Gamble-Skogmo

Gamble-Skogmo Inc. was an American conglomerate of retail chains and other businesses that was headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

Gamble-Skogmo carried a line of home appliances, including radios, televisions, refrigerators, and freezers, under the Coronado brand name.

Born at the end of the 19th century, Bertin Gamble and Philip Skogmo were boyhood friends in Arthur, North Dakota (30 miles northwest of Fargo).

Franchised dealerships were inaugurated in 1933 and, in 1941, clothing and other "softlines" were added to the staple "hardlines" business, a diversification made necessary by the unavailability of consumer hard goods during World War II.

The company expanded into mass merchandising by forming its Tempo Stores division in 1962, which grew into a chain of 50 discount shopping centers.

In 1964 Gamble-Skogmo entered the catalog merchandising field by acquiring the large Aldens operation, including its life insurance subsidiary.

Between 1969 and 1972 the corporation several leasing business lines, launched Gambles home improvement centers, and acquired the 24-store Woman's World clothing chain.

From the mid-1940s to the end of the 1970s, Gamble and Skogmo diversified their businesses into many new endeavors, including a discount division, financial services, real estate, and retail businesses such as Aldens mail order company, Woman's World Shops, Red Owl Grocery and Snyder Drug stores.

[2][3][4] Gamble served as president and chief executive officer of Gamble-Skogmo, Incorporated, the umbrella firm that controlled the myriad operating companies, into 1963.

[6] Aldens was established in 1889 under the name Chicago Mail Order and Millinery Company and was incorporated in Illinois on December 15, 1902.

The Cussins & Fearn Company was a chain of stores that sold a wide variety of items including hardware, housewares, plumbing and heating, automotive, appliances, farm supplies, furniture and many other hardlines products.

Menominee, Michigan (1967–1975))[9] and Buckeye Mart stores in Ohio (operated by the Cussins & Fearn Co. Division).

At one time, Gambles owned 25 local department stores including the following: Mode O'Day was a women's clothing chain headquartered in Burbank, California.

The company was founded in Glendale, California in 1932 by Ernest, Billy and Bert Malouf, three brothers who were immigrants from Lebanon, with the idea of manufacturing dresses and selling them from their own stores.

In 1986, Wickes sold the chain to Dutch retailer Amcena Corporation, which was controlled by the secretive Brenninkmeijer family.

Coronado-branded products were made by various companies that specialized in private label manufacturing such as Wells-Gardner, Belmont, Warwick, Detrola, Colonial, Arvin and Kingston Radio Corp. beginning in the 1930s.

These companies also manufactured private label electronics for other retailers such as Sears (Silvertone), Western Auto (Truetone), and Montgomery Ward (Airline).

It was not uncommon to see practically identical versions of Coronado-branded goods sold by competing retailers under the Silvertone, Truetone and Airline brand names.

Gambles logo, circa 1960s
Cussins & Fearn Co., Northern Lights Shopping Center, Columbus, Ohio
Rasco Variety Store, Boulder Highway, Henderson, Nevada