🠈  FedMart  🠊

FedMart

FedMart was a chain of membership warehouse stores based in California.

The company was founded in the 1950s by attorney Sol Price who inherited an empty warehouse. He decided to create a membership warehouse club modeled after FedCo. FedCo was a non-profit member warehouse store started by Postal workers who wanted to use collective bargaining power to get lower priced goods.

Price's friend Mandell Weiss was a jeweler with wholesale connections. His wife Merie Weiss established a sect in the Church of Christ that some consider to be a cult.

Mr. Price sold FedMart to Hugo Mann. They had a disagreement. During the dispute, Price's son set up Price Club and a compatriot set up Costco. The distributors aligned with Price. FedMart became a empty bag and Mann closed the stores. Price Club merged with Costco. The Price family took their money and connections and set up PriceSmart which operates in South and Central America.

FedMart Time Line

This section shows events in the corporate history of FedMart. I drew the basic structure from Wikipedia and the San Diego reader^1,2.

• 1954: The first store opened in San Diego with a warehouse and $50,000 investment. It sold to government employees.
• 1955: FedMart opened stores in The company branched into Phoenix and San Diego.
• 1958: Mandell's estranged wife Merie Weiss created branch of the Church of Christ that became large. Some consider to be a cult.
• 1962: Governor Pat Brown (D) appointed Sol Price to the Commission on State Government Organization and Economy.
• 1968: Price was a principle developer in developing the thirty-nine-acre Sports Arena shopping center.
• 1968: FedMart opened a location on the Navajo Indian Reservation.
• 1969: FedMart held an IPO on the American Stock Exchange.
• 1970: Price sold land and provided consulting resources at a reduced rate to a group of black investors in Houston to create a discount store called Our Way.
• 1969: FedMart held an IPO on the American Stock Exchange.
• 1975: Hugo Mann bought 500,000 common shares and 300,000 unissued shares for $25 gaining 51% of the shares

  Mann, a German, was held as a Prisoner of War in the Soviet Union until 1950. After his release, he turned his father's furniture store into a hypermart.¹

• 1977: FedMart purchased the 22 stores of the Two Guys chain from FedMart.
• 1975-1976: Mann and Price had a falling out. Mann tried to sell the chain to Dillards. Price's coached his son into starting Price Club which later merged with Costco.
• 1977: FedMart bought Globe Store (a chain of ten stores) from Walgreens.
• 1981: Hugo Mann gained control and launched a rapid expansion.

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References:

1. San Diego Reader - Mean Business (Drawn 10/9/2020)
2. Wikipedia - FedMart (Drawn 10/9/2020)

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