Sports Authority was basically the same way. Merger after merger after merger.

The link at the title is a version of history of the company. It leaves out the sincere history of the company and how it is now a global entity. Needless to say, Wall Street has no interest in Mom and Pop. Believe it and Believe in Taking Back America again!

The venture capital syndicate led by William Blair Venture Partners and included First Chicago Venture Partners, Bain Capital, Phillips-Smith Venture Partners, Marquette Venture Partners, and Bessemer Securities; bought out large chair stores to create Sports Authority.

Romney was interested in empires, not companies. He was interested in narrowing the competition and creating monopolies which funnel profits to shareholders without interruption. The only competition sincerely left for companies like Sports Authority and Staples are other big box stores. At one point even Walmart was involved with Sports Authority. These empires are global and destroy competition and local economies.

We all know the Walmart hall of fame, Medicaid, Food Stamps, dangerous parking lots, gender and race discrimination, etc., etc., etc. 

This is the paradigm Romney wants to bring to the USA. Low wages, no benefits and poverty. Unless, of course, a person is working for oil and gas companies, then the wages are probably better. 

But, this only proves the Republicans have no ideas. They have greed and oppression. Don't speak the word, 'labor.' Shhhh.....workers rights? What are you crazy?

continued...

THE GART COMPANIES – HISTORY (CLICK HERE)

With a unique ability to identify a need, create demand and then deliver, Nathan Gart started his fishing and outdoor gear shop in 1928.  With help from his brothers, and then his sons, Jerry and Mickey, Papa Gart’s original idea grew into the Gart Bros. Sporting Goods Company.  The firm grew from the original ‘main store’, located in downtown Denver, to a regional chain of over 150 stores by the time the family left the firm in 1992....

The company was founded in 1919 (click here) by Jacob S. Oshman, an orphan Russian immigrant who arrived in Richmond, Texas, in 1914 to live with an aunt. He was only nineteen years old when he opened a small department store with a relative at Richmond in 1919. This store, which sold quality apparel, was followed by others at Bay City, Wharton, El Campo, and Pasadena. In 1932 Oshman moved to Houston, where he acquired the stock of a bankrupt army-surplus store known as Crawford-Austin and liquidated its inventory. He discovered in the process that sporting goods, particularly fishing and hunting supplies, sold well....

Oshman's, acquired Abercrombie & Fitch Co. in 1978 for $1.5 million. That means Sports Authority actually owns Abercrombie and Fitch labels.

Romney's idea of jobs and income is and has been the problem. Not the solution. 

Ryan's government budget while destroying entitlements is the other half this disaster. They certainly know how to dissolve an economy. Why would anyone ever believe they can improve the circumstances of Americans. 

There is nothing like dissolving a government so no one has to pay taxes anymore.The web never ends. The companies absorbed by Romney's companies he boasts 'he created' has dummied down 'the expert' in stores, cheapened the labor market through wages and benefits or lack there of and have been detrimental across the board to the economic outcomes of the USA.

Romney just might be worse than the Koch Brothers. He actually seeks to sign his name to the end of the USA, not just its occupation by the plutocrats.

The pictures are Amercrombie and Fitch.

Quill Corporation was a family owned office products mail order operation wanting to stay that way but was unable to find anyone to continue to run the business.

See, Staples, Inc. doesn't make anything, especially in the USA, but it simply operates storefronts, gobbling up Mom and Pop stores while destroying the free market system the USA thrived on. Its beginnings were nothing but predatory in the 1990s.

The Quill Office Supply Company was an operation begun in 1956 before China was put into manufacturing products with cheap labor.

...Then, without much warning or notice, (click title to entry - thank you) the Millers decided to sell Quill Corporation to Staples, Inc., one of their traditional competitors, in the winter of 1998. All of the brothers were growing older, with Jack Miller set to celebrate his 69th birthday during the year. Many of the company's employees were taken by surprise, as well as industry analysts and other people working in the office supply products industry. According to Jack Miller, the three brothers had wanted to keep the operation a family business; however, there was not one member of the younger generation within the family who was willing to assume the responsibilities and duties necessary to maintain the company's success. In addition, the Miller brothers could not find a suitable candidate from the outside that they thought could direct the firm into the future. Consequently, the three aging entrepreneurs sold Quill Corporation, with sales of $600 million in 1997, to Staples, Inc. for $685 million in stock.

In 1998 Staples was operating 582 superstores throughout the United States, with a comprehensive line of office supply products ranging from copy paper to office furniture. The acquisition of Quill, which management decided to run as an operating division under the Quill name and logo, gave Staples access not only to an extremely successful direct-mail catalogue market,...

