assistance, a departure from traditional full-service department stores, and it expanded to about a dozen outlets across New England by the 1970s.^[4] In 1961, the store attracted visits from retail executives including Sam Walton of Walmart and Harry Cunningham of S.S. Kresge (later Kmart), who studied its efficient layout, bulk purchasing, and discount strategies for adaptation in their emerging chains.^[1]^[5] Facing competition from larger national discounters, Ann & Hope filed for bankruptcy in 2007 but continued limited operations until closing all remaining stores in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic's economic pressures.^[6]^[2]

History

Founding and Origins

Martin Chase, born in 1906 in Kiev (then part of the Russian Empire, now Ukraine), immigrated to the United States with his family in 1912, settling in Providence, Rhode Island. After working in the clothing retail sector, including stints at Fintex and Howard's Clothes, Chase established his own surplus goods business amid the economic challenges preceding World War II. In 1946, he acquired the Ann & Hope Mill, a 450,000-square-foot textile factory complex in Cumberland, Rhode Island, from the Lonsdale Company for $350,000; the mill had been constructed in 1886 and was originally named for Ann Brown and Hope Ives, the wives of the Lonsdale Company's founders.^[7]^[8] Chase's son, Irwin J. Chase, joined the family enterprise following his military service. By the early 1950s, the operation generated surplus inventory from textile and clothing activities that risked financial loss if discarded. Rather than liquidate the excess stock through traditional wholesalers, the Chases converted unused space within the Ann & Hope Mill into a retail outlet, opening the first Ann & Hope store on March 31, 1953. This venture marked the inception of a self-service discount department store model, allowing customers to browse and select merchandise directly, a departure from prevailing full-service retail norms.^[4]^[1] The store's name derived from the mill itself, which honored the historic ships Ann and Hope associated with early American trade, though the enterprise retained the mill's designation for branding continuity. Initial operations emphasized low markups on surplus and closeout goods, ample free parking, and innovative features like shopping carts, establishing Ann & Hope as a pioneer in volume-discount retailing that influenced subsequent chains.^[4]^[7]

Development of the Discount Model

In 1946, Martin Chase acquired the historic Ann & Hope Mill in Cumberland, Rhode Island, for $350,000, initially focusing on textile manufacturing and wholesale distribution.^[1] By 1948, his son Irwin Chase joined the operation after graduating from Brown University, contributing to a pivot toward retail as surplus inventory accumulated post-World War II. This shift laid the groundwork for the discount model, emphasizing high-volume sales of overstock and opportunistic purchases at reduced costs to clear mill-produced goods like fabrics and housewares.^[1] The formal development of the discount approach crystallized in 1953 through what Irwin Chase described as a "happy accident"—an unsolicited truckload of merchandise bought at a steep discount, prompting experimentation with direct-to-consumer sales below manufacturer-suggested prices.^[1] This evolved into a self-service format, allowing customers to browse and select items without salesperson assistance, a departure from traditional full-service department stores prevalent at the time. The model prioritized everyday low pricing over periodic markups, relying on thin margins offset by rapid inventory turnover, which by the early 1950s positioned Ann & Hope as Rhode Island's highest-volume department store.^[9] Key operational innovations included the introduction of shopping carts for customer convenience and centralized checkout systems to streamline transactions and reduce labor costs, practices that enhanced efficiency and scalability.^[9] These elements challenged state fair trade laws restricting price cuts, fostering legal battles that ultimately advanced broader discounting freedoms in U.S. retailing. By focusing on volume-driven economics rather than prestige markups, Ann & Hope's framework influenced subsequent chains like Kmart and Walmart, which adopted similar self-service, low-price structures for mass-market appeal.^[1]^[10]

Expansion and Peak Operations

Ann & Hope expanded from its inaugural discount outlet in Cumberland, Rhode Island, established in 1953 within a former textile mill by Martin Chase and his son Irwin, leveraging surplus inventory to pioneer self-service merchandising.^[2] The model's success, driven by everyday low pricing and broad product assortments without traditional sales assistance, prompted further store openings across New England in the 1960s, including large-format locations in Massachusetts such as a 200,000-square-foot facility dedicated on March 2, 1970.^[11] This growth capitalized on regional demand for affordable goods amid post-World War II suburbanization and rising automobile ownership, positioning Ann & Hope as a dominant regional discounter. By 1969, the chain's operations had scaled to generate $40 million in annual revenue, reflecting peak efficiency in high-volume, low-margin sales from mill-based warehousing and direct vendor sourcing.^[12] At its zenith in the late 1960s and 1970s, Ann & Hope maintained multiple sizable department-style stores emphasizing apparel, home goods, and hardware, often integrated into emerging shopping plazas, which sustained robust foot traffic and profitability until intensified national competition eroded margins in subsequent decades.^[13] The company's operational peak underscored its role in popularizing practices like open-stock browsing and cash-only transactions, though it remained confined to the Northeast without nationwide franchising.

