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He said that over one thousand former employees from as far away as Kansas and Texas had visited this exhibit, which the museum had extended until August of that year. He noted that all the former employees had expressed that they loved working at the store and that they would have continued working there until retirement if the company had not gone out of business. The museum later decided to make the exhibit permanent, and won the "Leadership in
History Award of Merit" from the American Association for State and Local History.
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Merchandising
Corporation and built a warehouse in Oklahoma City, allowing their stores to buy merchandise in bulk directly from manufacturers, instead of through wholesalers. They opened their first jointly-owned store in 1936. The owners' initials were ordered according to the ages of the three, with Tomlinson being the oldest. Raymond Young, the only partner remaining with the chain, oversaw operations until his retirement in 1970.
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put on an exhibit commemorating the TG&Y chain, featuring music, merchandise and other displays from its "golden era." The
Kingfisher store had opened in 1927. Adam Lynn, museum director, was evidently surprised by the popularity of the exhibit, which had been scheduled to run only through March.
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in rural areas and eventually moving into cities, TG&Y stores were firmly embedded in southern culture as modern-day general stores with a bit of everything. The chain used the advertising slogan, "Your best buy is at TG&Y." The founders articulated their business philosophy as "...have what
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of
Chicago, with the stipulation that Young's leadership remain unchanged. After Young's retirement, leadership changed frequently. By this time, there were 127 retail stores. By 1960, the entire TG&Y operation had become a wholly owned subsidiary of City Products, a Chicago-based company which
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and named for the last initials of its three founders: Rawdon E. Tomlinson, Enoch L. "Les" Gosselin, and
Raymond A. Young. The three men each owned separate variety stores in Oklahoma when they met at a trade show in 1932. In 1935, the three pooled their financial resources to form the Central
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A former TG&Y manager, Tom
Clinton, decided to open a new version of the old store on January 6, 2003, in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. His opportunity arose when he learned in 2001 that the last TG&Y had closed. He bought the rights to the company name and a former Drug Warehouse building, which
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provided 12,000 square feet (1,100 m) of space. The new store's emphasis is on craft items and household goods, but aisles display food products, toys, pet supplies, stationery, yarn, ceramics, tools and hardware, and health and beauty aids.
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In 2001 TG&Y's owner McCrory Stores filed bankruptcy and all stores were eventually closed. Raymond Young, the youngest and last survivor of the three founders, died in the same year.
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208:. By March 1986, McCrory announced that it would sell about 200 of the 743 TG&Y operations it had so recently acquired. Shortly after acquiring the struggling chain,
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In addition to the variety stores, which averaged around 15,000 square feet, there was also a larger discount store format of around 30,000 to 40,000 square feet.
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Griffin, Andrew W. "TG&Y exhibit in
Kingfisher a reminder of variety store chain's golden era." Red Dirt Report. April 22, 2014.
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After its heyday in the 1960s, unsuccessful attempts were made to expand and rebrand TG&Y under the trade names
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cut over 8,000 TG&Y employees and closed 205 stores, including 23 in its former home state of
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531:"8,000 TG&Y Employees Terminated by McCrory – 2,000 Cut in State since Purchase"
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321:. Mark Beutler, 405Magazine (formerly Slice Magazine), December 28, 2012. 28 December 2012
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At its peak, the chain had nearly 1000 stores in 29 states, from
Florida to California.
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left a supervisor job at TG&Y to open the second location in what would become the
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133:. At its peak, there were more than 900 stores in 29 states. Starting out during the
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In 1986, when it had about 920 stores, TG&Y was acquired by competitor
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Groves, Martha. "McCrory to Sell or
Convert 700 TG&Y Stores."
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Rawdon E. Tomlinson, Enoch L. "Les" Gosselin, and
Raymond A. Young
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Belkin, Lisa. "Rapid-American to buy T.G.&Y. Store Chain."
566:"Kingfisher museum wins national award for TG&Y exhibit."
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chain of arts and crafts stores, also based in Oklahoma City.
555:. March 8, 1986. p. 87 – via newspapers.com.
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Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992
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351:Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.
623:Defunct discount stores of the United States
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582:Blossom, Debbie. "A store from before."
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349:Wilson, Linda D. "T.G.&Y. Stores."
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529:Carter, Kim (September 5, 1986).
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648:1935 establishments in Oklahoma
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460:Accessed August 3, 2017.
427:"The Demise of TG&Y"
354:Accessed August 2, 2017.
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471:"Hobby Lobby's history"
230:In January, 2014, the
553:The Los Angeles Times
232:Chisholm Trail Museum
501:. December 27, 1985.
395:"T.G.&Y. STORES"
286:Kingfisher, Oklahoma
236:Kingfisher, Oklahoma
16:American store chain
278:Frederick, Oklahoma
28:Variety store chain
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535:THE JOURNAL RECORD
319:"Variety in Store"
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73:Headquarters
36:Retail sales
25:Company type
584:Tulsa World
431:OKC History
172:Hobby Lobby
168:David Green
110:(1967–1985)
103:(1957–1960)
612:Categories
483:2017-07-06
441:2017-07-06
377:2017-07-06
305:References
568:Enid News
325:March 15,
210:McCrory's
166:In 1975,
405:13 March
247:See also
214:Oklahoma
206:Dollar-T
119:TG&Y
33:Industry
20:TG&Y
142:History
68:Defunct
57:Defunct
49:Founder
41:Founded
226:Legacy
204:, and
192:Demise
121:was a
96:Parent
264:Notes
87:Owner
407:2015
327:2020
65:Fate
60:2001
44:1935
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