Rickel

Rickel

File:Rickel.svg
Company type	Private 1953-1969 Stock Corporation 1969-1994 Private 1994-1998 Initially a "Do It Yourself" Home Center Later, Home improvement
Industry	Retail Home improvement
Founded	1953
Defunct	1998
Fate	Bankruptcy
Headquarters	200 Helen Street, South Plainfield, NJ 07080
Key people	Al Rickel, Mort Rickel, Bob Rickel
Products	Plumbing, heating, electrical supplies & hardware.
Parent	Supermarkets General Corporation (1969-1994) Eos Partners L.P. (1994-1998)

Rickel—originally known as Rickel Brothers, later branded as Rickel Supermarts during the 1960s, and eventually Rickel Home Centers—was a prominent chain of home-improvement centers headquartered in northern New Jersey. The inaugural store launched in 1953, and for approximately thirty years, Rickel stood as the dominant retailer specializing in hardware, plumbing, heating, and electrical products within its market. At its height, the chain operated more than 90 locations. However, increased competition from Home Depot, financial difficulties linked to its former parent company, and a poorly executed merger with rival Channel Home Centers culminated in a bankruptcy declaration in 1996. This led to a phased liquidation and store closures beginning in late 1997 and extending into early 1998.

Founding

The company's roots trace back to 1946 when siblings Al, Mort, and Bob Rickel embarked on their entrepreneurial journey in Newark, New Jersey. They established a heating enterprise that continued their family's business legacy.

File:Rickel Brothers logo c. 1953.svg

The original logo used by Rickel in the 1950s and '60s.

According to company lore, the brothers acquired a warehouse stocked with plumbing materials at a very low cost a few years later. Although contractors specializing in heating often dealt with plumbing as well, the Rickel brothers lacked expertise in that area. Uncertain about the inventory's worth, they sought assistance from Bill Ryan, a plumber who evaluated the items and estimated their resale value.

At that time, plumbing supplies were predominantly distributed through wholesale channels, posing a challenge for the brothers given their large stockpile. Selling exclusively to local plumbers would have been time-consuming. They innovated by launching a retail operation aimed at selling these supplies directly to consumers—a novel approach then—with Ryan serving as their sales representative. His role extended beyond sales; he provided customers with practical advice on repairing toilets, sinks, drains, and ensured they obtained the correct components for their projects. Consequently, in 1953 the first Rickel Brothers store opened in Union, New Jersey, with Ryan affectionately regarded as "employee number one" throughout his 35-year tenure with the company.

Rickel emerged as one of the pioneering "do-it-yourself" home improvement retailers, gradually broadening its product range to include heating and electrical equipment alongside tools and plumbing supplies. An early marketing slogan—"Rickel Helps You Do it Better – Do it Better With Rickel"—persisted to some extent until the chain's closure in 1997. This tagline reflected the founders' commitment to knowledgeable staff who guided customers through home repair tasks. The concept resonated well and fostered strong customer loyalty for 'Rickels', as the stores became locally known.

File:Rickel soda syphon chargers.jpg

Classic Rickel logo featured on a box of soda syphon chargers.

Growth

Following the success of their initial store, the Rickels rapidly expanded their operations, and by the early 1960s, they were managing three outlets across New Jersey: Succasunna, Paramus, East Brunswick, along with a newly opened branch in Union. By 1967, the chain, now branded as "Rickel Supermarts," had grown to six stores exclusively within New Jersey, adding locations in Menlo Park and Wayne. Subsequently, the Rickel brothers accelerated their growth strategy, increasing the number of stores in New Jersey and branching out into the New York and Pennsylvania markets for the first time. During this period, they established a corporate headquarters in South Plainfield, New Jersey, which also functioned as the main distribution hub for Rickel.

In 1969, the Rickel brothers sold their expanding Rickel Supermarts chain to Supermarkets General Corporation, the parent company of the Pathmark supermarket chain. Following this acquisition, SGC rebranded the stores as "Rickel Home Centers," a name that remained until the chain's eventual closure. In 1973, Rickel constructed its executive office headquarters in South Plainfield, New Jersey, which also served as a distribution and storage facility. By 1988, this center had expanded to nearly 800,000 square feet. By 1975, under SGC ownership, Rickel generated $80 million in sales and held a leading position as the foremost home improvement retailer in its region, significantly outperforming larger competitors such as Channel Lumber and Pergament. The following decade saw continued expansion; by the mid-1980s, Rickel operated over 30 stores, including one located in the former Ice World arena in Totowa, New Jersey.

File:Hom by Rickel (1990 prototype store concept).svg

Confronted with intensifying competition in the market, Rickel sought to revamp its brand image in 1990 by launching an upscale decor-focused concept store named "HōM." This prototype was tested in Toms River, New Jersey.