Financial Decline and Bankruptcy

In the 1990s, Ann & Hope encountered intensifying competition from national discount chains such as Walmart and Target, which replicated its low-price, high-volume model but leveraged superior economies of scale, broader supplier networks, and aggressive expansion to undercut regional players.^[14] These entrants eroded Ann & Hope's market share in Southern New England, where the retailer had previously dominated off-price general merchandise sales.^[15] By the late 1990s, stagnant sales and rising operational costs—exacerbated by fixed expenses in aging mill-based facilities—strained profitability, prompting internal assessments of viability amid a shifting retail landscape favoring national brands.^[16] A regional economic slowdown in early 2001 compounded these pressures, with New England's sluggish recovery limiting consumer spending on discretionary goods. On January 4, 2001, Ann & Hope announced the closure of its four Massachusetts locations (in Dartmouth, Seekonk, Foxborough, and Warwick), citing insufficient sales volumes to sustain operations amid competitive threats.^[17] This move eliminated approximately half of its store footprint, affecting dozens of employees and signaling a retreat to core Rhode Island markets. The company emphasized that all suppliers and gift certificate holders would be honored in full, underscoring an intent to manage liabilities without court intervention.^[17] To address liquidity shortfalls, Ann & Hope pursued asset sales and restructuring, offloading four store properties and a substantial warehouse parcel for cash infusions totaling millions, which enabled partial debt repayment and owner equity extraction.^[16] By spring 2001, all traditional department store operations ceased except at the flagship Cumberland site, which transitioned to a reduced outlet format.^[18] Unlike contemporaries such as Bradlees, which entered Chapter 11 liquidation around the same period, Ann & Hope avoided formal bankruptcy by prioritizing orderly wind-downs and property monetization, preserving some operational continuity into the outlet era.^[16]

Closures and Post-Retail Transition

In early 2001, Ann & Hope closed four of its six department stores in Massachusetts amid intensifying competition from larger national chains like Walmart, which contributed to operating losses in 1999 and 2000.^[16] The company avoided formal bankruptcy proceedings, instead opting for restructuring that included paying all current suppliers in full and honoring outstanding gift certificates.^[16] The remaining stores in Warwick and Cumberland, Rhode Island, were significantly downsized to smaller outlet-style formats, reducing the workforce from approximately 1,900 to 500 employees, with severance packages provided to those affected.^[16] To sustain operations post-restructuring, Ann & Hope shifted toward specialized smaller-format outlets, including plans for CFO Fashion Outlet, Kids Outlet, and Curtain & Bath Outlet stores, alongside reopening a downsized location with a garden shop in Danvers, Massachusetts.^[16] Proceeds from property sales, such as four Massachusetts buildings and two-thirds of the Warwick store sold to Eastern Development Co., funded these initiatives and employee support.^[16] This marked the end of traditional full-scale department store retailing for the chain, with all such operations ceasing by spring 2001 except at the core Rhode Island sites.^[16] The Curtain & Bath Outlet operations, which had expanded to 11 locations across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, permanently closed in 2020 due to the economic fallout from COVID-19 and the accelerated rise of e-commerce, rendering brick-and-mortar retail unviable without bankruptcy.^[19] Store-closing sales commenced on July 9, 2020, with all outlets shuttered by the end of summer, though garden center elements at some sites were considered for potential continuation.^[19] The Chase family, longtime owners, emphasized the decision's difficulty and committed to retaining staff through the liquidation process while aiding job transitions.^[19] Following the retail wind-down, Ann & Hope's properties transitioned to real estate dispositions and redevelopment. A 147,000-square-foot portion of the former Warwick store, vacant for two decades after downsizing, sold in 2022 for $7 million to Crossroads Capital Fund VI LLC, managed by the Saletin Real Estate Group, with intentions to reposition the site near T.F. Green Airport for new commercial uses.^[20] At the historic Cumberland mill headquarters, owners initiated sale preparations in 2021 after the outlet closure, leading to ongoing mixed-use redevelopment proposals by 2025, including residential and commercial elements under local planning review.^[10]^[21] These shifts capitalized on the company's valuable real estate holdings, originally adapted from textile mills, to generate returns beyond retailing.^[16]

