Times Square Stores

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Times Square Stores
Fate	Bankrupt
Founded	1929
Defunct	1989
Location	New York
Industry	Department store
Key people	George J. Seedman (founder)
Peak size	2,875 employees

Times Square Stores (also called TSS and TSS Seedman's) was an American Department Store chain based in New York that operated from 1929 to 1989. By the late 1980s the chain operated 12 stores in New York and 6 in Puerto Rico, and an off-price ladies' apparel chain, Finders Keepers, which had 15 locations.^[1] The New York department stores ranged in size from from 160,000 to 220,000 square feet.^[2] During its prime it was considered Long Island's most prominent discount department store chain.^[3]

The chain was founded in 1929 by George Seedman.^[2] The first TSS store on Long Island opened in Levittown in 1961.^[4] In 1983 the company explored an initial public offering on the American Stock Exchange, but backed out in 1984 after learning investors would only pay about 66% of the company's desired price.^[5]

George Seedman continued to own and run the chain until 1987, when, at the age of 90, he began looking for buyers. Price Club (later renamed Costco) announced plans to buy an 81% stake in the company for $50 million in 1987.^[6] After Seedman learned of plans to convert the TSS stores to warehouse clubs, the sale did not go through, and TSS was sold to the Pritzker family of Chicago later in 1987 for the same price.^[2]

Although it was a discount chain, by the 1980s its main markets were Nassau and Suffolk Counties, two of the richest in America at the time. Nine of their twelve modern-sized stores were on Long Island, one in Brooklyn on Linden Blvd, in Queens on Farmers Blvd, and another in The Bronx.^[7] The chain began to struggle in the late 1980s and took drastic cost-cutting measures: downsizing stores and leasing space to specialty operators, and discontinuing less profitable departments. In the early 1980's the chain attempted to stake a claim in Northern New Jersey when it leased 2 vacant, former Two Guys locations. The plan was to gauge reaction to these two large stores (150,000 sq/ft each), and then plan further expansion into New Jersey. Neither location lived up to expectations, and the two stores were first downsized to one level each and then shuttered.

On December 4, 1989, the chain, which had about 2,875 employees by then, filed for bankruptcy and announced it would close its doors on December 31, 1989. Three stores remained open for liquidation until June 1990.^[3]

[edit] Former locations

• Levittown, New York: Now an empty building on the corner of Hempstead Tpke. and Gardiners Ave. Was a K-Mart
• Elmont, New York: Now a Home Depot, On Hempstead Tpke.
• Hempstead, New York: Now a small shopping center off Greenwich st and Peninsula Blvd.
• 5 Towns, New York
• Oceanside, New York: Now a Kohls and a Waldbaums. Long Beach Rd. and Daly Blvd.
• West Babylon, New York: Now a KMart
• Sayville/Bohemia : Now a KMart
• Kearny, NJ: Former flagship Two Guys location, building demolished, now site of Pathmark.
• Union City, NJ: JFK Blvd, former Two Guys location, now mixed use office/retail center
• Brooklyn, New York : Linden Blvd; now a magic johnson movie theatre.
• Queens, New York  : Farmers and Merrick in Saint Albans, Queens; now a Western Beef location.
• Bronx, New York  : Former Caldor Now K-mart, On Bruckner Blvd.
• Melville, New York : Former Caldor, now Kohl's and Dick's Sporting Goods, on Route 110

Middle Island, New York (on Route 25)

Does anybody happen to have a picture of the arch looking metal thing that was usually over the front doors? (At least on the Nassau County ones)

[edit] References