Toys

Rainbow Play Systems Corporate Office

Rainbow Play Systems was founded in Minnesota in 1985 by Gregory Foster. The company manufactures and distributes wooden children’s outdoor playgrounds.

The company started off very small, but quickly became popular around the world for their old fashioned playground type of equipment which can include swings, ladders, rope climbing, and slides. Some plastic items, such as liners for slides, are made in China, but the majority of the equipment is made in South Dakota at a 1.3 million square foot factory. At its peak the company employed more than 500 persons and had several shifts, but today it has been downscaled to approximately 125 persons and 1 shift. President Obama had a Rainbow Play System installed at the White House for his daughters.

Rainbow Play Systems are sold at stores around the world, including Toys R Us and Amazon. Company headquarters remain in Brookings, South Dakota.

Rainbow Play Systems

Rainbow Play Systems was founded in Minnesota in 1985 by Gregory Foster. The company manufactures and distributes wooden children’s outdoor playgrounds.

Rainbow Play Systems are sold at stores around the world, including Toys R Us and Amazon. Company headquarters remain in Brookings, South Dakota.

History

Bi-Mart Corporate Office

Bi-Mart was founded in Yakima, Washington, in 1955. The company is an employee owned chain of department stores across the north west U.S. Bi-Mart has changed hands several times over the years with Pay ‘N Save buying the company in 1976, Thrifty Corporation in 1984, PayLess Drugs in 1990, and Rite Aid in 1996. Endeavour Capital purchased the company in 1997 and sold it to employees in 2004 for $94 million.

Bi-Mart stores are quite diversified in their product line. A typical store offers a pharmacy, power tools, sporting goods, canned and packaged foods, clothing, shoes, housewares, small appliances, and personal care products.

Today, the company has 75 locations in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Like Costco and Sams, Bi-Mart is a membership store, however, unlike the former, Bi-Mart membership fees are a mere $5 per family and there are no annual renewal fees.

Bi-Mart

History

Curacao Corporate Office

Curacao was founded in Burbank, California, in 1978 by current CEO Jerry Azarkman. Originally named La Curacao, the company was popular among lower income Hispanics who were unable to buy on credit. Curacao allowed clients to purchase items with only down payment, then collect money from customers weekly.

Azarkman originally sold out of his home, as well as door to door sales. He spoke very little English and no Spanish at the time, but he learned quickly. Azarkman is known for saying that courtesy and respect are languages everyone understands. Curacao opened its first store in the Pico district of Los Angeles in 1983.

Today, Curacao has more than 11 stores throughout Southern California, two stores in Arizona, with plans to expand to Texas and Nevada. Curacao employs more than 2,180 persons and annual revenue in 2014 of $2.5 million.

Curacao

History

Hasbro Corporate Office

Hasbro was founded in 1923 by brothers Henry, Hilal, and Herman Hassenfeld as Hassenfeld Brothers. The company sold textile remnants for the next two decades, expanding into school supplies and pencil cases.

When the cost of pencils rose the company began making its own pencil cases. In the 1940’s Hassenfeld Brothers began making its first toys: doctors and nurses kits. By 1942 the company was becoming primarily a toy company.

The company’s first toy was Mr. Potato Head in 1952. In 1954 Hassenfeld Brothers became a major licensee for Disney.

In 1968 the company changed its name to Hasbro Industries.

Today Hasbro is the #2 toy maker in the United States after Mattel. Hasbro is the producer of G.I. Joe, Play-Doh, Tonka toys, Mr. Potato Head, Nerf Balls, and My Little Pony. The company also makes board games, such as Scrabble, Candy Land, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, and Magic: The Gathering.

Hasbro is traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HAS, is a member of the S&P 500, is #597 in the Fortune 1000, has 5,000 employees, and had $4.26 billion in revenue in 2013.

Hasbro

The company’s first toy was Mr. Potato Head in 1952. In 1954 Hassenfeld Brothers became a major licensee for Disney.

History

In 1968 the company changed its name to Hasbro Industries.

Wayfair Corporate Office

Entrepreneurs Niraj Shah and Steve Conine founded Wayfair in 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts as CSN Stores. Wayfair was their third company.

CSN Stores was launched as a single website, www.racksandstands.com, which sold media stands and storage furniture.

Over the following two years, the company expanded its product line to include home goods, office, institutional, kitchen, dining, bed and bath, home improvement, luggage, and lighting.

In 2006 CSN reached $100 million in sales.

In 2008 the company expanded to Canada and the U.K., and in 2009 to Australia and Germany.

By 2011 CSN Stores owned over 200 online stores. The same year, founders Shah and Conine decided to rebrand the site in an effort to unify the brand and redirect web traffic to one site, changing the name of the company to Wayfair.

The company went public in late 2014 on the NASDAQ and can be found under the ticker symbol: W:US. The company was valued at that time at $2 billion.

Despite spending more than $500 million on advertising and increased sales of more than 50%, the company posted a second-quarter loss of $100 million.

In mid-2018, the company announced that it planned to open its first retail location in Cincinnati, Ohio, in late 2018. An exact date has yet to be announced.

Wayfair employees threatened to walk off the job after discovering that the company has sold furniture to contractors who are operating the detention centers that house migrant children who are separated from family members per the Trump administration. The company responded by saying it was a company practice to fulfill orders to clients. The walkout is scheduled for June 26, 2019.

Today Wayfair is the 33rd largest online retailer for home goods and furniture in the U.S. with $4.72 billion in revenue in 2017.

Wayfair

Entrepreneurs Niraj Shah and Steve Conine founded Wayfair in 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts as CSN Stores. Wayfair was their third company.

CSN Stores was launched as a single website, www.racksandstands.com, which sold media stands and storage furniture.

History

Over the following two years, the company expanded its product line to include home goods, office, institutional, kitchen, dining, bed and bath, home improvement, luggage, and lighting.

In 2006 CSN reached $100 million in sales.

In 2008 the company expanded to Canada and the U.K., and in 2009 to Australia and Germany.

The company went public in late 2014 on the NASDAQ and can be found under the ticker symbol: W:US. The company was valued at that time at $2 billion.

Despite spending more than $500 million on advertising and increased sales of more than 50%, the company posted a second-quarter loss of $100 million.

In mid-2018, the company announced that it planned to open its first retail location in Cincinnati, Ohio, in late 2018. An exact date has yet to be announced.

Today Wayfair is the 33rd largest online retailer for home goods and furniture in the U.S. with $4.72 billion in revenue in 2017.