Business Model and Innovations

Core Discount Practices

Ann & Hope pioneered a self-service discount model in its inaugural store opened in 1953 within a repurposed textile mill in Cumberland, Rhode Island, by co-founders Martin Chase and Irwin Chase, allowing customers to independently select merchandise without assistance from sales personnel, thereby reducing staffing expenses and enabling lower prices.^[2]^[4] This approach contrasted with traditional department stores reliant on full-service clerks and marked an early shift toward high-volume, low-margin retailing.^[1] Centralized checkout systems were another core innovation, consolidating payment processing into fewer locations to minimize operational costs while accommodating increased customer traffic via large basket shopping carts, which the Chases introduced to discount stores for self-transport of goods.^[2]^[22] In multi-level facilities, a unique conveyor system moved loaded carts between floors, further optimizing efficiency and supporting the warehouse-style layout with minimal fixtures and displays.^[2] Merchandise sourcing emphasized bulk acquisition of manufacturer surplus, overstock, and closeouts—initially including discounted ribbon remnants—sold at deep markdowns to drive turnover, with everyday low pricing sustained by low overhead from mill-based operations rather than lavish store builds.^[2]^[19] These practices collectively prioritized volume over markup, influencing subsequent discounters by demonstrating scalable cost controls in a no-frills environment.^[1]

Operational and Pricing Strategies

Ann & Hope's pricing strategy emphasized consistent low prices achieved through high-volume purchasing of merchandise, often including surplus goods and direct-from-manufacturer deals, enabling sales at minimal markups to attract price-sensitive customers.^[23] This approach predated widespread "everyday low pricing" models, positioning the retailer as a pioneer in discount operations by avoiding promotional sales cycles and instead relying on operational efficiencies to maintain affordability across a broad range of housewares, apparel, and general merchandise.^[24] Operationally, the company implemented self-service merchandising in its 1953 Cumberland, Rhode Island flagship store, allowing customers to browse and select items without clerk assistance, which significantly reduced labor costs compared to traditional full-service department stores.^[1] To support this, Ann & Hope introduced wide aisles and shopping carts, facilitating efficient customer flow in its expansive 450,000-square-foot mill-based facility, while centralizing checkout registers at the store entrance streamlined transactions and further minimized staffing needs.^[23] These practices, adopted in the post-World War II era, enabled high throughput and low overhead, with the Chases leveraging the repurposed textile mill's scale to handle bulk inventory without the frills of conventional retailing.^[1] The model's success hinged on a liberal return policy and reputation for product integrity, which built customer loyalty without relying on aggressive advertising, allowing reinvestment in inventory turnover rather than marketing expenses.^[24] By the 1960s and 1970s, as expansion reached multiple New England locations, these strategies sustained profitability amid competition, though later financial pressures from changing retail dynamics exposed vulnerabilities in the low-margin framework.^[23]

Supply Chain and Inventory Management

Ann & Hope's supply chain initially leveraged vertical integration by utilizing surplus production from the affiliated Ann & Hope Mill complex, purchased by founder Martin Chase in 1946, to source merchandise such as excess ribbon stock for direct sale at discounted prices.^[2] This model expanded to include bulk purchases of diverse goods from manufacturers, focusing on large-volume acquisitions to secure low wholesale costs and support the retailer's discount pricing strategy.^[2] Inventory management relied on high-turnover practices suited to the warehouse-style stores, where merchandise was openly displayed to promote self-service browsing and reduce operational overhead from staffed assistance.^[4] Innovations like central checkouts and multi-level cart conveyor systems streamlined the handling of substantial stock volumes, adapting to the mill's multi-floor layout while accelerating customer throughput.^[2] By the late 2010s, surviving outlet operations adopted VAI's S2K ERP solution, incorporating suggested purchasing modules that automated reorder recommendations based on sales data and stock levels, thereby improving accuracy across 11 stores and a central warehouse.^[25] This system provided real-time inventory visibility, minimized discrepancies through integrated tracking, and enhanced supply chain efficiency by shortening lead times and enabling data-driven fulfillment.^[25]

Locations and Infrastructure

Cumberland Mill Headquarters

The Cumberland Mill, situated in Cumberland, Rhode Island, along the Blackstone River, served as the original headquarters and flagship location for the Ann & Hope discount retail chain. Constructed in 1886 by the Lonsdale Company as a four-story textile mill, the structure was named for Ann Brown and Hope Ives, wives of the company's founders, reflecting the era's industrial naming conventions tied to prominent merchant families like Brown & Ives.^[8]^[26] Martin Chase purchased the aging mill in 1946 amid the post-World War II decline of New England textile manufacturing. In 1953, Chase partnered with his son Irwin to repurpose surplus inventory from fabric wholesalers into a discount sales operation within the mill, establishing the first Ann & Hope store on-site; this facility doubled as the chain's central administrative headquarters, overseeing operations, inventory, and expansion planning from its inception.^[21]^[4] The headquarters retained its role through Ann & Hope's growth into a regional chain, with the mill's vast interior—spanning multiple floors—accommodating warehousing, retail floors, and executive offices until the company's financial challenges in the late 20th century. Its location in the historic Blackstone Valley, part of an early American industrial corridor, underscored the chain's roots in adaptive reuse of industrial infrastructure, though the site faced preservation debates amid later redevelopment proposals.^[27]^[26]

