The Federate Group coined the word SuperStore
About 1974, Wilfred Schwartz bought a consumer electronics store in West Los Angeles. In doing so, he inherited Harry as VP of Finance and Ron McMichael as account/programmer on the Basic-4 computer system. By 1979, the business had twelve or so stores. David Lane Wahlberg become the VP of DP; he had been at Montgomery Ward for many years. The next year, Wilfred brought in five more VP's, and Harry and Ron left. I augmented the MMS purchase order system to allow split shipments to multiple sites. By 1981, there were more than forty stores. in 1982, American Home Video in the Midwest joined the Group; Rick Fountain was in charge in Texas. Some eighty stores bore the Federated Group name.
Let us entertain you; let us make you smile...
The corporate motto was typical of the happiness. At headquarters, the work day started about 7:00 am with music and food. At 7:15 sharp, silence took over as every one worked until the lunch trucks came. During the afternoon, sports events played on screens and speakers. Cheryl Beck with her near photographic memory was purchasing manager under a parade of VPs. Scotty McKeever was a warehouse manager. Both married during those years. The lead computer operator, Earl Howard, married the lead cashier from the Hollywood store. Earl was a super user; he managed a large group of operators who also worked half days as accounting clerks or as auditors.
Wilfred's office was on the first floor below mine. Regularly the sounds of him trudging up the wooden stairs alerted us to his imminent arrival. Usually he wanted to adjust the sales summary report or add a new store to some district. Other times, he wanted a technical perspective on a pending project. We met once in his office to discuss selling the software for the cash register system. Even before we finished the system, the cost was barely ten percent of the price of IBM, NCR, Nixdorf, and others. The functionality and the speed were pioneering. The white sheets of the competitors lagged about four years behind our working cash registers. After the cash register system worked, we met again and he did not want to sell what he had paid for. I never could find enough funding to launch my own cash register.
Very soon the Group went public, but by 1987, the Group had lost its attraction. Atari bought and mismanaged the chain as it died. Bearded George was in charge of the empty warehouse. I ran the last payroll about December of 1989, and Steve the Accountant locked the doors in the City of Commerce on January 12, 1990. So sad.
Let us entertain you; let us make you smile...
The corporate motto was typical of the happiness. At headquarters, the work day started about 7:00 am with music and food. At 7:15 sharp, silence took over as every one worked until the lunch trucks came. During the afternoon, sports events played on screens and speakers. Cheryl Beck with her near photographic memory was purchasing manager under a parade of VPs. Scotty McKeever was a warehouse manager. Both married during those years. The lead computer operator, Earl Howard, married the lead cashier from the Hollywood store. Earl was a super user; he managed a large group of operators who also worked half days as accounting clerks or as auditors.
Wilfred's office was on the first floor below mine. Regularly the sounds of him trudging up the wooden stairs alerted us to his imminent arrival. Usually he wanted to adjust the sales summary report or add a new store to some district. Other times, he wanted a technical perspective on a pending project. We met once in his office to discuss selling the software for the cash register system. Even before we finished the system, the cost was barely ten percent of the price of IBM, NCR, Nixdorf, and others. The functionality and the speed were pioneering. The white sheets of the competitors lagged about four years behind our working cash registers. After the cash register system worked, we met again and he did not want to sell what he had paid for. I never could find enough funding to launch my own cash register.
Very soon the Group went public, but by 1987, the Group had lost its attraction. Atari bought and mismanaged the chain as it died. Bearded George was in charge of the empty warehouse. I ran the last payroll about December of 1989, and Steve the Accountant locked the doors in the City of Commerce on January 12, 1990. So sad.