Consumer Goods

Fred’s Corporate Office

IN 1947, Paul Baddour and his two brothers opened a small discount store in Coldwater, Mississippi. While the company was originally incorporated as Baddour, Inc., Paul later named one of the stores after his brother Fred, and the name stuck.

The company opened stores in small towns and offered deeply discounted prices on closeout items. Fred’s stores did quite well, even competing against the giant Walmart by expanding store sizes from the usual 5,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet or more.

Fred’s has diversified into other areas, including Fred’s Pharmacy, Dollar Stores, GetWell Drug and Dollar, and the Yazoo Trading Company. In 2018, the company sold its prescription patient information to competitor Walgreens from their 185 pharmacies. Walgreens paid $165 million for this information after Fred’s was unable to purchase hundreds of Rite Aid pharmacies.

Fred’s is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol FRED.

The company had annual revenue in 2016 of $2.125 billion but lost $66.5 million. This has caused the company to announce the closure of 159 stores in April 2019 which the company states were underperforming or whose leases were about to expire.

Fred’s company headquarters are located in Memphis, Tennessee.

Fred's

History

Fred’s is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol FRED.

Fred’s company headquarters are located in Memphis, Tennessee.

Reddy Ice Corporate Office

Reddy Ice is the largest producer and packager of bagged ice in the United States. Although the origins of the company go back as far as 1927, it’s current history lies with the Southland Corp. Originally a minor division of the Southland Corporation, parent company of Seven-Eleven convenience stores, Reddy Ice was sold off to Suiza Foods in 1988. Reddy Ice was again sold to private investors, Centerbridge Partners, in 2000. The company went public in 2005.

In 2012, the company declared bankruptcy. As part of the bankruptcy procedure, Centerbridge Partners agreed to merge Arctic Glacier, which was also in bankruptcy at the time, with Reddy Ice and all debt was forgiven with the combination creating a new company.

Arctic Glacier was sold to the Carlyle Group in 2017.

Although CEO Deborah Conklin stated in January 2017 that the company had rebounded with increased profits due to a streamlined operation system, Bloomberg reported that Centerbridge Partners was considering selling Reddy Ice as of April 2019, although no final decision has been made.

Company headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas.

Reddy Ice

History

Arctic Glacier was sold to the Carlyle Group in 2017.

Company headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas.

Bombas Socks Corporate Office

In 2011, when co-founder David Heath read that the #1 most requested item at homeless shelters wasn’t jackets, blankets, or even shoes but socks, he knew that he was going to make a difference.

Heath and friend Randy Goldberg designed specially fitted socks with anti-blister tabs and honeycomb arch support. They began selling their socks online, but when they appeared on the television show Shark Tank in 2014, they received $200,000 in exchange for a 17% share from Daymond John.

Since their appearance on Shark Tank, sales have skyrocketed. In 2018, Bombas sales hit the $100 million mark. The company offers a buy one donate one program where the company donates one pair of socks for every pair purchased. As of early 2018, the company says they’ve donated 7 million pairs of socks.

While a 12 pack of women’s ankle socks can hit a hefty $145, people are buying them left and right.

All socks come with a 100% money back guarantee if you don’t like the socks or if they don’t perform the way you expected.

Bombas states that business is booming, despite the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.
Company headquarters are located in New York, New York.

Bombas

In 2011, when co-founder David Heath read that the #1 most requested item at homeless shelters wasn’t jackets, blankets, or even shoes but socks, he knew that he was going to make a difference.

History

While a 12 pack of women’s ankle socks can hit a hefty $145, people are buying them left and right.

All socks come with a 100% money back guarantee if you don’t like the socks or if they don’t perform the way you expected.

Bombas states that business is booming, despite the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.
Company headquarters are located in New York, New York.

ScootersnChairs.com Corporate Office

ScootersnChairs was founded in 2018 by Scott Zabriskie in Atlanta, Georgia. The company helps consumers obtain motorized wheelchairs, scooters, and other mobility devices after they have been rejected by Medicare or Medicaid for this service.

Zabriskie states that sales growth numbers in this area are close to the $1 billion mark, and with more baby-boomers reaching retirement age every year, the need for high-quality mobility devices is an ever increasing market. After stores such as The Scooter Store were raided and closed by the FBI for fraud, more people will need to purchase their mobility devices outright from reputable sources.

The company also sponsors a scholarship program for young people who have overcome great odds in hopes of attending college.

ScootersnChairs is listed with the DisabilityInfo.Org group and is a member in good standing with the Better Business Bureau.

Company headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia.

ScootersnChairs.com

History

The company also sponsors a scholarship program for young people who have overcome great odds in hopes of attending college.

ScootersnChairs is listed with the DisabilityInfo.Org group and is a member in good standing with the Better Business Bureau.

Company headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dyson Vacuum Corporate Office

While working at a company he founded but no longer owned, James Dyson reinvented the vacuum cleaner in 1979. When he suggested that the company could use his idea, Dyson was fired. With startup money from friend Jeremy Fry, Dyson worked on his vacuum until he was satisfied that he had created the best vacuum in the United Kingdom, if not the world.

The Dyson company was established in 1991. Even though marketing told Dyson that the public wouldn’t like to see a transparent canister to hold the dust and debris, Dyson designed it anyway. This item became one of the company’s main selling points and has been copied by numerous other designers.

Until 2002, products were made in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, UK. Production of the popular vacuum was moved first to Malaysia, then to Singapore.

Today, the company is a leading manufacturer of vacuums, hand dryers, air purifiers, hair dryers, bladeless fans, and heaters.

Dyson announced in 2018 that he had plans to design and manufacture an electric vehicle that would be available for sale in 2020, hiring former BMW and Infiniti CEO Roland Krueger to head up the project. He later announced that he was moving headquarters from the UK to Malaysia due to problems with bureaucracy in the UK and not because of Brexit.

Company headquarters for the North American division of Dyson is located in Chicago, Illinois.

Dyson Vacuum

History

Until 2002, products were made in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, UK. Production of the popular vacuum was moved first to Malaysia, then to Singapore.

Today, the company is a leading manufacturer of vacuums, hand dryers, air purifiers, hair dryers, bladeless fans, and heaters.

Company headquarters for the North American division of Dyson is located in Chicago, Illinois.