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Best Products

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For the home electronics chain see: Best Buy.
Best Products Co, Inc.
Company typeCatalog merchant showroom
IndustryRetail
Founded1960s
HeadquartersRichmond, Virginia
Productshome furnishings, consumer electronics, jewelry, housewares, toys
WebsiteNone

Best Products (also known simply as “Best”) is a defunct chain of United States catalog showroom retail stores, formerly headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

History

1970s

In the 1970s, Best Products contracted with James Wines’ SITE, Sculpture in the Environment architecture firm to design seven highly unorthodox retail facilities, notably a tongue-in-cheek structure in Houston, Texas with a severely distressed facade. This building purportedly “appeared in more books on 20th century architecture than photographs of any other modern structure” .

As a cost-saving measure, Best jointly published its catalog with Service Merchandise and Modern Merchandising, and had regional non-compete agreements with those chains.

Bankruptcy

A typical Best store in Florida

Best filed twice for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The first bankruptcy period began in January 1991 and lasted through June 16, 1994. The second and final filing was made on September 24, 1996. At the time of the second filing, Best operated 169 Best stores and 11 Best Jewelry stores in 23 states, and a nation-wide mail-order service. Some analysts believe that the catalog itself was the downfall of Best and other catalog-showroom retailers because it constrained stores’ product lines and prices for each catalog’s shelf life, sometimes up to 18 months, while competitors were free to adapt to market conditions.

Best Products was traded on the NASDAQ exchange as “BESTQ.” It was de-listed on November 29, 1996. Best did not appeal the NASDAQ decision. By May 1997, Best had liquidated most of its assets and was declared insolvent. Best vacated its corporate headquarters in Richmond in January 1998 and mailed out final checks to unsecured creditors the following December (paying 96 cents per dollar owed).

External links

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