Pier 1 Imports, Inc. is an online retailer and former

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

-based retail chain specializing in imported home furnishings and decor, particularly furniture, table-top items, decorative accessories, and seasonal decor. It was publicly traded on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

under ticker PIR. In January 2020, Pier 1 had over 1,000 physical stores throughout the United States and Canada. Pier 1 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 17, 2020, and on May 19, 2020, announced it was asking the bankruptcy court to close all stores, due in large part to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In July 2020, Retail ECommerce Ventures (REV) bought the rights to Pier 1 and planned to revive the brand as an ecommerce store. At the end of October 2020, Pier 1 Imports closed its remaining stores and transferred its website to REV, which is

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

Dallas-based Pier 1 Imports Online, Inc.

History

The first Pier 1 Imports store opened in 1962 in San Mateo, California under the name Cost Plus Imports. Charles Tandy and Luther Henderson, the founders of Pier 1 Imports, were mainly involved with Radio Shack based in Fort Worth, Tx. By 1966, the company had grown to 16 store locations, and established the new corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Pier 1 went public on the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was know ...

in 1970 and later joined the

in 1972. At this time, the company had grown to 123 stores, posted 100 percent sales gains for four consecutive years, and opened stores internationally in Australia and Europe. A Pier 1 store in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along t ...

reached annual sales of $1 million in 1979. By 1985, the Pier 1 chain grew to 265 stores, with the management goal of doubling that number by 1990. Pier 1 had a presence in the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...

of Japan, from April 1996 to early 2002, and its franchised stores were operated by Akatsuki Printing Co. There were 5 stores by early 1997, 16 by fiscal 1998, and 18 by fiscal 1999, but that number shrunk to just 9 by early 2000. On December 29, 2006, Standard & Poor's bumped Pier 1 Imports Inc. down one spot and off the bottom of the S&P MidCap 400 Index when it added

Parametric Technology PTC Inc. (formerly Parametric Technology Corporation) is an American computer software and services company founded in 1985 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The global technology company has over 6,000 employees across 80 offices in ...

Corp. (), a software company. As of December 2012, the company had sales of $418 million. In April 2008,

Chesapeake Energy Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

bought the headquarters of Pier 1 for $104 million. In May 2017, Alasdair James became CEO following Alex Smith's departure in December 2016. In December 2018, Alasdair James was replaced by veteran CEO Cheryl Bachelder. Bachelder is served as interim CEO until the former Pier 1 CFO, Robert Riesbeck took over in November 2019. On January 6, 2020, it was announced that Pier 1 will close up to 450 stores, citing "a reduction in corporate headcount". On February 17, 2020, Pier 1 Imports, Inc. and seven affiliated companies filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton ...

. As part of the filing, the company is closing all their stores in Canada. On May 19, 2020, Pier 1 Imports announced that it is asking the bankruptcy court to close all stores, due in large part to the

and failing to find a buyer. On May 30, it was announced that Pier 1 Imports had received court approval to liquidate all locations. Pier 1 announced that they plan to close all stores by the end of October 2020. In June 2020, Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) acquired Pier 1 for $31 million. REV, which was founded by former NASA scientist Alex Mehr and serial entrepreneur Tai Lopez, is a holding company that buys distressed iconic brands and revives them as e-commerce businesses. Other recent acquisitions of REV include

DressBarn Dressbarn.com (branded as dressbarn) is an online retailer owned by Retail Ecommerce Ventures. Its predecessor is the former chain of women's clothing stores owned by Ascena which operated as Dressbarn from 1962 until 2019. Since 2020, it is owne ...

and

Modell's Sporting Goods Modell's Sporting Goods is an American online sporting goods retailer that had locations in the Northeastern United States. Modell's carries both sporting goods and related apparel. Modell's had more than 150 retail locations in ten states and ...

. REV acquired control of the Pier 1 website at the end of October 2020, just about the time the last store had closed, and moved on-line operations to Dallas.

