A 1975 New York Times profile traced the company's origins to a lumber business started in Newark in 1922 by two Russian Jewish Americans, Abraham Levy and Morris Charin (1887–1963).

[1][2] A 1990 article in the same publication, and other company releases, however, have put the founding date at 1908.

[3] In any event, Louis L. Slater (1913–1987), son-in-law of Levy,[1] opened the first retail outlet in Newark, New Jersey in 1948.

[6] By 1979, the company had expanded to over 70 locations, moving beyond New Jersey and Pennsylvania to enter New York, Connecticut, and Delaware in 1978, and Maryland and Massachusetts in 1979.

[6] By 1990, the chain had grown to 89 Channel outlets in nine states,[3][9] but in early 1991, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and announced a plan to close 34 of 86 stores, mostly in the Baltimore-Washington and New England markets.