Corporate Office HQ

Rent-A-Center Corporate Office

Rent-A-Center

Rent-A-Center or RAC for short was founded in 1973 by Thomas Devlin and W. Frank Barton. Mr. Devlin came up with the rent to own idea after working for an appliance rental company in Wichita, KS.

The company offers brand name new and used household appliances, televisions, computers, and other electronics on a rent to own scale. Customers can return items for any reason, then pick up the items and resume payments again if they wish. Delivery, pick-up, repair, and service are all included in the rental price.

History

The company went public in 1995 and has gained many of its current locations through acquisitions of other companies including DEF Investments, Thorn Americas, Rent-Way, Rainbow Rentals, and Rent-Rite.

The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol: RCII

Annual revenue in 2015 was $3.28 billion. RAC has 22,200 full-time employees.

In July of 2015, the company sold several of its Ontario, Canada, locations to EasyHome Financial for $3.4 million. The company has plans for expansion in Mexico, where there are currently 176 locations.

In November 2017, RAC came under federal investigation for alleged unfair, abusive, and deceptive practices.

The company reduced the number of corporate employees by 25 percent or approximately 250 jobs in March 2018.

In February 2021, Rent-A-Center reported 4th quarter gains of 7.3 percent.

Rent-A-Center currently operates over 3000 locations in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Although originally founded in Wichita, the corporate office is now located in Plano, Texas.

Rent-A-Center or RAC for short was founded in 1973 by Thomas Devlin and W. Frank Barton. Mr. Devlin came up with the rent to own idea after working for an appliance rental company in Wichita, KS. The company offers brand name new and used household … [Continue reading] about Rent-A-Center Corporate Office

Family Dollar Corporate Office

Family Dollar

Family Dollar was founded in 1959 by a then 21-year-old Leon Levine. Leon became obsessed with a store in New York called Filene’s. They sold the cheapest possible items in the basement. Leon figured that if they could do it, so could he. He had been working at his parent’s five and dime clothing store since he was 14. He convinced his mother to let him use the basement as a “bargain basement” type of store. It did well. After getting married and working hard at a factory, Leon had saved $6,000 to start his own “Family Dollar” store.

History

His first location was in Charlotte, NC. The company quickly expanded to South Carolina (1961), Georgia (1962) and Virginia (1965). The company expanded rapidly in the 60’s and had over 50 stores by 1969.

The company went public in 1970 and continued to expand rapidly. The company opened their 100th store in 1971 and had 300 stores by 1978. In 1981, the company had 400 stores and by the end of that decade, 1,500 stores.

Leon Levine retired in 2003 and was succeeded as CEO by his son, Howard Levine.

The company is best known for its imported goods which many families find necessary to stretch their dollar.

Howard Levine stepped down as CEO in January of 2016 after Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar in late 2015. Family Dollar is now a subsidiary of Dollar Tree.

The chain currently has over 8000 stores in 44 states and opens 300-500 new stores each year.

The Family Dollar corporate office is located just outside Charlotte in Matthews, North Carolina.

Family Dollar was founded in 1959 by a then 21-year-old Leon Levine. Leon became obsessed with a store in New York called Filene's. They sold the cheapest possible items in the basement. Leon figured that if they could do it, so could he. … [Continue reading] about Family Dollar Corporate Office

Lowes Corporate Office

Lowe's

Lowe’s was originally founded in 1921 by Lucious Lowe in the form of Lowe’s North Wilkesboro Hardware in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Lucious died in 1940 and the business was inherited by his daughter Ruth. Ruth sold the business to her brother Jim the same year. Jim and Ruth’s husband, Carl Buchan, became partners in the venture after serving in World War II (1943). Under Carl’s leadership, the store prospered.

History

A second location was opened in Sparta, NC in 1949. Carl saw a huge opportunity after WWII and stocked up on hardware and building materials, along with dry goods, horse tack, snuff, and food items.

Carl and Jim never saw eye-to-eye on many things and made a split in 1952. Carl became the sole owner of Lowe’s and Jim Lowe would open Lowe’s Foods grocery chain.

Under Carl, the business expanded rapidly, opening 3 additional stores in Asheville, Charlotte, and Durham in 1955. The company continued to expand during the rest of the 1950’s.

Carl died in 1960. His 5 man executive team decided to take Lowe’s public in 1961. The company is still publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol: LOW

By 1962, there were 21 locations. In 1982, the company hit $1 billion in sales. In 2017, the company had annual revenue of $65 billion.

Lowe’s continued to expand and today has over 1800 stores in the US and is also expanding into Canada, Mexico, and Australia.

In September 2018, the company acquired Burlington Coat Factory for $3.6 million.

Lowe’s is currently the second largest hardware retailer in the US behind Home Depot. Their corporate office is located in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Lowe's was originally founded in 1921 by Lucious Lowe in the form of Lowe's North Wilkesboro Hardware in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Lucious died in 1940 and the business was inherited by his daughter Ruth. Ruth sold the business to her … [Continue reading] about Lowes Corporate Office

Chipotle Corporate Office

Chipotle

Chipotle was founded in 1993 by Steve Ells. Their first location was a former Dolly Madison ice cream location. The second and third locations were added in 1995. An additional five Denver stores were added the following year.

In 1998, with 16 locations in Colorado, Chipotle sought outside investors to scale the business more quickly. The largest investor was McDonalds. The first stores outside Colorado were opened in Columbus, OH and Minneapolis, MN the following year. The company continued to expand and eventually went public (IPO) in 2006.

History

In January 2015, the company pulled Carnitas from its menu in 1/3 of their locations, citing animal welfare issues with a pork supplier. The company used “rolling blackouts” in which the stores without pork were rotated until finally resolving the issue in the fall of 2015.

In October 2015, over 40 people were confirmed sick after eating at Chipotle locations in Washington and Oregon. 12 needed to be hospitalized. The cause was discovered to be E. Coli. The company was forced to close 43 stores as a precaution. The CDC announced that the company could reopen all locations in February 2016.

As of late 2015, Chipotle currently has over 2,010 locations in 43 states. International locations include Ontario, London and Paris. The company had $4.5 billion in sales in 2015.

Due to the coronavirus, the company began opening new locations with drive-thru service in 2020.

In September 2020, Chipotle began offering an in-app group ordering capability, as well as a family sponsorship on TikTok.

Chipotle’s corporate office and headquarters is located in Denver, Colorado.