Financial data

Numbers given in millions USD.

Stores

On April 17, 2019, Pier 1 announced plans to close up to 145 stores in its 2020 fiscal year ending in March. The company had already closed 30 locations in its 2019 fiscal year. As of April 2019, the chain operates 973 stores under the name Pier 1 Imports in the United States and Canada (with about 59 locations). On January 6, 2020, Pier 1 announced that it planned to close up to 400 locations and several distribution centers to reduce its corporate expenses. The company said it has contracted a liquidation company to close the stores. In February 2020, Pier 1 updated this number, and announced it would close 450 locations in its Chapter 11 restructuring, which would include the closure of all Canadian locations. The company also had a children's furniture and accessories retail concept in the United States called Pier 1 Kids which was disbanded in September 2007. It was a member of the

S&P MidCap 400 The S&P MidCap 400 Index, more commonly known as the S&P 400, is a stock market index from S&P Dow Jones Indices. The index serves as a gauge for the U.S. mid-cap equities sector and is the most widely followed mid-cap index. To be included in ...

list through the end of 2006, when it was bumped off the list. Pier 1 Imports also owned a chain of home-decor retailers in the United Kingdom called "The Pier" until it was sold to Palli Limited, a subsidiary of the Iceland-based Lagerinn ehf in March 2006 for approximately $15 million. This chain went into Administration in December 2008 and was finally closed in January 2009. On May 19, 2020, the company announced it was asking the bankruptcy court to cease its retail operations "as soon as reasonably possible", blaming the drastic decision on closures caused by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

and failing to find a buyer. The company stated that orders placed on its website will continue to be fulfilled, and that it plans to sell its remaining inventory, website and intellectual property.

Merchandise

Pier 1 merchandise consists of home furnishings and items including accessories such as

candle A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. A person who makes candle ...

vases A vase ( or ) is an open container. It can be made from a number of materials, such as ceramics, glass, non-rusting metals, such as aluminium, brass, bronze, or stainless steel. Even wood has been used to make vases, either by using tree species ...

, and

picture frame A picture frame is a protective and decorative edging for a picture, such as a painting or photograph. It makes displaying the work safer and easier and both sets the picture apart from its surroundings and aesthetically integrates it with them. ...

s as well as full-sized upholstered furniture, hand-carved

armoire A wardrobe or armoire or almirah is a standing closet used for storing clothes. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that separate accommo ...

s, large-scale vases and eclectic wall décor. Items are imported, created in conjunction with foreign designers, or produced by Pier 1's Trend and Product Development team.

Partnerships

Pier 1 became a corporate partner of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF since 1985, its longest-running corporate partnership. As of 2013, this partnership had generated more than $42 million by selling

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays ...

cause marketing Cause marketing is marketing done by a for-profit business that seeks to both increase profits and to better society in accordance with corporate social responsibility, such as by including activist messages in advertising. A similar phrase, cau ...

, and emergency relief for Afghanistan, Haiti, and Iraq, as well as areas affected by the

Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

. Former spokespeople for the company, seen largely in broadcast commercials, include '' Cheers'' alumna Kirstie Alley and Thom Filicia of ''

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ''Queer Eye'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the cable television network Bravo in July 2003. Originally ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'', the title was later shortened to broaden the overall scope. The series was cr ...

''.

Gallery

File:Pier 1 Imports store in Tanasbourne - Hillsboro, Oregon (2013).jpg, A Pier 1 Imports store in Oregon Image:Pier 1 imports Pittsfield Twp.JPG, A Pier 1 Imports store, Pittsfield Township, Michigan. The store closed in 2015. Image:pier1tall.jpg, Pier 1 Headquarters

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1962 establishments in California 1970s initial public offerings Companies based in Fort Worth, Texas Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Furniture retailers of the United States Home decor retailers American companies established in 1962 Retail companies established in 1962 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 American companies disestablished in 2020 Companies disestablished due to the COVID-19 pandemic Retail companies disestablished in 2020