Regional Store Network

Ann & Hope's regional store network was confined to Rhode Island and Massachusetts, leveraging proximity to its Cumberland headquarters and the dense New England consumer base. The chain began with its inaugural discount store in the converted Ann & Hope Mill at 1 Ann & Hope Way in Cumberland, Rhode Island, which opened on March 4, 1953, marking the first self-service discount department store in the United States.^[6]^[28] This location served as the flagship, drawing shoppers from across southern New England with everyday low pricing on mill goods, apparel, and household items. Expansion followed in the 1950s and 1960s, adding a second Rhode Island store in Warwick along Post Road, which became a major retail hub. Massachusetts locations proliferated to capture cross-border traffic, including early openings in Danvers, Seekonk, and North Dartmouth, followed by Watertown and Methuen. A smaller outlet operated in Millis, Massachusetts. These sites, typically housed in large, warehouse-style buildings averaging 100,000 to 200,000 square feet, emphasized accessible suburban and highway-adjacent positioning to facilitate regional draw without venturing into other states.^[12] At its operational peak in the late 20th century, the network comprised approximately eight stores, sustaining a loyal customer base through localized marketing and consistent discount strategies. By January 2001, amid financial pressures, the active footprint included the Cumberland and Warwick stores in Rhode Island, plus four Massachusetts outlets in Seekonk, Danvers, North Dartmouth, and Watertown, employing about 1,900 across these sites and support facilities before partial closures.^[29] This restrained geographic scope contrasted with national discounters, prioritizing operational control over rapid scaling.

Facility Adaptations and Properties

Ann & Hope facilities were adapted from underutilized industrial properties, particularly textile mills, to support a low-overhead discount retail model by leveraging expansive, column-supported interiors for merchandise storage and display without extensive renovations. The original Cumberland store occupied the 1886 Ann & Hope Mill, a four-story brick structure originally built for textile production, which was converted to retail use in 1946 following its purchase by founder Martin Chase.^[8]^[12] This adaptation preserved the mill's structural elements, including high ceilings and open floor plans, enabling efficient piling of goods in bulk and facilitating self-service browsing across departments.^[8] Key modifications emphasized cost efficiency and customer flow, such as installing minimal shelving on existing floors, implementing wide aisles for cart navigation, and establishing centralized checkout counters at exits to streamline operations in the absence of per-department cashiers.^[4] Expansive parking lots were developed adjacent to these properties—uncommon in mid-20th-century retail—to accommodate automobile traffic, drawing shoppers from regional areas and aligning with the suburban big-box prototype.^[4] A two-story retail addition was constructed at the Cumberland site to expand selling space while retaining the mill's footprint.^[8] Subsequent stores replicated this approach, utilizing large warehouse-like buildings in Rhode Island and Massachusetts for similar utilitarian setups, often incorporating on-site cafeterias to extend dwell time and boost impulse purchases amid the vast inventory arrays.^[4] These properties were typically company-owned outright, providing flexibility for incremental expansions like annexes for seasonal goods or automotive sections, though maintenance of aging industrial shells occasionally strained resources as the chain grew.^[12]

