t Happened In The '60s!
Jeff Bezos was still a baby, "Black Friday" and "Cyber Mondays" did not exist! In 1966 E. J. Korvette was the "big man" on campus! If you wanted a new album or 45 rpm - this was the place to go!
Founded by World War II veteran Eugene Ferkauf and his friend, Joe Zwillenberg, E. J. Korvette did much to define the idea of a discount department store. It displaced earlier five and dime retailers and preceded later discount stores, like Walmart, and warehouse clubs such as Costco.
The company used several retailing innovations to propel its rapid growth. It used discounting, even though most discounting was known to be outlawed at the time. Korvette's instituted a membership program, a technique from consumers' cooperatives that had never been applied to a department store before. It also expanded into suburban locations at a time when most department stores were in central business districts.
The record and audio division became an important part of the profits of Korvette's. In 1964, record sales reached $20,000,000 with David Rothfeld, merchandise manager for records, books and audio equipment described "as hard-hitting as the rest of the young driving force behind Korvette, right up to the company's 37-year-old President, Jack Schwadron".
The company failed to properly manage its business success, which led to decline and its 1980 bankruptcy and closure. This 1966 photo takes us to Elmhurst, IL outside of Chicago. I hear they've got the new Monkees record down to $3.28 today! I hope they're not already out of the new Beatles record.