Staples to Buy Quill in $685-Million Stock Deal (click here)

April 8, 1998

Staples Inc. said it will acquire closely held Quill Corp., which sells office supplies  by catalog, telemarketing the Internet, for about $685 million in stock. Staples, the world's largest operator of office superstores, said the purchase will add about 1 cent a share to its 1998 earnings before a charge of about $32 million, and will add about 2 cents in 1999. The retailer said it will issue about 30 million shares for Quill, which had sales of $550 million last year. Staples' contract and commercial business, which includes mail-order operations and contract stationer services to large corporations, had sales of about $1 billion, or 20% of its total revenue. Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Quill will retain its name, headquarters and management after the transaction, which is expected to close in the summer. Shares in Westborough, Mass.-based Staples rose 56 cents to close at $22.75 on Nasdaq.

Staples, Inc. received it's market share through hostile take over.

• 1982-1991 CEO,  OfficeLand, Inc., Marlboro, MA (click title to entry - thank you)

Worked with the law firms  of Choate, Hall, and Stuart, and Hale and Dorr, Boston 26 store franchise chain acquired by Staples. Prepared all UFOC documents and Franchise Agreements. Attended legal workshops conducted by the International Franchise Association

From 1986 to 1994 Mr. Leonard Faucher trained franchise owners to Officeland, Inc. Officeland specialzed in copier service. Staples bought them out with a great deal of controversy at the time.

Mr. Romney can say what he wants about free market economies,but, that is not how is equity companies worked. They destroyed the free market system and instead forced their competition out of business.

In 2006, Staples, Inc. was found mishandle their stock options.

Staples Announces Settlement of Stock Option Derivative Litigation (click title to entry - thank you)

Category: Corporate

Friday, April 16, 2010 1:45 pm EDT

Dateline:

FRAMINGHAM, Mass

Public Company Information:

NASDAQ:

SPLS

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) announced today that it has reached a global settlement, subject to court approval, of the derivative litigation relating to the company’s historical stock option granting practices. The agreement involves no admission of wrongdoing on the part of Staples or the individual defendants in connection with the allegations and would eliminate the burden, expense, and distraction of litigation that has been pending for more than three years.

The settlement is subject to notice to shareholders and to final approval by the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware.

As further described in the notice that will be distributed to shareholders, the settlement is premised upon, among other things, the receipt by Staples of $7.25 million in insurance proceeds; the monetary benefit returned to Staples as a result of the corrective adjustments made in 2006 to certain stock option awards; and the adoption of certain additional measures governing the process by which stock options are awarded as compensation at Staples. In conjunction with the settlement, plaintiffs’ counsel will apply to the Court for an order requiring the payment Staples of up to $2.5 million in attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses, which application Staples has agreed not to oppose.
If approved, the settlement will resolve all litigation pending against the company, as well as its former and current officers and directors, relating to Staples’ historical stock option granting practices.

About Staples
Staples, the world's largest office products company, is committed to making it easy for customers to buy a wide range of office products and services. Our broad selection of office supplies, electronics, technology and office furniture as well as business services, including computer repair and copying and printing, helps our customers run their offices efficiently. With 2009 sales of $24 billion and 91,000 associates worldwide, Staples operates in 25 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia serving businesses of all sizes and consumers. Staples invented the office superstore concept in 1986 and today ranks second worldwide in e-commerce sales. The company is headquartered outside Boston. More information about Staples is available at www.staples.com/media.

Contact:

Staples, Inc.
Paul Capelli/Owen Davis
508-253-8530/8468

I hope everyone is enjoying Labor Day Weekend.

One might remember the three day weekend law was passed to improve the economy. 

As we enter the convention week for Democrats it is important to remember the country has improved in many ways since January 20,2012. Working Americans are making more income and the local economy is returning Made in America to the USA. We are doing more manufacturing in the USA and we are experiencing growth rather than deterioration.

We have exited Iraq. NATO in Afghanistan has changed 325,000 Afghan troops and police. The recent increase in violence toward our troops has been discovered. The Afghan leadership has lost members of families and others. They want the violence to end more than ever. The newly recruited members of the Afghan forces are being reassessed for loyalty to the outcomes of their elected government.

Our energy resources are finally taking on larger initiatives for alternatives. We have an electric car to be proud of and other hybrids coming along. As Americans we finally have a light at the end of the tunnel for energy independence with Alternative Energies.

This weekend it is time to reassess where our culture has deteriorated from the days when Labor were stars of our society.

By Wilma B. Liebman

September 3, 2012

...In the midst of the Great Depression, (click title to entry - thank you) Congress enacted the Wagner Act in 1935 to guarantee the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively with their employers. The express purpose of the law was to equalize the bargaining power of labor and capital and thereby to increase the purchasing power of workers and return the nation to economic prosperity. The act was not intended as a favor to labor, but rather as a way of saving the market economy from its own excesses.

It succeeded in replacing violent labor conflict with orderly procedures established by the law. And for decades, millions of American workers sought union representation and achieved a middle class way of life through collective bargaining....