Economic Impact and Legacy

Influence on Discount Retailing Industry

Ann & Hope pioneered the discount department store model in the United States by introducing self-service shopping in a large-format retail setting starting in 1953. Operating from a converted 19th-century textile mill in Cumberland, Rhode Island, the Chases—Martin and son Irwin—offered surplus, closeout, and overstock merchandise across departments like apparel, housewares, and hardware at prices typically 20-30% below traditional retailers, relying on high-volume sales to maintain profitability.^[19]^[4] This self-service approach eliminated high clerk overhead, allowing customers to freely browse expansive warehouse-style floors, a stark contrast to the assisted-sales norm of mid-20th-century department stores.^[2] The company's low-overhead strategy, enabled by repurposing mill buildings for both storage and sales—spanning over 100,000 square feet in the flagship location—facilitated rapid inventory turnover and consistent discounting without reliance on sales events.^[2] By the 1960s, Ann & Hope had expanded to multiple New England sites, demonstrating scalability in regional markets and proving that everyday low pricing could sustain operations amid postwar consumer shifts toward value-driven purchases. This model influenced subsequent discounters by emphasizing cost efficiencies like minimalistic store designs and bulk purchasing from manufacturers' overruns, which reduced markups and pressured competitors to adopt similar tactics.^[30] Ann & Hope's innovations prefigured the big-box era, paving the way for national chains such as Walmart and Kmart, which scaled similar principles of vast square footage, self-selection, and price competition on a broader level.^[30] Reports indicate early rivals like Ann & Hope informed discounting practices later refined by figures such as Sam Walton, including vendor negotiations for closeouts and streamlined operations to undercut established retail pricing.^[31] The chain's longevity through the 1990s underscored the durability of these strategies, though it ultimately faced challenges from superstore expansion and e-commerce, highlighting limits in adapting to national logistics dominance.^[21]

Contributions to Consumer Economics

Ann & Hope pioneered the discount department store model in the United States by opening its first store in Cumberland, Rhode Island, in 1953, offering a wide range of merchandise at significantly reduced prices compared to traditional retailers.^[1] This approach stemmed from owner Martin Chase's purchase of the Ann & Hope Mill in 1946, where surplus fabrics and goods were initially sold at low markups to clear inventory, evolving into a deliberate strategy of everyday low pricing that bypassed high overheads associated with full-service department stores.^[1] By emphasizing volume sales over high margins, the chain enabled consumers to access household goods, apparel, and appliances at 20-40% below prevailing market rates in the post-World War II era, directly enhancing household purchasing power amid rising living costs.^[32] Operational innovations such as self-service merchandising, centralized checkout registers, and shopping carts—first implemented at Ann & Hope—reduced labor costs and expedited customer throughput, allowing these efficiencies to translate into sustained price reductions rather than profit maximization.^[1] A liberal return policy and emphasis on product integrity further built consumer trust, encouraging repeat purchases and shifting shopping behavior from bespoke service to value-driven selection, which empirical trends in retail history link to broader declines in average retail prices by the 1960s.^[32] These practices democratized retail access for middle- and working-class families, particularly in rural and suburban areas underserved by urban department stores, fostering increased consumption of durable goods without proportional income growth.^[19] The chain's model exerted competitive pressure on incumbents, compelling traditional retailers to adopt similar cost-cutting measures and contributing to a sector-wide reorientation toward consumer-centric pricing in the latter 20th century.^[32] Visits by future discount giants' founders, including Sam Walton of Walmart and Harry Cunningham of Kmart, underscore Ann & Hope's role in disseminating these efficiencies, which amplified consumer savings nationwide as the model scaled—evidenced by subsequent retail price indices showing accelerated deflation in non-food merchandise post-1950s.^[19] Overall, by prioritizing empirical cost reductions over markup conventions, Ann & Hope advanced causal mechanisms in consumer economics where lower barriers to goods acquisition stimulated demand elasticity and long-term welfare gains, independent of inflationary subsidies or regulatory interventions.^[32]

Criticisms and Limitations

Ann & Hope's pioneering discount practices invited imitation by larger national chains, such as Walmart, which eroded its competitive edge and profitability in the late 1990s. The retailer recorded no profits in 1999 or 2000, leading to a 2001 restructuring that closed four of its six stores—all Massachusetts locations—and scaled back operations in Rhode Island, reducing employment from about 1,900 to 500 workers.^[16] The chain's regional footprint and dependence on brick-and-mortar sales represented key limitations, rendering it less adaptable to industry shifts toward national expansion and online retailing. These vulnerabilities culminated in the 2020 permanent closure of its Curtain & Bath Outlet stores across New England, attributed by company officials to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, including reduced foot traffic and accelerated e-commerce adoption.^[33] Earlier operational challenges included conflicts with manufacturers over fair trade pricing laws, as Ann & Hope routinely sold fair-traded goods below stipulated minimum resale prices, prompting lawsuits such as United States Time Corp. v. Ann & Hope Factory Outlet, Inc. in the 1960s. While the retailer prevailed in these cases, affirming its right to discount sales, the disputes highlighted ongoing supplier resistance and potential risks to inventory sourcing under restrictive pricing agreements.^[34]^[35]

References

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May 7, 2020 · That included Harry B. Cunningham and Sam Walton, both of whom visited Ann & Hope in Cumberland in 1961. The following year, Cunningham, with ...
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### Summary of S2K System Implementation at Ann & Hope
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With reference to paragraph 1, respondent contends that the fair trade act is an unlawful delegation of legislative power to private persons in violation of art ...