Sol shenk biography

Mr.
Sol, a Russian immigrant to the United States, started a business in 1967 selling closeout and overstock car parts.
In 1967, Sol Shenk founded Consolidated International, Inc. — the company that is now Big Lots.

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Sol, a Russian immigrant to the United States, started a business in 1967 selling closeout and overstock car parts. The business, Consolidated Stores, took off when Sol switched to household goods. They renamed Consolidated Stores to be Big Lots (which was formerly called ‘Odd Lots’ across the country.) In the lat 1990s, Big Lots bought out Pic ‘N’ Save stores.

In late 1975, Sol bought the remains of Malcolm Bricklin’s car company and sold off the remaining 300 Bricklin cars, along with the leftover parts inventory.

Shenk and his business partner Jerome Schottenstein invested in DeLorean prior to the company’s demise. In 1982, he paid the Bank of America $18 million for a stake in the company. Shortly after John DeLorean’s arrest, Shenk paid another $1.5 million to the company and took on nearly $9 million in debt to take ownership of approximately $1.2 million worth of DeLorean parts (as well as exclusive distribution rights for the remaining cars and parts in the US.)

Soon after his purchase, Shenk began shipping the leftover parts an

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Sol Shenk

Sol A. Shenk led a very fruitful life. His auto parts wholesale shop in 1967 had transformed into a $1 billion business by the time of his death in 1994. Today, that business is an empire approaching the 1,500-store threshold in the U.S. and Canada. That big business is Big Lots.

Shenk emigrated from Russia in the mid-1900s and brought with him a razor-sharp sense of business. In 1967, he started Consolidated Stores Corporation through which he opened a discount store selling spare parts in Columbus, Ohio. In just four years, that store grew into a chain.

It was the strategic buyout of the manufacturer of the Bricklin car, with its famous gull-wing, upward-opening doors, that catapulted him into the big league. Shenk did something that Malcolm Bricklin had been unable to do. He made money by selling parts to car owners.

Shenk was thus able to open Odd Lots in 1982. He bought odd lots of merchandise from production overruns, bankruptcies and overstock and sold it through the store in Columbus.

Within three years, Consolidated Stores went public. It opened other store

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TQI capital (Typical quality investor)

It is official. Big lots has filed for bankruptcy last week three months after they noted substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue in US. For a long time reader, you should know that this news (big lot is a close competitor of Olli) should benefit my long time favorite : Ollie Bargain Outlet.

Recently, I have been studying the US retail industry due to blood on the street for companies like Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below. Most of them are trading near 52 weeks low. I have the intention to follow the industry closely and do expect me to post more update about them. (I know I am up against giants like Alex Morris, he is the expert in the retail industry. Sorry Alex!)

Although the industry is known for being tough, there is still plenty of outstanding companies within the industry such as TJX, Ross stores, Costco, etc. However, I think the best way to learn about them is to study why a retail company failed? I picked Big lots specifically because it is a shadow to my favorite : Ollie Bargain Outlet.

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