Duckwall-ALCO Retail Stores
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Locomotive Company was also known as ALCO.
| Duckwall-ALCO Stores | |
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| Type | Discount store |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1901 |
| Headquarters | Abilene, Kansas |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, market, housewares. |
| Website | http://www.duckwall.com/ |
Duckwall-ALCO Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: DUCK) is a small retail chain operating in 21 states in the US Midwest, founded in 1901 in Kansas by A.L. Duckwall. In its early years the company operated five and dime (or "variety") stores called Duckwall's. In 1968 it began to move into the discount retail business and opened stores that were bigger than their five and dime counterparts called ALCO. ALCO stores (somewhat smaller than a non-supercenter Wal-Mart) provide the full selection of merchandise offered by the Company. After 1989 they switched to their current business strategy of targeting communities where no direct retail competitor existed (such as Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart). The strategy proved to be successful for Duckwall-ALCO and currently there are 187 ALCO stores and 67 Duckwall stores. Altogether the company operates 254 stores under the ALCO and Duckwall nameplates. The company had also operated stores under the Sterling nameplate until 2005, when the final Sterling store closed in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Company has recently experimented with a supercenter concept, "ALCO Market Place", by providing limited perishable goods. These stores are considerably smaller than Wal-Mart's or Target's supercenter stores.