Despite Rickel's strong performance, Supermarkets General Corporation faced financial difficulties that persisted for nearly twenty years. While Rickel thrived, its sister company Pathmark experienced declining sales that adversely affected overall corporate finances. In 1987, a hostile takeover attempt by the Dart Group prompted management to take defensive action by privatizing SGC through a $2.1 billion leveraged buyout. Ownership was distributed with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Inc. holding 55%, Equitable Life Assurance owning 30%, and SGC management retaining 10%. By early 1990, the company's debt had escalated to $1.6 billion—approximately half of which consisted of junk bonds—primarily due to this buyout. Managing this substantial debt burden became SGC's foremost challenge and priority.

Home Depot rivalry

During the period when Supermarkets General was experiencing financial difficulties, the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer Home Depot started establishing outlets throughout the New York/New Jersey metropolitan region. While competitors such as Rickel, Channel, Pergament, and various local hardware stores all felt the impact of Home Depot's swift market penetration and expansion, Rickel’s challenges were exacerbated by the precarious financial condition of its parent company. This situation contributed to a strained and often contentious dynamic between Rickel and Home Depot over subsequent years.

A notable illustration of the rivalry’s impact emerged in connection with the longstanding PBS home improvement program This Old House. For many years, Home Depot had been a significant sponsor of the noncommercial series. However, in 1989, Bob Vila, the show's host, became Rickel’s spokesperson and featured in a set of television advertisements for them. Because the program was now supported by a host affiliated with a competing retailer, Home Depot and its lumber supplier Weyerhaeuser initially declared their intention to withdraw financial backing. This decision was reversed after WGBH, then the producer of This Old House, dismissed Vila shortly afterward and appointed Steve Thomas as the new host. Vila later launched his own syndicated home improvement show in 1990 but was eventually dropped by Rickel and went on to forge a long-term partnership with Sears as a representative for their Craftsman Tools brand.

The combination of Home Depot’s aggressive growth and the parent company’s mounting debt problems left Rickel struggling not only against this expanding giant but also losing ground to more financially stable local competitors. By autumn 1993, it was clear that Rickel’s outlook was deteriorating. Supermarkets General remained deeply troubled financially as Pathmark’s sales continued to decline, leading management to concentrate efforts on revitalizing its core brand. Consequently, Rickel did not receive sufficient investment to effectively challenge Home Depot’s dominance. In 1994, Supermarkets General underwent a restructuring process, rebranding itself as Pathmark Stores, Inc., and began exploring options to divest its diverse retail holdings, including Rickel. A solution emerged by mid-1994.

Merger with Channel Home Centers

On August 26, 1995, venture capital firm Eos Partners, L.P. orchestrated a strategic consolidation involving one of Rickel's industry rivals. That day, Eos completed separate acquisitions from Pathmark and GE Capital, securing ownership of both Rickel and Channel Home Centers. They subsequently declared that these two retail chains would be unified under the Rickel name moving forward. This merger incorporated an additional 59 stores into the Rickel network, raising the total store count to 92 and expanding the company’s footprint into previously untapped markets. To signify this new chapter, Rickel briefly adopted the branding "The New Rickel" accompanied by the tagline “Bringing it all closer to home."

Nevertheless, not all developments were favorable. Despite integrating numerous new outlets, the revenue generated fell short of reversing Rickel’s declining trajectory; in fact, the rapid enlargement placed further strain on the company’s financial stability. Concurrently, Rickel continued to face intense competition from Home Depot for market dominance and soon encountered significant legal challenges.

Home Depot sues Rickel

By 1995, Home Depot had solidified its position as the premier home improvement retailer in New Jersey, rapidly establishing stores wherever demand existed and exerting considerable pressure on established competitors like Rickel. One contested site was a sizeable vacant lot on Orange Street in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where Home Depot proposed constructing a large-format store.

This Orange Street parcel was situated less than a mile from Bloomfield Center’s retail strip mall, where Rickel served as a long-time anchor tenant. The mall lies along Bloomfield Avenue, a major thoroughfare in New Jersey stretching from US 46 in West Caldwell to downtown Newark, near Broad Street Station. The location enabled Rickel to attract customers not only from Bloomfield but also from nearby communities such as Belleville, East Orange, and Newark due to their close proximity to Bloomfield Center.

However, like many of its counterparts, the Bloomfield Rickel store was considerably smaller than the expansive Home Depot locations emerging throughout New Jersey. Although centrally positioned, Rickel was vulnerable to losing a substantial share of its clientele to the new Home Depot outlet. Moreover, Home Depot’s site offered convenient access near Bloomfield’s border with Orange and was well-served by public transportation options including the nearby Watsessing Avenue station on the New Jersey Transit rail line and Exit 148 on the Garden State Parkway.

Rickel opted to oppose Home Depot’s development plans. Their tactics led Home Depot to initiate legal action in a New Jersey court in July of that year. The lawsuit accused Rickel of conducting a deceptive "smear campaign," alleging that Rickel masqueraded as a community advocacy group claiming that Home Depot’s presence correlated with increased car theft and violent crime rates in areas surrounding their stores. Specifically cited were crime statistics from Clifton, New Jersey, a neighboring city where Home Depot opened its first store in 1992 (Rickel did not operate there at that time; following the 1994 merger with Channel Home Centers, Rickel assumed control of Channel’s sole location in Clifton).

Bankruptcy and liquidation

By the close of 1995, Rickel uncovered that its financial condition was far more precarious than initially believed. Despite introducing fifty-nine new stores, the increased sales failed to offset the lingering financial strain inherited from its former parent company, Pathmark. As a result, filing for bankruptcy became an imminent concern. In an effort to avoid this outcome, the company shuttered thirteen poorly performing outlets shortly after facing a lawsuit from Home Depot. Nevertheless, these measures were insufficient, and on January 10, 1996, Rickel officially sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Subsequent store closures continued, with an additional thirteen locations liquidated by mid-1996.

Although there were early indications of improvement that generated some optimism, the overall situation suggested a deepening decline rather than recovery. Throughout 1997, Rickel underwent two further rounds of store shutdowns; after these reductions, only 49 outlets remained operational—nearly half the number from two years earlier.

In 1997, Rickel altered its strategic approach by stepping back from direct competition with Home Depot, which had firmly established itself as the dominant home improvement retailer in the New York metropolitan area. Instead, Rickel aimed to capitalize on its unique attributes compared to the larger big-box competitor. Prior to Home Depot’s market entry and subsequent merger with Channel, Rickel was among the largest and most successful regional chains but typically operated in smaller retail spaces. For context, a standard Home Depot store exceeded 100,000 square feet, whereas Rickel locations averaged around 40,000 square feet. Some exceptions existed, such as the Totowa and Wayne stores in New Jersey—the latter being Rickel’s largest facility.

Rickel renewed its earlier strategy of leveraging its smaller size to position itself as a neighborhood-focused home center. Since both retailers offered many overlapping products, Rickel promoted its stores as more convenient and easier to navigate than Home Depot’s expansive outlets. This tactic failed to significantly divert customers or capture market share from Home Depot. By August 1997, a proposal allowing Rickel to continue operations until at least February 1998 was turned down. It became increasingly clear that the question was no longer whether Rickel could recover from bankruptcy but how long it could remain open before closure became inevitable.

On October 11, 1997, Greg Hanselman, Rickel’s vice president of marketing, announced that the company had exhausted its cash reserves needed to maintain the remaining 49 stores and would commence liquidation. Most outlets had closed by Thanksgiving of that year; a few remained open through December as they were replenished with inventory from already shuttered locations. The final store to close was the largest—Rickel’s Wayne location—which ceased operations in early 1998.

At the beginning of 1997, Rickel held leases for 53 stores. Staples acquired leases for 41 of these properties—including the Bloomfield store involved in prior litigation—but did not reopen all acquired sites due to objections from certain tenants and landlords affecting six locations. Meanwhile, Pathmark reclaimed control over Rickel’s distribution center.

Regarding specific former Rickel stores mentioned here: The Totowa site transitioned into a clothing retail space initially occupied by Filene's Basement’s Aisle 3 concept and later by Forman Mills until its closure in May 2025.

The Clifton location—one of the six stores Staples did not convert into their own—was subdivided post-closure. One half became occupied by Dollar Express (which later merged into Dollar Tree and continues operating there), while the other half was first leased by Drug Fair. After Drug Fair declared bankruptcy in 2009 and liquidated immediately afterward, that portion saw intermittent seasonal tenants such as Spirit Halloween until it was taken over in 2025 by Subzi Mandi, an Indian grocery chain.

Following the closure of the Wayne store, much of its building was demolished with plans for Grand Union supermarket construction on site. However, Grand Union’s bankruptcy and subsequent sale in 2001 halted progress. Stop & Shop acquired many former Grand Union locations during this period and eventually completed and opened their store at this site in 2004. The remaining section of the original building became home to T-Bowl II bowling alley, which remains active today.

In an ironic development one year after Rickel ceased operations entirely, Home Depot experimented with launching a smaller-scale neighborhood hardware concept named Villager's Hardware—similar in size and format to former Rickel stores—with scaled-down departments including a plant nursery. The inaugural Villager's location opened in East Brunswick, New Jersey—the same site where Rickel operated for over three decades. Although several additional Villager's stores were opened within the following year, Home Depot ultimately discontinued this brand and converted those locations into smaller-format Home Depot stores.

The Rickel Brothers' Legacy

The three Rickel siblings have all passed away. Mort Rickel died in 1980 at the age of 61, while his brothers lived significantly longer, each reaching their nineties before their own deaths. Al Rickel died in 2008, and Bob Rickel passed away in 2014.

See also

• List of defunct retailers of the United States

External links

• Throwback Thursday: Rickel heads HoM, HBSDealer